In 1990, the Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian honour bestowed by the government of Pakistan, was awarded to Morarji Desai. He is the only Indian to have been so honoured.
Rukmini Devi Arundale, famed danseuse and founder of Kalakshetra, turned down an offer to become the President of India in 1977 because she would not have been able to walk barefoot in the corridors of the Rashtrapathi Bhavan and could not bear security guards.
Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini used Hindi as his pen name when he composed ghazals. His grandfather, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, emigrated from India to Khomein in Iran in the 1830s.
The Tamil slang for something free of charge, oasi, is derived from the abbreviation, OC, which expands to On Company's Service. The company in question was the British East India Company which stamped its official mail with these letters to avoid having to pay postage.
Griddhraj Parvat or Vulture Peak in Madhya Pradesh was the final destination of the classic Chinese epic, Journey to the West. Hieun Tsang and his companions travel from China to a temple on Vulture Peak to retrieve Buddhist sutras in order to enlighten their country.
T.S. Eliot's bleak poem, The Waste Land, ends with Shantih shantih shantih. The word, according to him, can be feebly translated to the Peace which passeth understanding.
