Hala's Holi
Young girl,
On this day of Holī
—Your breasts dusted with flour,
Your eyes red from too much liquor,
A lotus stuck in your hair
And mango shoots behind your ears—
You are a credit to our village.
Positive
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Quotable quotes
You're the top, you're Mahatma Gandhi
You're the top, you're Mahatma Gandhi,
You're the top! you're Napoleon brandy,
You're the purple light, of a summer night in Spain,
You're the National Gallery, you're Garbo's salary,
You're cellophane!
Goethe on Kalidasa's Shankutala
Wouldst thou the young year's blossoms and the fruits of its decline
And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed?
Wouldst thou the earth and heaven itself in one sole name combine?
I name thee, O Śakoontalá! and all at once is said.
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Did you know?
Mahatma Gandhi and Napoleon Brandy
The 1934 musical, Anything Goes includes the hit Cole Porter song titled, You're the top which includes the following lines of praise:
You're the top, you're Mahatma Gandhi,
You're the top! you're Napoleon brandy …
The forest of the Gonds
Gondwanaland, the Pangaean supercontinent that existed millions of years ago is named after Gondwana, a region in Central India. Gondwana comes from the Sanskrit goṇḍavana or the forest of the Gonds, a tribe spread across the area.
Kerala's Areacode
There is a village in Kerala named Areacode. Its area code is 0483 (for Malappuram).
Eva and the Param Vir Chakra
India's highest military decoration, the Param Vir Chakra, was designed by Savitri Khanolkar, a lady who was born Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros in Switzerland and was of Hungarian-Russian ancestry. She was married to Major-General Vikram Khanolkar of the Sikh Regiment.
Cool Lava
Travelling about 80kms from Darjeeling and to an altitude of 7200 feet gets you to the cool climes of a hill-station named Lava.
The Sanskrit Crocus
The name crocus, for the flowering plant and source of saffron, is very likely ultimately descended from Sanskrit kunkumam (कुङ्कुमं) by way of 'Semitic', Arabic, and Greek.
Aryabhata and his Aryabhatiya
Aryabhata I, wrote his famous astronomical treatise, Aryabhatiya, in 499 CE when he was only 23 years old.
The Burmese-American Bombay
In 1965, an American combined a black American Shorthairs with a sable Burmese to create a new breed of cat which she named Bombay. Bombays are sleek and muscular with shiny midnight-black coats.
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