Kali Ghata..better known as..?

In the 13th century, there arouse a secret hindu sect that worshipped kali, the goddess of destruction. This sect remained a powerful and greatly feared force for more than five hundred years.


Members of this sect lived ordinary lives most of the year, but in the autumn they roamed the countryside in bands, looking for wealthy travelers to kill and  sacrifice to their goddess. Their modus operandi was to have one member of the band become friendly with the intended victim while the other waited an opportunity to strike.

They became known as the Phansigars (" the stranglers").

After British colonized India, they made a decision to destroy the group. From 1833 to 1837, more than 3000 of its members were arrested. Nearly 500 were hanged and thousands imprisoned for life.
The name of this feared band- the Thugs.

The city of calcutta ( originally Kali ghata) is the site of the temple dedicated to the goddess.

Why is 'boycotting' called so?

Back in 1880, Irish tenant farmers were outraged over high rent sent by british landlords. They started an organization called land league and adopted a new tactic that became the backbone of nonviolent organizations for decades to come.

                                                One of their first targets was a British estate manager in a small county Mayo. the league refused to sell him supplies, pick his crops or even talk to him if the rents were not reduced. They totally abandoned him. Soon he had to give in and flee away.

The british manager is now long dead but his name lives on, now attached to the revolutionary tactic first used against him.  

His name Charles Cunningham BOYCOTT.

From Radar to a Microwave Oven

In 1946, an engineer having a chocolate bar in his pocket was conducting an experiment with Radar's Magnetron. In simple terms it is a electronic tube that produces heat waves [ in the form of microwave energy]. These were formerly used in British's Radar defenses.

He discovered that the chocolate had melted. He knew it was because of the heat radiation. So he tried several kinds of food from pop corn to egg.  Corn popped and the egg cooked from inside out. If an egg could be cooked so quickly and unconventionally with microwaves why not other foods, wondered the engineer.

When and How did the Ice cream cones came into picture?

In 1904, in St.Louis City in Missouri State in US, there was a fair happening to commemorate the  centenary celebration of Louisiana  Purchase. Millions attended.

There were two small time food sellers side by side. One a Waffle maker and another an ice cream vendor. A perfect recipe made by time for a sensation later.


Because of the large number of the visitors, the ice cream vendor ran out of paper dishes. And he just turned around to the waffle maker, got a few waffles, a thin,soft, sweetened wafer of biscuit, rolled them into a cone and filled in the ice cream and sold them.

Everyone loved it as they had an 'eatable container' for ice creams

WHY do we nod our heads for 'YES' and shake it for 'NO'

WHY do we nod our heads for 'YES' and shake it for 'NO' ?


             There is a reason behind everything. The best explanation for the answer comes from 'Origin of Species'.  Charles Darwin himself.


                   He related the gestures to a baby's nursing habits. The forward head motion, or nod, is supposedly a breast-seeking pattern while shaking the head from side to side is a breast-rejecting motion. That is, in the first instance, the baby is saying 'YES' and in the second it is saying 'NO'.

This is confirmed by the fact that a baby born deaf and blind will nod for 'YES' and shake its head for 'NO'


See there is  a reason behind everything.  

WHY does the sky look blue and sunset look reddish?

It is right above our head and we see that day in and day out. In fact this what determines our day.

But never really wondered what is the reason behind this.

Here goes the reason.

As we all know light from sun is made of the VIBGYOR colors.

With Violet having the shortest wavelength and highest frequency

And Red with longest wavelength and shortest frequency.

Sunlight when it passes through earth's atmosphere collides with the air molecules.

These molecules scatter the light. Shorter wavelength scattered easily than longer ones.

So Violet, Indigo and Blue are scattered the most.

Resonance Effect - Chain Reaction

Blue light also has a frequency that is closer to the resonant frequency of atoms than that of red light. 

That is, if the electrons bound to air molecules are pushed, they will oscillate with a natural frequency that is even higher than the frequency of blue light.

Blue light pushes on the electrons with a frequency that is closer to their natural resonant frequency than that of red light. This causes the blue light to be reradiated out in all directions, in a process called scattering. 

The red light that is not scattered continues on in its original direction. When you look up in the sky, the scattered blue light is the light that you see.

Why blue and not violet?

Violet light has an even shorter wavelength than blue light: It scatters even more than blue light does. 

So why isn't the sky violet? 

Because there is just not enough of it. The sun puts out much more blue light than violet light, so most of the scattered light in the sky is blue.

Why does the Sunset look reddish?

When the sun is on the far end of the horizon, its light takes a longer path through the atmosphere to your eyes than when the sun is directly overhead. By the time the light of the setting sun reaches your eyes, most of the blue light has been scattered out.  In the previous case the blue light didn't have to travel long so it had the right amount of scattering to fill in the place. This time around it is longer distance, more molecules and it loses its steam and gets dispersed away.

The light you finally see is reddish orange, the color of white light minus blue.

A Simpler Try :

Now All this is scientific. So i just tried to make it a little easier with a little example so that this can be explained to kids.

Imagine a circular target like in a dart board.

And consider a transparent paper filter or screen placed in front it.

Imagine 7 individuals each having a particular type of Arrow and bow. They are aiming at the center of the target.

Consider the first arrow to be made of light material like a stem of a plant carrying a very tiny match stick in front of it.

Consider third arrow to be made of wood carrying a large flame of fire.

Consider the last arrow to be made of a heated iron material.

Now the first arrow might not even reach the screen even if it reaches it is not going to light up the screen.

Map this to Violet.

Second arrow would reach the screen and is going to light up the entire paper screen.

Map this to blue.

Third arrow would easily pierce the screen and keep going inside. Wouldn't exactly light up the screen as it keeps going.

Map this to Red.

Map the circular target for Earth.

Map the paper screen to the earth's atmosphere [with air molecules].

Seven arrows to be the VIBGYOR.

Now when does the paper screen [earth's atmosphere] get lit up [appears blue]?

When the third arrow [B in VIBGYOR] lights up the paper [atmosphere] and spreads through out.