Category: Special

Parineeti Chopra, the first Indian woman ambassador of Australia Tourism panel, is now holidaying in Australia. Parineeti Chopra, who is a professional scuba diver, is seen diving in The Great Barrier Reef, one of the beautiful wonders of the natural world. The Bollywood actress shared her photographs on Instagram with the caption, “NO CAPTION NEEDED! Snorkelled in between my two dives ️ #GreatBarrierReef @hamiltonisland@visitqueensland @australia@thetiltshiftcrew.” Chopra’s photographs are taking the internet by storm, and has already garnered lakhs of likes in just a few hours. Parineeti, the first Indian woman ambassador of the “Friend of Australia” (FOA) advocacy panel by ... Read more

People across the world have immense love for these giant animals and Keralities stand a couple of steps ahead in showing the love for the animal. Along with a large population of wild elephants, Kerala has more than five hundred and fifty domesticated elephants at present, which are mostly owned by temples and individuals. It is also the state animal, with being featured in the state emblem, adopted from the erstwhile Royal Arms of Travancore and Cochin. Almost till the 19th Century, having a pet elephant was considered a prestige for Keralites. It was more like owning a BMW/Audi or a Rolls ... Read more

April 18 is observed as International Day For Monuments and Sites, also called World Heritage Day. As of 2018, India has 28 cultural heritages, 7 natural heritages and one mixed heritage as per the UNESCO list. Have a look at the seven natural sites of India listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List… Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area  Tirthan Valley Located in the western part of the Himalayan Mountains in Himachal Pradesh, the Great Himalayan National Park is characterized by high alpine peaks, alpine meadows and riverine forests. Established in 1984 and was formally notified as a national park in ... Read more

Masazo Nonaka, a 112-year-old man in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, is the oldest man in the world. The record has been assigned by the Guinness book authorities, after the sad demise of Francisco Olivera (113) of Spain. Masazo Nonaka, adds that his secret behind longevity are hot spring baths and sweets. Nonaka is also fond of reading newspapers, watching sumo wrestling and samurai shows. Nonaka has survived to live longer than his kin and kith, as well, as his two children and wife. Japan being famous for long-living people, where experts opine that their lifestyle, followed by a rich ... Read more

The Surana family We have only heard of ISO certifications in businesses. But, here’s one family in Chennai, who are very familiar with the term as they are India’s first, and probably the only family, to get an ISO 9000 certification. The family house of Leelavathy and Parasmal Shikhermal Surana (P.S. Surana), who run an international law firm Surana & Surana, being awarded the ISO 9000 certification in 2004. To begin with, they started shortlisting the vendors whom they would buy provisions and vegetables. The family ensured that food items did not include preservatives and chemicals. Next, they organised the kitchen shelves with ... Read more

Iranian women are not allowed to ride a motorcycle. Last year, there were reports of two women being arrested after they were filmed riding a motorbike in Iran. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had even issued a fatwa against women riding bicycles in 2016. It is in this context that one should read about Maral Yazarloo, an Iranian national, settled in Pune for the past 16 years. She started riding after coming to India and is now on a mission to ride for over 100,000 km through 45 countries in 7 continents on her 800cc BMW GS. Yazarloo has plans to ... Read more

The dry, deciduous scrub forest of the Hingolgadh sanctuary, located 180 km from Ahmedabad in Jasdan taluka of Rajkot district, is the perfect choice if you are looking for a peaceful and exciting holiday. Hingolgadh is hilly, rugged and undulating with a magnificent mosaic of grasslands, which creates a ubiquitous manifestation of nature’s glory. The sanctuary area was earlier known as ‘Motisari vidi’ and belonged to the ex-princely state of Jasdan. Back then, the Sanctuary was a hunting reserve for the royal family and was also used for grass collection. The green lush patch of Hingolgadh is spread over an ... Read more

The Republic of Chinese government is about to open the world’s longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese mainland. The project is estimated to cost around 100 billion yuan ($15.1 billion), that houses an underwater tunnel, and a curved snaking road. It is said that the structure has used about 420,000 tonnes of steel that could build nearly 60 Eiffel Towers. The 55- kilometre mega-engineering marvel is expected to last around 120 years, and took 9 years to construct. And hence engineers predict that the bridge aims to cut travel time by around 60 per cent. “The bridge’s major ... Read more

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and NYU Langone Health (US), had discovered one more organ in the human body named as the interstitium. The so-called interstitium is a fluidic membrane inside our skin, that protects and cushions other organs from damages. Researchers accidentally discovered the new organ while studying the bile ducts of a patient. The unusual patterns in the tissue lining the ducts were examined thoroughly and found out, that they were seen everywhere in the body. In short, ‘interstitium’ is nothing but a shock absorber that protects our organs during impacts and contractions. The organ houses strong webs ... Read more

China’s Tiangong-1 space station is all about to crash land to Earth’s orbit in the upcoming weekend. Tension exists as the location of the crash site is not yet predicted by scientists. Meanwhile, European Space Agency (ESA) states that the debris could hit the earth’s atmosphere 10 million times smaller than that of a lightning strike. Tiangong-1, known as the ‘Heavenly Palace’ has been sent to space orbit on 29th September 2011 by the Chinese space agency. “In the history of spaceflight, no casualties due to falling space debris have ever been confirmed,” said the space agency. As per reports, Chinese space ... Read more

In an attempt to initialize emergency landing, a Chinese pilot dumbed over 30 tonnes of fuel in mid-air, in an attempt to initialize emergency landing for a sick passenger on board. According to reports, the incident happened as a 60-year-old woman found with breathing difficulties, on board while travelling from Shanghai to NewYork. Even though the crew initiated first aid programme, the pilot took extreme measures to save the passenger’s life by throwing away the additional fuel, in order to safely land the heavy aircraft on the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska. Pilot Gu Jian explained the situation ... Read more

In a bizarre incident, a wild elephant was seen blowing out some white smoke at Nagarhole forest in Karnataka. The video of the elephant with the act gone viral, after it has been uploaded by the Wildlife Conservation Society India (WCS). The clip clearly shows that the elephant had put something on the floor to blow it out like smoking. Actually, it was an illusion as the elephant had picked some ash from the ground, that reflected as if the jumbo was smoking. “It’s the first-ever visual documentation of such behaviour by an elephant,” said, Vinay Kumar, Assistant Director at ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: Chicagotribune Vacations allow workers to escape the daily grind, unwind and spend much-needed time with families and friends. But with today’s tech-driven world contributing to an “always on” expectation to check emails, text messages and social media, US workers are finding it increasingly difficult to unplug and relax – even when vacationing with their families. New research* from the fourth annual 2018 Alamo Rent A Car Family Vacation Survey shows significantly fewer workers prefer to completely unplug from work while on a family vacation. Roughly just one third (37 per cent) of Americans report unplugging from work completely ... Read more

In a bizarre incident, Lord Subramanya Swamy temple located in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh received a package containing a brand new i Phone 6s. According to temple staff, the package was found inside the donation box that was intended to collect money. Speculations are that the devotee might have started some kind of mobile business, and as part of offerings might have dropped the phone intentionally. Meanwhile, as per the rules of Endowment Department in Andhra Pradesh, any electric device in the donation box is supposed to be buried, said the temple superintendent, A Madhusudhan. The Lord Subramanya Swamy ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: livemint It was with much ease that we read the news about Day Zero in Cape Town, where the local government will shut down water connections for homes and business. We thought that this is somewhere far away from us and we are safe. But, in a recent list put forward by the BBC where it has listed Bengaluru in the second position after Sao Paulo in Australia in the “11 cities most likely to run out of drinking water”. This sounds alarming, right? At a time when the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation, has set ... Read more