Facts about INDIA

• India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
• When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
• The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
• The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
• Chess was invented in India.
  
  
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.
• The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.
• The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
• India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7^th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
• The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
• The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
• India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world. 
  
• The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
• The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
  
  
• India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
• The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
• Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.
• The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).
• Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world
  (Source: Gemological Institute of America).
• The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
• Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
• Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
• India exports software to 90 countries.
• The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
• Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
• Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.
• There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
• The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
• Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively
• The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.
• The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
• Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
• Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
• India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.
• His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
• Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
• Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

Indian Railway

• The total distance covered by the 14,300 trains on the Indian Railways every day, equals three & half times the distance to moon.
• The first train in India ran on 16^th April 1853 from Bombay to Thane.

• Indian Railways is one of the world's largest railway networks, with 115,000 kms of tracks and a route of 65,000 kms.
• Indian Railways has about 7,000 railway stations. 
• The longest platform in the world is at Kharagpur and is 2,733 ft. in length
• 42 Railway companies operated in the country before independence. 
• The national Rail Museum at New Delhi was set-up in 1977.

• Indian Railway is constructing the highest rail bridge over Chenab, in J&K. 
• Loco-pilots (train drivers) are paid more than an average software engineer. 
• No loco-pilot has abandoned the train even in the face of certain death. 
• The Indian Railways website gets close to 12 Lakh hits per minute. 
• If the tracks of Indian railways were to be laid out, they would circle the earth almost 1.5 times. 

• The station with the longest name is Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta. 
• Most unreliable train in Indian Railways is Guwahati-Trivandrum Express. It is late on an average by ten to twelve hours. 
• The station with the smallest name is called ‘IB ’: It’s in Odisha. 
• The longest running train covers a distance of 4273 km between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari: It’s called the Vivek Express. 

• The shortest distance covered between two successive stations is 3 kilometers. It’s between the Nagpur and Ajni station. 
• Lucknow is the busiest junction in the nation: 64 trains come in and move out, every day. 
• The first railroad was constructed by two Indians – Jaganath Shunkerseth and Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. 
• Metupalayam Ooty Nilgiri Passenger train is the slowest train in India. It runs at a speed of 10 kmph. 

• Indian Railways is a monopoly. It is owned by the government. In 1986, 
• Indian Railways started its first computerized reservation in New Delhi.

The Google Story

Facts about WhatsApp

1. On the off chance you missed it, today Facebook announced the acquisition of WhatsApp in a $19 billion deal. The messaging app–which has enormous international usage–sold for $4 billion cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares, and $3 billion in restricted stock.

2. Twitter and Facebook had the chance to hire founder Brian Acton but didn’t!

3. They currently employ 50 people.

4. Each employee at WhatsApp created as much value as the entire Washington Post did in 137 years.

5. 32 engineers working on WhatsApp, i.e. one engineer is responsible for 14 million active users!!

6. In the last 9 months, WhatsApp added 1 million users a day.

7. WhatsApp is worth more than Southwest, Coach, Chipotle, News Corp, Under Armor, Dr. Pepper & Tiffany.

8. In one day, WhatsApp processes 4x as many messages as there are humans on the planet.

9. WhatsApp’s founders made about $5 billion EACH.

10. WhatsApp has 2.5x more active users than Twitter.

11. By market cap, WhatsApp is the 200th largest company in America.

12. NASA’s 2014 budget: $17b. WhatsApp: $19b.

13. WhatsApp founded in 2009 by former Yahoo! employees Brian Acton and Jan Koum

14. 70% of users are active on a daily basis.

15. 400 million active users in December

16. The app is the 5th most downloaded app on Android

17. WhatsApp doesn’t sell ads and zero have appeared on the app

18. Jan Koum keeps a note from Brian taped to his desk that reads “No Ads! No Games! No Gimmicks!” To keep them focused on building a pure messaging experience.

19. WhatsApp spent ZERO cash on marketing, PR and user acquisition

20. WhatsApp’s messaging volume is approaching the entire global telecom SMS volume

Facts about GOOGLE

1. Google was originally called “Backrub".
2. Google got its name by accident. The founders misspelled "googol", which refers to the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes.
3. Microsoft pays you to use Bing instead of Google.
4. Every minute, 2 million searches are performed on Google.
5. Because Gmail first launched on April 1stof 2004, many people thought it was an April Fools' Day prank.

6. If you search for “askew" in Google, the content will tilt slightly to the right.
7. Google has been acquiring 2 companies per month since 2010
8. Firefox web browser's lead developer is now working for Google Chrome.
9. Google is developing a computer so smart it can program itself.
10. Google has found GPA's and tests scores to be "worthless as criteria for hiring"; they have teams where 14% of their employees haven't gone to college.
11. In 1999, the founders of Google actually tried to sell it to Excite for just US$1 million. Excite turned them down.
12. When a Google employee dies, their spouses receive half pay from the company for 10 years and their children US$1,000 per month until they turn 19.
13. Google's First Computer Storage Was Made From LEGO.
14. For the 4th consecutive year, Google was named the best company to work for in the U.S. by Fortune Mag in 2014.

15. Google intends to scan all known existing 129 million unique books before 2020.
 

Facts about Facebook

1.  600,000 hacking attempts are made to Facebook accounts every day.

2.  You can change your language on Facebook to "Pirate."

3.  Smartphone users check Facebook 14 times a day.

4.  Several people have been murdered for unfriending someone on Facebook

5.  Facebook tracks which sites you visit, even AFTER you have signed out.

6.  1 in 3 people feel more dissatisfied with their lives after visiting Facebook, according to a study

7.  Facebook, Twitter and The New York Times have been blocked in China since 2009.

8.  A third of all divorce filings of 2011 in the U.S. contained the word "Facebook."

9.  You can't block Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook.

10. Facebook earns an average of US$5.85from every U.S. user.

11. Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg donated US$1 billion to charity in 2013, making him the biggest charitable donor in the U.S.

12. Mark Zuckerberg receives a US$ 1 salary as CEO of Facebook.

13. Zuckerberg suffers from red-green colorblindness and sees the color blue best, which is why blue dominates Facebook's color scheme.

14. AOL and Microsoft tried to recruit him when he was in high school after he created Synapse, a program that used artificial intelligence to learn users' music-listening habits.

15. He wears the same gray Facebook T-shirt almost every day because he's busy and it saves him time in the morning.

16. Despite Zuckerberg's casual wardrobe, he said he wore a tie every day in 2009 to show that Facebook was serious about growing in the face of the global recession.

17. He is a vegetarian and once said he will only eat meat if he has killed the animal himself. But among his "likes" on his Facebook page are McDonald's and In-N-Out Burger.

18.  He has amassed 220,000 Twitter followers despite the fact that he's only tweeted 19 times in four years, and not once in 15 months.

19.  In October 2010, Zuckerberg took a bunch of Facebook staffers to a public theater to see "The Social Network," the movie about the founding of Facebook. In public comments afterward, he criticized the film's portrayal of him as someone who invented Facebook to gain social status.

20.  He owns a Hungarian sheepdog named Beast, who has a Facebook page with 1.5 million fans.