Interesting Facts about India

• 23 OFFICAL LANGUAGES.

India has 22 officially accepted languages. According toCensus of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. Two contact languages have played an important role in the history of India: Persian andEnglish. English continues to be an important language in India. It is used in higher education and in some areas of the Indian government.

• A FLOATING POST OFFICE. –( SRINAGAR, JAMMU AND KASHMIR)

India has the largest postal network in the world with over 1, 55,015 post offices. A single post office on an average serves a population of 7,175 people. The floating post office in Dal Lake, Srinagar, was inaugurated in August 2011.

• THE WETTEST INHABITED PLACE IN THE WORLD. (MAWSYNRAM, MEGHALAYA)

Mawsynram, a village on the Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, receives the highest recorded average rainfall in the world. Cherrapunji, also a part of Meghalaya, holds the record for the most rainfall in the calendar year of 1861.

• HYPER VELOCITY IMPACT CRATER, LAKE LONAR. (MAHARASHTRA)

Lonar Lake, in Maharashtra, was created by a Meteor crash about 50000 years ago. . It is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument .The circular depression bears a saline water lake in its central portion.[7] The crater's age is usually estimated to be 52,000 ± 6,000 years (Pleistocene),[8] although a study published in 2010 gives an age of 570,000 ± 47,000 years. It is the only known hyper velocity impact crater in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth.

• 02 STATES THAT TOOK PART IN THE 2ND WORLD WAR. (MANIPUR AND NAGALAND)

Manipur and Nagaland were the only 02 Indian States that were involved in the 2nd world war, under the British rule. The Battle of Imphal took place in the region around the city of Imphal, the capital of the state of Manipur in northeast India from March until July 1944.

• THE DISAPPEARING SEA. (CHANDIPUR, ODHISHA)

At Chandiur beach in Odisha, the Arabian Sea receeds by upto 5 kms, twice a day during Low tide. It is often refered to as The Hide and Seek Beach.

• A SEASONAL SALT MARSH. (KUTCH, GUJARAT)

The Great Rann Of Kutch in Gujarat is the largest Salt desert in the world. For as far as the eye can see, you find white sands so bright, that you could easily mistake it for the Moonland.

• A MAGNETIC HILL IN LADAKH. (LEH, JAMMU AND KASHMIR)

The Magnet Hill is a gravity hill located near Leh in Ladakh. The layout of the area and surrounding slopes creates an optical illusion that the downhill road is actually an uphill road. Objects and cars on the hill may appear to roll uphill in defiance of gravity when they are, in fact, rolling downhill.

The other two such magnetic hills are in Gujarat. One is near Bhuj (Kalo dungar - the black hills) and other at Tulsi Shyam.

• KRISHNA’S BUTTERBALL. (MAHABALIPURAM, TAMIL NADU)

In The shore town of Mahabalipurram in Tamil Nadu, one can see this spectacular gigantic boulder. It has been on sitting a top a hill for the past 150 years, at an angle of 45%, and yet has not once rolled down.

• THE WORLDS LARGEST GATHERING OF PEOPLE. (ALLAHABAD, UTTAR PRADESH)

Every 12 years, at the confluence of the Rivers Ganga and Yamuna, at Allahabad, there takes places a gathering of mammoth numbers- The MahaKumbh. Almost 100 million people, or more get together to bathe in the holy waters at Sangam to wash away their sins. This gathering is so huge that it is visible from space as well..

• CITIES IN RAJASTHN THAT HAVE THEIR OWN COLOR (JODHPUR, RAJASTHAN)

Rajasthan, The desert state of India, has cities have have their own hues. Jaipur is known as The Pink city because of the stone that has been used for most of the historical sights. Jodhpur is the Blue city. Observed from atop The Mehrangarh fort, you see that almost all house have a blue roof, or walls. Udaipur is famous for the colour white, while Jhalawar is Purple.

• THE TAJ MAHAL HAS BEEN CAMOUFLAGED (AGRA, UTTAR PRADESH)

The Taj Mahal, one of the most known structures in India, has been camouflaged during the times of war. In 1965 and1971, the Taj Mahal was covered with scaffolding and covered to look like a stack of Bamboos, so that night bombers during the India Pakistan war could not identify and destroy it.

• THE OLDEST INHABITED CITY IN THE WORLD. )VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH)

Varanasi , the capita lof Hindu pilgrims is considered to be the oldest inhabited city in the world. Archaeological evidence of the earliest known settlements in the vicinity of Varanasi suggest that such urban settlement of the area began ca. 2000 BCE, placing Varanasi among the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities according to Kenneth Fletcher. These archaeological remains suggest that the Varanasi area was populated by Vedic people. The oldest known text referencing the city, the Atharvaveda, also dates to approximately the same period, and suggests that the area was populated by indigenous tribes.

• THE BACKWATERS OF KERALA. (ALLEPEY, KERALA)

The backwaters is a maze of small lagoons and lakes, unique to the state of Kerala. All together the backwaters cover a whooping 900 kms of canals and waterways. These are used even today as the daily mode of transportation for the locals.

• THE INTACT BODY OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. (GOA)

St. Francis Xavier, who took it upon himself to spread The Gospel, has been dead for the last 500 years now. Yet hisbody has not decomposed….You can find him enshrined in a glass case at The Bascilla of Bomm Jesus Church in Goa, even today.