-Travelling in India is like a roller-coaster ride, thrilling and unforgettable.
-India has something to offer to every traveller: scenic beauty, beaches, mountains, fauna, adventure sports, luxury hotels, historical monuments, a cultural treat for all the senses... The experience will leave you a little exhausted; because in every moment, there's so much to live.
-India isn't called Incredible India for nothing.
-This wonderful land is riddled with more mysteries and astonishing things than Alice or Dorothy could ever have imagined.
=Sometimes uncanny and sometimes uplifting, India is full of surprises.
-Every corner of this wonderland has something waiting to be unraveled, just like these:
1. Levitating Stone - Shivapur, Maharashtra
-Somewhere in Pune, in a quaint little hamlet called Shivapur, lies the Hazrat Qamar Ali Darvesh that has a magical story to tell.
-The current shrine was a gymnasium, 800 years ago.
A Sufi saint called Qamar Ali was taunted by the wrestlers there.
-The saint placed a spell on the rocks that were used for body-building.
-The 70 kg rock can only be lifted by 11 finger tips touching it and calling out his name loudly.
-Till date, the Stone of Qamar Ali can be magically lifted by chanting his name!
2. Lake of Skeletons - Roopkund Lake, Chamoli, Uttarakhand
-At a height of 16,500 feet, in the middle of the most uninhabitable part of the Himalayas lies the secluded Roopkund Lake, covered in snow and surrounded by rock-strewn glaciers.
-More popularly known as Skeleton Lake or Mystery Lake , the spine-chilling attraction of this lake is the 600 odd human skeletons that were discovered here.
-These date back to the 9th CE and are clearly visible at the bottom of the shallow lake when the snow melts.
3. The Curious Case Of Twins - Kodinhi (Kerala) and Umri (near Allahabad)
-Kodinhi, a sleepy little town tucked away in the Malappuram district of Kerala, has managed to baffle scientists across the world.
-In a population of 2000, Kodinhi has 350 pairs of identical twins! It has rightfully earned the title of 'Twin Town.'
6 pairs of twins in every 1000 births is considered a high twinning rate.
-Kodinhi has a rate of 42 twins per 1000 births.
This means, almost every family in Kodinhi has more than one pair of twins!
-Mohammedpur Umri village, near Allahabad has a similar tale to tell.
With over 60 pairs of identical twins in a total population of 900, Umri's twinning rate is 300 times the national average, and perhaps the highest in the world.
-Researchers believe that the cause might lie in the genes, but for others, it is the divine hand.
4. Get pulled uphill by magnetic force - Magnetic Hill, Ladakh
-At an altitude of 11000 feet above sea level, Magnetic Hill is one of the must-see things on the way to Leh.
-It is known to have magnetic power that can pull a car towards itself even when the ignition is off.
-It is a thrilling experience, but in reality, it is only an optical illusion caused by gravity hill.
-Magnetic Hill is one of the world's recognized gravity hills.
5. Asia's Cleanest Village - Mawlynnong, Meghalaya
-Mawlynnong Village in Cherrapunji is popularly called 'God's Own Garden.'
-It has won international accolades for being Asia's Cleanest Village.
-It is a community-based effort for promoting eco-tourism.
-It is interesting to note that this village has a 100% literacy rate and most villagers speak English fluently.
-Mawlynnong boasts of other amazing sights like waterfalls, Living Roots Bridge and a Balancing Rock.
6. India's Highest and Most Tragic Waterfall- Nohkalikai Falls, Meghalaya
-At a height of 1115 feet, the Nohkalikai Falls near Cherrapunji is India's highest plunge waterfall.
-Fed naturally by rainwater, this waterfall is named after the tragic tale of a woman called Ka Likai.
-After the death of her husband, Ka Likai remarried.
-But her new husband was extremely jealous of her love for her daughter.
-He murderd the daughter, and to hide the evidence, cooked up her remains into a meal.
-Kali Kai searched high and low for her daughter but cannot find her.
-Her husband offers her the meal, as she is exhausted.
After eating, she discovers to her horror, the daughter's fingers lying in basket filled with betel-nuts.
-Grieved and anguished, she throws herself off the cliff, giving the waterfall its name, ' Nohkalikai ' meaning 'Fall of Ka Likai.'
7. Hanging Pillar - Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh
-The small historical village of Lepakshi is home to many ancient relics and architectural marvels.
-One of them is the Hanging Pillar of the Lepakshi temple.
-Amongst the 70 pillars of the temple, one hangs without any support! Visitors pass objects under the pillar to check if the claim is true.
-According to locals, passing objects under the pillar brings prosperity to one's life.
8.The Eternal Flame - Jwala Ji Temple, Kangra
-Throughout the year, people visit the Jwala Ji Temple of Kangra to seek blessings from the Goddess.
-In the centre of the temple, a hollowed stone holds a flame that has been burning for hundreds of years.
-According to the legend, Lord Shiva's wife, Sati, immolated herself in anguish when her father disrespected her husband.
-A furious Shiva danced the Tandav Nritya carrying the burnt corpse.
-In doing so, she fell into 51 parts and landed on the earth.
-Each of these locations turned into a religious shrine for the Hindus.
-The Jwala Ji of Kangra is believed to be Sati's fiery tongue.
9. The Motorcycle God - Bullet Baba Shrine, Bandai, Rajasthan
-If there is any place in the world where you'll come across a shrine where flowers and liquor bottles are offered to a motorcycle, it has to be in India! At Bandai, Jodhpur, Om Singh Rathore died when he crashed his Bullet into a tree while riding drunk.
-The police claimed the bike and took it to the station.
-The next day, the bike was found at the spot of the accident.
-They brought it back to the station, emptied the fuel tank and chained it.
-Yet the bike miraculously found its way back to accident spot the next day.
-The motorcycle was moved permanently to the location and the Om Baba (or Bullet Baba as it is popularly called) Shrine was erected.
-Every day many passers-by come to offer their prayers.
-The spirit of Om Banna is believed to protect travellers.
10. Living Roots Bridge - Cherrapunji, Meghalaya
-In Cherrapunji, Meghalaya, man has befriended nature and cajoled it into bending to his ways.
-People build bridges, but the Khasis of Meghalaya, they grow bridges.
-Ficus Elastica or the Rubber Tree produces strong secondary roots from their trunks.
These have been trained to grow in a particular direction using betel-nut trunks, forming sturdy, living bridges over decades.
Some of these bridges are more than a hundred feet long.
-The Umshiang Double Decker Bridge is truly one of a kind in the entire world.
Some ancient root bridges are over 500 years old.
11. World's Only Floating Lake - Loktak Lake, Manipur
-The largest freshwater lake in India's North-East, the Loktak Lake is a sight to behold.
-Because of its floating phumdis, it has been named the world's only floating lake.
-Apart from its scenic beauty, this lake plays a big role in Manipur's economy, serving as a source for hydropower generation, irrigation, drinking water supply and source of livelihood for local fishermen.
-The largest of all the phumdis, or floating islands on Loktak, is the Keibul Lamjao National Park, the last natural refuge of the endangered Manipur Brow-Antlered deer.
ALL THAT IS ABOUT 11 WONDERFUL PLACES IN INDIA
word of the day: taciturn
meaning: reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little.
eg: Marya came back to dinner taciturn and serious, having evidently suffered a defeat at the old prince's.
quote of the day: " work hard in silence, let your success be your noise."
