Rajdhani Express: The Introduction of Superfast Train Travel
When one thinks of superfast trains in India, the first name that pops into their head indubitably is the Rajdhani Express. The Rajdhani Express, as the name suggests, is a superfast passenger train that connects the national capital with state capitals or other metropolitan cities of India. There are many
Kai po che! India’s First Kite Museum
The state of Gujarat is known for its splendorous celebration of Uttarayan, also known as Makar Sankranti. However, not just the people of Gujarat but people from across the nation come together on this day and fly kites. Ahmedabad has been hosting the International Kite Festival to celebrate Makar Sankranti
When Pepsi ambushed Coca Cola
The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 was the sixth Cricket World Cup organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament winner was Sri Lanka, who defeated Australia by seven wickets in the final match at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. While it
The Lesser Known Origins of Monopoly
An epoch ago, in 1932, Charles Todd, a Philadelphia businessman, and his wife, Olive, introduced their friends Charles Darrow and Esther Darrow to a real-estate board game. Charles Darrow developed a great fondness for the game as both couples sat around the board, passionately rolling the dice. But neither Todd
The Founding Days of Facebook
The first social media site SixDegrees.com was born in 1997. Then came AmIHotorNot.com, a website that allowed users to submit their photos so that others could rate their attractiveness, which is rumoured to have influenced the creation of Facebook and even Youtube and nurtured millions of insecurities. How that happened
The Beginnings of St. Stephen’s College
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” The first mention of St. Stephen’s College in Delhi occurs in the Report for the Delhi Mission of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
An Indian Post Office in Antarctica
“To write is human, to receive a letter: Divine!” Letters. Post Office. To the Gen Z, these words may feel like something obsolete. To the Millennials and those before them, these may bring back memories of a long-forgotten art form and a bittersweet nostalgia for the letters they once wrote.
Gandhi’s Return from South Africa
“Carefully watch your thoughts, for they become your words. Manage and watch your words, for they will become your actions. Consider and judge your actions, for they have become your habits. Acknowledge and watch your habits, for they shall become your values. Understand and embrace your values, for they become
The Birth of Bitcoin
“Bitcoin is a swarm of cyber hornets serving the goddess of wisdom, feeding on the fire of truth, exponentially growing ever smarter, faster, and stronger behind a wall of encrypted energy.” The year was 2008. The world was recovering from the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-08, and people had lost
The Korean Horse Dance That Took The World By Storm
“People who are actually from Gangnam never proclaim that they are—it’s only the posers and wannabes that put on these airs and say that they are ‘Gangnam Style’—so this song is poking fun at those kinds of people who are trying very hard to be something that they’re not.” The
How do you defeat terrorism? Don’t be terrorized.
December 13, 2001. A group of five terrorists infiltrated the Parliament House in a car with Home Ministry and Parliament labels. Although the session of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned forty minutes before the attack, many officials, such as the Home Minister and Minister of State for
Losing One of India’s Bravest Sons
We seek neither applause nor gratitude because we firmly believe in the eternal wisdom of the Urdu couplet: ‘Khamoshi se banate raho pehchan apni, hawaye khud tumhara tarana gayeyegi’. India is a fort of the multitude. Each brick of this great nation represents a different culture and embarks a colourful
The Nightmare in Bhopal
”It never occurred to anyone that this would happen…I didn’t want to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for the worst industrial accident in history.” – Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson. The people of Bhopal, the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, were asleep on a
The Story of Toy Story
“To make it believable to the audience, everything you see in a Pixar film has to be created. We don’t get that for free. In live-action, you can go on location and film something. But everything you see in a Pixar film has to be designed, modelled and shaded”. And
A City Older Than Time
“A speck of light dropped from heaven, awakening magic by its shimmer. How surreal is the time and sound of dawn in this city that even the Galaxy started singing?” The waves of the Ganges unveil their beauty with the apparition of the Sun. The sound of the prayers and
The Only Casualty In This War was the War Itself.. Albeit Three-Centuries Later
“Only the dead have seen the end of the war.” One can say that this could be the reason why the war between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly lasted a whopping three hundred and thirty-five years. Fun fact: There were zero casualties in 335 years! Situated off the
The Day Cricket Died a Little
“Sir Ronnie Flanagan, with the prior approval of the ICC board and the Pakistan Cricket Board, has exercised his discretion to allow Mohammad Amir to return to domestic cricket played under the auspices of the Pakistan Cricket Board with immediate effect.” ICC released this statement on January 28, 2015. The
A Tryst With History of India’s Annexation of Junagarh
“If any large state intrudes the sovereignty of a smaller state, that amounts to be an act of aggression.” These are the words of Mohammad Jahangir Khanji, the current Nawab of the lost state of Junagarh. A princely state geographically dead in India but politically alive in Karachi, Pakistan, where
How Alaska went from Russia to USA
The city of Angoon on Admiralty Island of Alaska has been the home to members of the Tlingit Bear Clan for thousands of years. In fact, some residents still make a living from hunting and fishing just like their ancestors did. Glancing through the ancient Tlingit histories tell us of
How JRD Tata’s Dreams Got Wings
https://smedia2.intoday.in/indiatoday/images/stories/1982November/tata%201_080213113837.jpg “My first important memories…were about cars and airplanes.” Jeh used to play with the son of the legendary Louis Bleriot, the first man to fly across the English Channel, during his summer holidays at Hardelot, a beach resort situated near Boulogne, on the Channel coast of France. Occasionally, the
The Birth of James Bond on the Silver Screen
“Bond. James Bond.” With these words, a hero of the modern world was born. Ian Fleming’s gentleman spy hero and masculine icon, James Bond, has served as a worldwide inspiration in terms of lifestyle, gear, and sophistication. In the early 1960s, American producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli and Canadian producer
From Unfulfilled Promise of Flying Cars to an Uncertain Future of EVs
After our hopes of having flying cars in the 2010s were shattered, the world has seemingly moved on to a much more down-to-earth, but almost equally unattainable hope of going green using electric vehicles (EVs). The premise being the International Energy Agency’s ‘Net Zero’ emissions target by 2050, with the
Yuvraj’s Six Sixes
History of Quizzing
Correct Answer – Plus 10 The phrase above is like music to a quizzer’s ears, validating their thirst for knowledge (read: trivia), and the need to be smarter than everyone else. Quizzing as per unconfirmed reports and unreliable sources is the world’s most intellectual hobby after all. It gives you
Christmas
Formula 1
