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The Jantar Mantar at Delhi has two pillars about 12 feet in height and 17 feet apart that determine the shortest and the longest days of the year.

The Jantar Mantar at Delhi has two pillars about 12 feet in height and 17 feet apart that determine the shortest and the longest days of the year.

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On December 21, the shortest day of the year, the southern pillar casts a shadow on the northern pillar, covering it entirely—starting from the base upwards.

On June 21, the longest day of the year, no shadow falls on the northern pillar.

At the Karnidevi temple near Bikaner in Rajasthan, rats are worshipped as the deity’s descendents. In fact, rats are not referred to as rats but as kabas, which in the local Marwari language means children.

In the tower of the famous Se Cathedral in Goa, there is a bell that can be heard 14 kilometres away in Panjim and yet when one stands next to the bell its soft melodious tones fall lightly on the ear.

Although there are 16 different tribes living in Nagaland, to most of us, they are simply known as Nagas. Their distinctive shawls differentiate one tribe from another, similar to the tartans worn by Scots.

The Indian Railways often runs special trains to meet peculiar requirements. The Fish Therapy Special is one such train that runs annually from Guwahati in the northeast to Hyderabad in the south for the benefit of asthma patients.

The train is so named because at Hyderabad, as a medicine, the patient is made to swallow a live, medicated Murral fish. The railways even provide a special diet on-board to patients on their return journey.