Here are some mind-blowing facts about India that will definitely make you say OMG!
According to an official statement by the Guinness Book of World Records, India is the third-ranked state behind the USA and the UK in terms of world record attempts and world records claimed each year! OMG! Presenting some mind-blowing facts about India. By the end of this series, you would come to know why Hindu-stan is better than the rest of the world!
- The Indian Railways accounts for roughly 1.4 million total employees. This is roughly equal to the entire population of many countries like the Vatican City, Bahrain, Iceland, Trinidad, and Tobago, etc. !
Navi Mumbai or New Bombay in Maharashtra built in the year 1972 is the largest planned township in the world. It was built to overcome the burgeoning population influx to Mumbai (then Bombay).
Arshid Ali Khan, a little boy from Punjab is revered as the Lord Hanuman or Balaji (Demi-God of Hindus who has an ape’s face and tail). This is because he was born with a congenital defect which gave him a 7-inch long tail emanating from his coccyx (tail-bone).
The word ‘Hindu’ is nowhere mentioned in the Ramayana, Mahabharata or the Bhagavad Gita! This is because the term ‘Hindu’ was given by foreign explorers who visited our country which traces its earliest civilizations from the river “Indus”.
India currently has the world’s largest school in terms of pupil strength. The City Montessori School in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh boasts of 45 thousand students on its roster! There are many other facts about Indian education that are still unknown.
India has the largest postal network in the world with roughly 1,54,866 post offices! Of these, 89.78 per cent are in the rural areas with each post office serving a population of at least 7,814 people covering an average area of 21.23 sq. km!
Mahant Bharatdas Darshandas is the lone voter from Gujarat’s Gir forest reserve for whom a polling station is for every major election where he is eligible to vote!
Although India itself has multiple regional and local languages In terms of English-speaking countries, India ranks number 2 in the world. At least 10% (125 million) people in India can speak English fluently.
The Kumbh Mela is the largest Hindu mass-gathering of people in the world with over 100 million pilgrims. The gathering is visible from space! OMG!
Unlike the four seasons that most Western countries follow, India’s Hindu calendar has 6 seasons:
Vasant Ritu: Spring
Grishma Ritu: Summer
Varsha Ritu: Monsoon
Sharad Ritu: Autumn
Hemant Ritu: Pre-winter
Shishir or Shita Ritu: Winter
The wettest inhabited place in the world is Mawsynram, a village in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya. It receives the highest recorded average rainfall in the world. Visit North East India to discover some more facts about lesser-explored part of India.
As per an RBI directive under FEMA, it’s illegal for foreigners and NRIs to take Indian currency (rupees) out of India. They can only take rupees 10,000 in certain conditions and only inside the duty-free or SHA area.
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The Bandra-Worli Sealink near Mumbai’s shores has enough steel wires equal to the circumference of the earth! It weighs as much as 50,000 African elephants and took a total of 2,57,00,000 man-hours to complete!
Only 3% of Indians pay income tax as opposed to a population of 1.3bn! This is because a large section of the economy such as agriculture is exempt and it is tougher to collect taxes from unorganized labour and rural areas.
The Chail Cricket Ground in Chail, Himachal Pradesh is the highest cricket ground in the world! A world record in cricket is obvious for a cricket crazy country! It is situated at an altitude of 2,444 meters and was built in 1893!
The origins of ‘shampoo’ can be traced to India where herbal pastes were used to treat the scalp! The Sanskrit word ‘champu’ which means to massage is where shampoo got its name from!
India discovered water on the Moon! In September 2009, ISRO’s Chandrayaan- 1 detected water on the moon for the first time using its Moon Mineralogy Mapper.
India has a spa centre just for elephants at the Punnathoor Cotta Elephant Yard Rejuvenation Centre in Kerala where elephants receive lavish baths, body massages, and other treatments!
India has the largest number of vegetarians in the world! Around 20-40% of Indians consider themselves as vegetarians, either due to personal choices or religious beliefs.
India’s first floating Post office is located on the Dal Lake in Srinagar! Not only is it a star tourist attraction, but also has a philately museum of its own too!
Kerela surprisingly tops the “highest liquor-consuming State of India” list. It is followed by Maharashtra and Punjab.
The funeral procession of CN Annadurai (1st Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu) in 1969 has a Guinness World Record for being the largest funeral attendance in history! At least 15 million people took to the streets of Chennai to bid adieu to their leader. OMG!
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Rabindranath Tagore the creator of our Indian national anthem (Jana Gana Mana) is also credited with writing the national anthem of Bangladesh (Amar Sonar Bangla)!
The Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab offers a free-kitchen vegetarian meal (langar) to over 100,000 people daily! OMG! They offer admittance to people from all over the world regardless of race, religion, and class. We believe it also a world record!
Read also: OMG Facts about India! – Part 2
