You should know this things about our country...

1. Around 100 million years ago, India was an island.

2. India has been one of the largest troop contributor to the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions since its inception.

3. India has the world’s third largest active army, after China and USA.

4. The Tirupati Balaji temple and the Kashi Vishwanath Temple both, receive more visitors than the Vatican City and Mecca combined.

5. Every 12 years, a religious gathering called the Kumbh Mela occurs in India. It is the world’s largest gathering of people.

6. The gathering is so large that the Kumbh Mela is visible from the space.

7. Varanasi is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.

8. India has more mosques (300,000 mosques) than any other nation, only after Indonesia, in the world.

9. And the third largest Muslim population in the world.

10. Takshila is said to be the first ever university in the world; it started around 700 BC.

11. Number of births in India every year is more than the total population of Australia, and many other nations.

12. India’s first rocket was brought on cycle and a satellite on bullock cart.

13. And despite budgetary constraints, India’s space program is one of the top 5 space programs in the world.

14. Lonar Lake, a saltwater lake in Maharashtra, was created by a meteor hitting the Earth and is one of its kind in India.

15. In a village called Shani Shingnapur in Maharashtra, people have been living in houses with no doors for generations. This is because they believe that whoever steals anything from this place will incur the wrath of Shani God and will have to pay for his/her sins very dearly. There is no police station in this village either.

16. Magnetic Hill is a gravity hill located near Leh in Ladakh, India. The hill is alleged to have magnetic properties strong enough to pull cars uphill and force passing aircraft to increase their altitude in order to escape magnetic interference.

17. Viswanathan Anand is the first player in chess history to have won the World Championship in three different formats: knockout, tournament, and match.

18. Chess was invented in India.

19. Buttons were invented in India. Yes, your shirt’s buttons.

20. We also invented the ruler.

21. And shampoo.

22. And discovered the number zero.

23. And the value of pi.

24. And trigonometry, algebra, calculus.

25. And cataract surgery.

26. And plastic surgery.

27. And diamond mining.

28. And water on the moon.

29. Until 1725, the only place where diamonds had been officially found was in India.

30. India is the largest producer of films in the world.

31. India gave the world Yoga, that has existed for more than 5,000 years.

32. May 26 is celebrated as the Science Day in Switzerland in honour of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, because on the day, Kalam visited the country.

33. Martial Arts was first created in India.

34. India is the world’s largest importer of arms.

35. But India has never invaded or attacked a country.

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.

Albert Einstein.