Friday, 29 July 2016

Some interesting facts about the cricketers Ajinkya Rahane & Shikhar Dhawan

Some time in the 90s, a team of enthusiastic cricketers had travelled to Azad Maidan from a faraway suburb called Dombivilli to play a cricket match.

The opener of this team was an eight-year-old boy. The first ball of the match was a quick bouncer which crashed into the helmet of this tiny batsman, who subsequently fell down and started crying.

Just as his seniors thought it was a mistake to make him face a bowler who was thrice his age and size, the boy wiped his tears, put his helmet back on, and said: 'I'm ready." The bowler, a waiter in a nearby restaurant, told the boy he would be better off facing the old ball. He responded by smashing his next five balls for fours. It took five balls for the boy to change the bowler's opinion about him for good.

This child is none other than Ajinkya Rahane

Sunday, 24 July 2016

Some mindblowing legal cases and arguments !

1)
We've all heard the popular Red Bull advertising slogan:
"Red Bull gives you wings."
One consumer of the fizzy beverage claimed to consume Red Bull for ten years. Only to find out that he neither had wings nor any enhanced athletic or intellectual performance post prolonged consumption of the beverage.
He sued Red Bull for false advertising.
The case went against Red Bull; who were asked to pay $13mn in damages. $6.5m of which would go into a fund where people who have bought Red Bull since 2002 could claim a refund through a special Red Bull internet page - Red Bull Settlement
2)
Another little lawsuit:
A man from Illinois, Ronald Ball sued Pepsi because he claimed that a mouse was found in his Mountain Dew.
To counter Ronald's argument, Pepsi said that any rat that has been in Mountain Dew for more than a month would have dissolved. And since the Mountain Dew Ronald claimed to have a rat in it was packed more than thirty days ago, it would be impossible to find the rat. And hence, the claim is false.
Curious to know what that might look like?

Wednesday, 20 July 2016

Have you wondered why our system asks to burn the data into CD or DVD?

Have you wondered why our system as

Why does the system use the word burn instead of copy? Doesn't it sound like it is asking to put the data into fire?!

Here is the reality behind the word burn.

The information on a disc is  recorded in the digital form, representing a series of zeros and ones. A disc has a thin reflective metal sheet with a translucent dye layer on the top. The CD writer is equipped with a powerful 'write laser' that burnstranslucent dye to make it opaque. The parts which are opaque block light from the reflecting of the metal sheet, giving them a digital value Zero. The parts which are left translucent get a value of One.



This is why the word burn is used instead of copy/paste.

Thursday, 14 July 2016

Some amazing facts about Indian armed forces

There are lots of answers here about the numbers, weapons and battle terrains. I would like answer about the kind of morality and respect that Indian army upholds.

During the 1999 Kargil war, the Pakistani army in order to avoid a full scale war and international condemnation, dressed its soldiers as terrorists and guerrillas and sent them to capture the Indian outposts that Indian army had vacated during the winter. This was done by both armies out of mutual trust since the cold is unbearable during winters. But we all know how Pakistan is. And as per tradition, the Indian army showing great restrain eliminated the intruders without crossing the LoC.
Now here is the interesting part. The Pakistan government, to avoid accepting that it was the Pakistani army that lost the war, refused to accept the bodies of its own soldiers, even senior officers (Pakistan refuses to take even officers' bodies). Just imagine what kind of army does that!
The Indian army buried the bodies of the soldiers and officers with full honor following Islamic rituals.

Now why is this so important? Because this is what the Pakistani soldiers had done not to the 'dead bodies' but the living bodies of Indian soldiers. On 15 May 1999 Lt Saurabh Kalia and five other soldiers – Sepoys Arjun Ram, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria, Bhika Ram, Moola Ram and Naresh Singh were captured alive by Pakistani soldiers.

They were returned dead, when by Geneva Convention all Prisoner of Wars are to be meted with humane treatment. But they were given something worse than death.
Post-mortem examinations revealed that the Pakistanis had tortured their prisoners by: burning their bodies with cigarettes, piercing the ear-drums with hot rods, puncturing eyes before removing them, breaking most of their teeth and bones, fracturing their skulls, cutting the lips, chipping of nose, chopping off limbs and private organs of the soldiers, and finally shooting them dead, as evidenced by bullet wounds to the temple. The post-mortem also confirmed the injuries were inflicted ante-mortem (before death).(The Sunday Tribune - Spectrum)


Imagine the condition of the mothers of these soldiers when they saw the mutilated bodies of their sons!
And despite such acts that would shame the devil, the Indian army gave full respect to the bodies of Pakistani soldiers. (Remembering Kargil heroes: How Pak soldier Captain Sher Khan was acknowledged by India too)
This sir, is the Indian Army to you.

Monday, 11 July 2016

Best war strategies of ancient Indians !

Some of the defensive tactics,
1] Anti-Elephant Spikes
The giants were used to fall apart the massive doors of forts, so they developed doors with spikes, popularly, Anti-Elephant Spikes, to protect against direct threat from elephants.
Camel cushion : To avoid the loss of elephants to the elephant spikes, people in those times use to make a camel stand parallel to the door and the elephant was forced to ram the camel eventually breaking the door and in process killing the camel. Camels were much cheaper than elephants so they could afford the loss of a camel(From comments)
2] Veil of the Gate
One of the gate of fortified city Jodhpur, Merti Gateused to have an additional  wall in front of gate to prevent elephants to fall apart the gate, as well as reduce the running distance for wooden logs used manually on gates.
3] Rims of Boiling Oil
See those small places over the passage, known as Rims of boiling oils, used by the guards as the standing point. ( Devgiri Fort, Daulatabad.)
Similar structures are found in almost every fort, like in Jaisalmer Fort, they had large boulder along with boiling water to be put on enemy trapped between the two ring of ramparts.
4] A dark Passage
Those who cross the fortification has to pass through a pitch dark zig-zag cave passage known as Andhari, carved through the rock. It is connected to several caves inside , which lead back to the moat. The army hiding inside the dark enclosure used to kill the stuck enemy soldiers using spears.
The opening gate of this passage was covered by a heavy iron lid, which could be closed just by rolling, and poisonous gases could be ejected into trap.
5]Narrow passages with sharp angular turns
Most of the forts used to have sharp angular turns in paths, slowing down the enemy advancement.
(Mehrangarh Fort)

Friday, 8 July 2016

mind blowing facts about Dubai

You are aware about the Palm Jumeriah.
But there is not only one palm island in Dubai. There are more then one.
The Palm Jumeriah
  • The palm jumerah is the smallest of 3 islands and still its so vast that it could be seen from space.
The Palm Jebel ali
  • You can see on this pic, something written in arabic; those are boardwalks that circle the "fronds" of the "palm" and spell out an Arabic poem described by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum:
  • Palm Jebel ali is twice the size of Palm Jumeriah.
  • This is a tranquil island with 29 luxury hotels, water homes and floating homes.
The Palm deira
  • This is even bigger then The Jebel ali.
  • Measuring 14 km’s long distance, is almost twice the size of Palm Jebel ali and thrice the size of Palm Jumeriah.
  • It will consist of residential property, marinas, shopping malls, sports facilities, and clubs. The residential area will be located on the fronds and will contain 8,000 two-storey town houses in three distinct styles - Premier Villas, Grand Villas and Vista Town Homes.
The World Island
  • 4 Km’s out at sea, 100’s of small private islands were being constructed. Seen from the air these islands will take the shape of the continents of the world
  • This was an even more complicated then the Palm islands. Because this is not only one island, there are 300 and each one is different bearing in size from 5 acres to 20 acres.
  • Each island had to be built in exactly the right position to create the global love from space, any mistake and the whole design would be ruined.
  • This is one of the private island owned by former F1 racer “ Michael Schumacher. ” in The World Island.
  • Dubai Waterfront
  • This will create 75 km’s of waterfront stretching into the desert.
  • The project is a conglomeration of canals and artificial archipelago; it would occupy the last remaining Persian Gulf coastline of Dubai, the most populous emirate of the United Arab Emirates.
  • The vision of the project is "to create a world-class destination for residents, visitors and businesses in the world's fastest growing city".
This is how it looks.
The overall structures of largest man made structures in DUBAI.

Thursday, 7 July 2016

Some mind-blowing facts about the Indian cricket players that most Indians don't know about !

Sreesanth having played 53 ODIs, 27 Tests and 10 T20Is for India before being banned dismissed players like Hashim Amla, ABD, Gilchrist, Pietersen, Kallis, Greame Smith on multiple occasions in his short career.
Sreesanth, right, appeals successfully for a LBW to dismiss South Africa's Hashim Amla
Sreesanth celebrates dismissing ABD for a duck on the first day of the second Test at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban on December 27, 2010.
Sreesanth celebrates dismissing Mark Boucher with his first ball for a duck (0 Runs) on the second day of the third Test match between South Africa and India at the Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on January 3, 2011.
Sreesanth is elated after removing Adam Gilchrist , India v Australia, 18th match, Champions Trophy, October 29, 2007
Sreesanth is ecstatic after dismissing Kevin Pietersen, England v India, 2nd Test, Trent Bridge, 1st day, July 29, 2011
Bounced OUT: Sreesanth got rid of Jacques Kallis (in pic) by bowling an unplayable delivery that the South African gloved to gully
Sreesanth celebrates after dismissing Graeme Smith of South Africa at the Wanderers
Matt Prior just couldn't look as Sreesanth began his inter-planetary dance to alert his alien friends of a wicket finally.
Sreesanth celebrating the dismissal of Ramnaresh Sarwan before lunch, West Indies v India, 1st Test, Antigua, 5th day, June 6, 2006

Tuesday, 5 July 2016

Some mind-blowing facts about the Indian cricket players that most Indians don't know about

1. Sachin Tendulkar once happened to play for Pakistan before he started playing for India!!! Yes, it is true. This incident took place during a practice match between the rival nations India and Pakistan at the Brabourne Stadium in 1987. Tendulkar came onto the field as a substitute fielder for Pakistan.
2. Bishen Singh Bedi once forfeited an ODI match between India and Pakistan simply because of too much use of the bouncer deliveries by the Pakistani fast bowlers especially, Sarfraz Nawaz! India just needed 23 runs from 14 balls with 8 wickets in hand when this incident happened.
3. The Indian cricket team is the only team to have been dismissed fully twice in a single day of a test match. This happened against England at Old Trafford in 1952.
4. The 1984-85 seasons’ 2nd One Day International between India and Pakistan at Sialkot, Pakistan. India was at a score of 210 runs for the loss of 3 wickets with Dilip Vengsarkar on the crease at a score of 94*. Match was duly announced to be abandoned after hearing the news of the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi being assassinated.
5. The only cricketer to have played for both England and India is The Nawab Of Pataudi (Senior), aka, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, the grandfather of Indian actor, Saif Ali Khan.
6. VVS Laxman is the only Indian cricketer to have played 100 Test matches and did not play a single World Cup match.
7. Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma is held responsible for all the three highest scores made by a batsman against India in the 21st century. The list includes –
Alistair Cook – 294 Runs, Edgbaston 2011;
Michael Clarke – 329 Runs, Sydney 2012;
Brendon McCullum – 302 Runs, Wellington 2014.
They were all dropped by Ishant Sharma at quite early stages of their innings.
8. The Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has never scored an ODI century outside Asia.
9. Shahid Afridi was flown in to play for the Pakistan team from West Indies to Nairobi in 1996 without a proper bat. That was when Waqar Younis gave ‘Young Afridi’ a bat to score the then Fastest ODI century off just 36 balls against Sri Lanka. Afridi hit 11 sixes and six boundaries. The record though now belongs to South Africa’s AB De Villiers.
10. Indian batsman Mohinder Amarnath is the only cricketer in cricket history to have been dismissed for handling the ball and obstructing the field.
11. India’s lowest total in One Day International match –
It was India v Sri Lanka in the Sharjah Cup final. First Sanath Jayasuriya roasted the Indian bowlers for a majestic score of 189 runs as his team scored a total of 299 runs. Next in India’s part of batting, Sri lankan fast bowler Chaminda Vaas cleaned up the top order including the best opening pair of all times, viz., Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly and the entire team fell out soon after like a pack of cards for just 54 runs on the score board.
12. India’s lowest Total in Test Cricket –
It was the 2nd test match of the India Vs. England Test series at Lord’s stadium in London. The Indian team collapsed like a pack of cards within just 42 runs piled at the score board. Following on in the 2nd innings, little did the Indian side imagine that they would be piled up for such a meager score.
13. The God of Cricket Sachin Tendulkar got out for a duck only for once in his entire Ranji Trophy cricketing career and the bowler was young and naive Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
14. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is only the second batsman in ODIs to be out for a diamond duck (0 off 0 balls) but it was not a run out. He was actually stumped off by a wide delivery on his very first ball.
15. Sunil Gavaskar was out off the very first ball of a Test match thrice in his cricketing career.
16. Sunil Gavaskar batted the entire 60 overs of a One Day match, scoring just 36 runs and remained not out in the 1975 World Cup match against England. India at the end lost the match by a huge margin of more than 200 runs.
17. Bapu Nadkarni sent down 131 deliveries without even conceding a single run versus England at Madras in 1964.
18. India 51 – 72 Pakistan. Yet, India 7 – 0 Pakistan. In all the 132 ODI matches played till now, India has won 51 matches while 72 matches have been won by Pakistan. And no result = 4, abandoned = 5. However though, India has never lost to Pakistan in any World Cups over the years. That’s a positive side as well.
19. On the day when Sunil Gavaskar was born, his uncle, Mr Masurekar had come to the hospital to see his nephew for the first time. His uncle noticed a small hole near the top of his left ear lobe. But the very next day, when he arrived at the hospital to see little Sunny, he did not find the hole! He was much shocked. A query was made later and little Sunny was found asleep blissfully beside a fisher-woman in the next bed. The little master was quite mysteriously been switched at birth but he was luckily been restored thereafter. Now, one often ponders as to how different India’s as much as the World’s cricketing history would have been different had Gavaskar’s uncle not been so observant! This one really creates goose bumps.
20. Prabir Sen, hailing from Bengal, India was the only wicket keeper in the cricket history to have stumped Sir Donald Bradman of Australia.
21. India is the only nation to have won the 60-Over, 50-Over and 20-Over World Cups.
60 over – 1983
50 over – 2011
20 over – 2007
22. Sourav Ganguly, Team India’s most successful cricket captain is the only such cricketer in the history of Cricket to have four consecutive ‘Man of the Match’ (MoM) awards in One Day International (ODI) format of cricket.
23. Mohammad Azharuddin, the former Indian captain is the only batsman to have possibly scored three back to back centuries in his first three test matches.

Sunday, 3 July 2016

Some things every Indian should know about Indian history

The Battle of Bahraich - Never heard of it ? Its because our history books tend to avoid battles won by Indians against Invaders.

Here is the description of the battle - 

Mahmud Ghazni was accompanied by his nephew Salar Masud on many of his raids against India. Mahmud Ghazni never planned on ruling India. He raided and left with wealth before local Kings could unitedly retaliate against him. 

After the death of Mahmud Ghaznavi, Masud invaded India in 1031 with a 100,000 strong army. Unlike his uncle He wanted to rule India. He was able to  march victoriously up to Bahraich ( presently in Uttar Pradesh ). From there He sent envoys to neighbouring Hindu kings to surrender and embrace Islam. The kings replied back that the lands belonged to them and asked Masud to leave peacefully. Masud declined to leave.

Seventeen Rajput kings forged an alliance to fight against Masud. They conducted a chess competition to decide a leader for the alliance. Raja Sukhdev was selected as leader of the alliance.

In 1033 the Rajputs Army of 120,000 attacked Masud's camp. Masud's army was completely besieged and surrounded. The Rajput confederation emerged victorious. Invaders like Mahmud Ghazni used to kill surrendered soldiers and enslave entire towns, villages. To pay them in the same coin, no prisoners of war were taken in this battle. Each and every soldier of the invading army were annihilated.

After this astounding victory no one dared to attack India for another 160 years.

Our history books content were written at the time of British rule. To depict India as weak and defenceless they omitted some heroic battles of Indians.

Facts about India that Indians are generally unaware of

We’ve all seen the different maps of India be it political, physical, historical etc.
But did you ever compare the map of India published by other neighbouring countries with that of India herself?
Being eternally bored I was going through some articles when I came across this weird fact which many of you might be unaware of.
Let’s first look at the map of her neighbour Pakistan.
Noticed anything slightly different?
No?
Ok, well let’s look at one more specimen before it becomes obvious…
Pay attention to the North-East corner of Pakistan.
Anything out-of-the-box?
Yes. Pakistan claims to have almost 2,22,236 sq km of the North-Western wing of Jammu & Kashmir. I don’t need to remind you of the numerous wars arising due to this area. The most recent one being Operation Meghdoot.
The dispute doesn’t end here.
Let’s have a look at the map of China
Anything weird again aha?
Wait, this might be a bit difficult to notice but just pay attention to the South-Eastern and South-Western regions of China bordering India.
Got it?
Yesssssss!!!
China too claims to have almost all of the Aksai Chin region of the Northern Ladakh plateau and some part of the Northern Arunachal Pradesh.
In the map below, the red region is claimed to be under Chinese authority while the yellow under Pak governance.
The Indian Govt. has taken some serious steps to stop the Indian cartographers from publishing such wrong maps.
Did you know that even the mega-giant Google Maps ran into trouble for putting out the wrong map in 2007 which showed the Arunachal Pradesh(an Indian state) as part of the Chinese province!
But dear readers, according to the recent Google Maps we do own what we claim.
So here you are with the different versions of the correct Indian map. Well, maybe some other Quoran is writing the same answer in his version of “India claiming regions of their land”.
Haha who knows? :P