236 items in this section. Displaying page 3 of 24
Where does the Pigeon Post Operate?
Among birds, pigeons have a natural and unerring instinct of returning to their nests or homes after long flights. In the early days besides domesticating animals like the horse, dog and cow, people also bred pigeons to carry messages back and forth. These pigeons are called homing pigeons. Racing pigeons have a life span of 15-20 years. A healthy bird can fly stretches upto 1,000 km. Normally the message is tied around the feet of the pigeon in a plastic capsule to protect the paper....
Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Born on September 5, 1888 in Tirutlani (now in Andhra Pradesh), Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan rose to become one of modern India’s most respected scholars and statesmen. He was born to teach as a major part of his life was spent as an academic. He taught philosophy at the universities of Andhra, Mysore and Calcutta. He also held a professorship in eastern religion and ethics at Oxford. His distinguished academic career included the Chancellorship of Delhi University and vice–chancellorship of Benares Hindu University....
Basket-making in India
Weaving of baskets in India is an art as ancient as the making of pottery. Even the nomadic food gathering cultures wove reeds together to prepare baskets. Later, different materials and cultures developed a variety of basketry for domestic use, as well as for ritual purposes. They developed special patterns based on local traditions and techniques. Baskets as we know them are made out of twigs, bamboo, cane and the wild monsoon grass, and are covered with golden grass or the golden outer skin of the rice plant....
Holi – The Colours of Spring
Quick, think of spring and what comes to mind? The festival of Holi, of course!! Think of Holi and what springs to mind? ‘Gulal’ or dry colours in bright shades, ‘pichkaris’ or water pistols, and buckets of water to drench people, right? For, winter has finally come to an end, and the friendly mischief of spring is in the air. And so, on the day of Holi, huge armies of children and adults come out on the streets....
Magic of Kondapalli Toys
Did you know that animals, birds, reptiles and humans learn the lessons of life through play? Any object can be used as a toy. Lion cubs even play with their parent’s tail! Human children play with objects of daily life, like spoons and cardboard boxes. But toys remain the favourite playthings of most children. In India, the oldest toys belong to the 5000 year-old Harappan civilisation. These toys were made with natural materials like clay, wood and stone....
Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi, née Indira Priyadarshini Nehru (1917-1984), was born on November 19, 1917, in Allahabad, the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. A graduate of Visva-Bharati University, Bengal, she also studied at the University of Oxford, England. In 1938 she joined the National Congress party and became active in India’s independence movement. In 1942 she married Feroze Gandhi, a Parsi lawyer also active in the party. Shortly after, both were arrested by the British on charges of subversion and spent 13 months in prison....
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi was born on June 19, 1945 as the daughter of national leader General Aung San (assassinated July 19, 1947) and Daw Khin Kyi. She was educated in Rangoon, Burma until she was 15 years old. In 1960 she accompanied her mother to Delhi, India on her appointment as Burmese ambassador to India and Nepal. Kyi studied politics at Delhi University. She earned a BA in philosophy, politics and economics from St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University....
India's first Underwater World
June 24: If you have ever visited an aquariam you would have noticed that the fish look plain bored. Their homes are not very exciting. Nor are the visitors terribly charged up. True, some aquariums are fairly well maintained, but the fact remains that they rarely attract hordes of visitors. The government of Maharashtra has suddenly woken up to the fact that this is a fishy state of affairs. And it wants to make amends. So it has entered into a partnership with a Singapore-based company to create India’s first underwater world, or oceanarium....
R.K. Narayan
Nearly 70 years ago, India’s greatest living writer in English, took out a brand new exercise book and wrote in it: “It was Monday morning.” With those four words, Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Narayan (just R.K. Narayan to most) took off on a journey to that oddly populated fictional continent called Malgudi, with the young boy Swami and his eclectic mix of friends. “The very first line I wrote was ‘It was Monday morning.’ And then I had an idea of a railway station, a very small railway station, a wayside station....
Dalai Lama
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet was born in 1935, soon after the 13th Dalai Lama passed away. He was the fourth son of a poor peasant family in Takster village, Amdo province in eastern Tibet. The line of Dalai Lamas, spiritual and temporal rulers of Tibet since the 13th century, is a succession of incarnations. In accordance with tradition, search parties were sent to find the successor to the thirteenth Dalai Lama. Two years later, following the various signs and portents, a government party was led to Takster, where they found the infant Lhamo Thondup....