Facts of The World – 15 811. The word ‘ genie’ refers to a spirit or a goblin with strange powers. It comes from the word ‘jinni’, a type of demon in Arabian mythology. The Jinni was believed to be an invisible, intelligent being made form air or fire. It could take the form of a human or an animal. It could be good or bad. The jinni appears in many...

Facts of The World – 16 801. The banana is indigenous to the warm, moist parts of North- Eastern India , Burma and other South- East Asian countries. After a banana plant has borne fruit, it withers and another one grows right next to it rising from the underground stem called the sucker. Hindus consider the banana plant to be auspicious and during religious ceremonies and festivals, a pair of entire...

Facts of The World – 14 791. The river Ganga which rises in the Himalayan Uttaranchal and flows about 2,500 kilometers, serves the largest cultivable area. 792. Rima Dutta was the first woman to receive the Arjuna award in aquatics. 793. Om Agarwal was the first Indian to win the world Amateur snooker championship. 794. Every year some50 million cars are added to the world’s roads, making car- manufacture the largest...

Facts of The World – 13 781. ‘March’ comes from the Roman month of Maritus and is named after Mars, the god of war. 782. The word ‘April’ come from the Roman month Aprils and is possibly derived either from Aphrodite, the Greek equivalent of the Roman Goddess Venus, or from the Latin ‘aperire’, which means ‘to open’, in reference to the blossoming of spring. 783. ‘May’ comes from the Roman...

Facts of The World – 12 771. The Beating the Retreat revives an ancient military custom when drummers were sent through the streets just before sunset to warn the troops to return to the barracks before the flag was brought down for the night. 772. ‘Sunday’ is named after the sun. 773. ‘Monday’ is named after the moon. 774. ‘Tuesday’ is named after Tiw (or ‘Tiu’ ), the Anglo – Saxon...

Facts of The World – 11 761. Contrary to popular belief, kings and princes in ancient India sported beards. 762. Alexander the Great was the first person to shave off his beard and thus set a new fashion trend in those days. 763. ‘Mary had a little lamb’ was the first song to have been recorded on a gramophone record. 764. Spinach is a good source of vitamins A, B and...

Facts of The World – 10 751. To see at night as well as an owl, you would need eyeballs as big as a grapefruit. 752. The Chinese do not use alphabets – the letters of a language given in a regular order. They draw out in shapes whole words. These idea shapes are called ‘ideograms’. 753. The Malaysian considers the sighting of a lizard a good omen. 754. The Malaysians...