The Himalayas ascending

The Himalayas are the world’s highest mountain range. They are also the youngest. Like any adolescent youth, this mountain range is continuously growing and changing every year. The current highest point of the range is at 29, 035 feet above sea level. This is a full 7 feet higher than the previous record. Professor Bradford Washburn of the Boston Museum of Science, along with his team, helped determine the new height of Mount Everest. They also propounded that the mountains are growing at a rate of 2.4inches/6.1cms every year.

• • •

Indian Standard Time (IST)

This day in the year 1947 saw the establishment of Indian Standard Time (IST) as the official time for the entire country. It is the time observed in India and Sri Lanka. It is denoted as E.

• • •

Born between peace and terror

Eminent physicist Albert Einstein was born in the year 1879. Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of peace, was born in 1869 and Adolf Hitler, the epitome of terror, in 1889. Hence the expression that Einstein was born between peace and terror.

• • •

More movies are produced in India than in Hollywood

About 1,000 movies are produced in India every year, most of which are produced in Mumbai (called Bollywood), as compared to Hollywood which makes around 600 films annually. Movies of other regional languages are produced mostly in their respective states. Movies made in the languages Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, etc. among others have gained recognition both within and outside their domains.

• • •

‘Bungalow’ originated from Bengal

The term bungalow gained currency in India in the seventeenth century when the English East India Company officers started coming to India. It is derived from the Hindi word bangla, which means belonging to Bengal. Bungalows are generally one and half-storeyed houses with a front porch. The architecture of bungalows is archetypal of eastern Indian residential buildings.

• • •