WORLD'S FARTHEST LIMBO SKATING

A flexible five-year-old from Maharastra in Indian has whizzed her way into the record books after setting a new benchmark for the farthest distance limbo skating under cars.

Kindergarten student Shreeya Rakesh Deshpande skated under 27 cars, covering a whopping distance of 48.2 metres (158ft 2in) during a successful world record attempt last week in Kolhapur.

Nikhil Shukla , representative of Guinness World Records was present there and he confirmed that a new record had been set and presented Shreeya with her well-earned certificate for breaking the previous record of 38.68 metres which was set by Rohan Ajit Kokane (also an Indian who set this in last February during a TV show “Ab India Todega” n Mumbai)

An event celebrating Shreeya's achievement was organised later the same day in her hometown, with well-wishers once again treated to a demonstration of her amazing talent for limbo skating.

The event was organized at the Shahu Janmabhoomi in Kolhapur on 31 May 2012, saw Shreeya limbo skating under 26 vehicles and creating a new world record for covering 158.2 ft in mere 23 seconds. She also got the achievement for the farthest distance in Limbo Skating.

Proud that a student of his school has created a new world record, VIBGYOR High Principal Mr T. Balan said: “It’s always a pleasure to see our students excelling in the field of their interest and reach new heights of success. Shreeya has created history. This indeed is one of the biggest achievements for our school and has also made our country proud. VIBGYOR High has always encouraged its students to explore their interests and helped them in nurturing their talents.”

The record breaker’s father Mr. Rakesh Deshpande said: “We have always supported Shreeya in every decision she takes. The school has also shown great trust in her talents. She has achieved too much at a very young age. We only pray that she continues to be successful in everything she does and create more world records.”

The achievement marked a memorable accomplishment for the city of Kolhapur as its name was added in the annals of the Guinness World Records. The event was witnessed by noted personalities of Kolhapur who were present to encourage the young achiever.

WORLD'S HIGHEST ATM

Nathu-La, the centuries-old mountain pass on the Silk Route, has now a modern-day landmark added to it: the world’s highest ATM counter at 14,300 ft in Kupup. It was opened on 6th April 2007.

Union Bank of India, which beat other banks some years ago, setting up an ATM on the Indian Navy’s INS Vikrant, the first on a warship, launched the Nathu-La facility on Friday, beating Axis Bank, which is a private bank, which has its counter in Thegu in the same area but at 13, 200 ft.

Meant primarily for army personnel along the Sino-India border, the ATM will also service tourists. Inaugurating the setup, Union Bank MD cum chairman M.V. Nair said, “The area remains snow-bound for much of the year. Our attempt is to provide facilities of instant banking to our soldiers as also to thousands of tourists who flock here everyday”.

“This counter will help us a lot,” Colonel Sanjay, commanding officer of then Indian army’s Nathu-La battalion said.
The ATM, however, will function only during daytime and would receive power supply from a generator. Care has been taken to make sure it functions even in subzero temperatures.

WORLD'S OLDEST UNIVERSITY

Towards the Southeast of Patna, the Capital City of Bihar State in India, is a village called the 'Bada Gaon', in the vicinity of which, are the world famous ruins of Nalanda University, world's oldest residential university. The site is located about 88 kilometres south east of Patna, and was a religious center of learning from the fifth century CE to 1197 CE.

    Founded in the 5th Century A.D., Nalanda is known as the ancient seat of learning. In its heyday, 2,000 Teachers and 10,000 Students from all over the Buddhist world lived and studied at Nalanda, the first Residential International University of the World. It had dormitories for students. The famous Chinese traveller and scholar,Hieun-Tsang stayed here and has given a detailed description of the situations prevailing at that time. Careful excavation of the place has revealed many stupas, monasteries,hostels,stair cases,meditation halls, lecture halls and many other structures which speak of the splendour and grandeur this place enjoyed,when the place was a centre of serious study.

  Nalanda flourished between the reign of the Sakraditya (whose identity is uncertain and who might have been either Kumara Gupta I or Kumara Gupta II) and 1197 CE, supported by patronage from the Hindu Gupta rulers as well as Buddhist emperors like Harsha and later emperors from the Pala Empire.

  It is also one of the most famous universities.  The university was considered an architectural masterpiece, and was marked by a lofty wall and one gate. Nalanda had eight separate compounds and ten temples, along with many other meditation halls and classrooms. On the grounds were lakes and parks. The library was located in a nine storied building where meticulous copies of texts were produced. The subjects taught at Nalanda University covered every field of learning, and it attracted pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey. During the period of Harsha, the monastery is reported to have owned 200 villages given as grants.

Layout

Structure The library at Nalanda University was an immense complex. Called the Dharmaganja, or Piety Mart, it was separated into three large buildings: the Ratnasagara, the Ratnadadhi, and the Ratnaranjaka. The Ratnadadhi, meaning the Ocean of Gems, was nine stories high and housed the most sacred manuscripts including the Prajnaparamita Sutra and the Samajguhya. The towers were supposedly immense, bejewelled and gilded to reflect the rays of the sun. According to the Bhaskara Samhita, an ancient text on organizational practices, the library was to be built in a “finely built stone building” and each manuscript would have been placed on iron shelves or stack and covered with cloth and tied up. Furthermore, the librarian in charge, according to the text, was not only responsible for maintaining the materials but also for guiding readers in their studies. The exact number of volumes of the Nalanda University Library is not known but it is estimated to have been in the hundreds of thousands. The library not only collected religious manuscripts but also had texts on such subjects as grammar, logic, literature, astrology, astronomy, and medicine.

WORLD'S CROWDIEST RAILWAY SYSTEM

The Bombay Suburban Railway has the highest passenger density of any urban railway system in the world. The system carries more than 7.24 million commuters daily. It is a suburban rail system serving the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. It is operated by Indian Railways' two zones, Western Railways (WR) and Central Railways (CR). The trains plying on its routes are commonly referred to as local trains or simply as locals. Spread over 465 km, the suburban railway operates on 1500 V DC / 25000 V AC power supply from overhead catenary lines. The suburban services are run by electric multiple units (EMUs). 191 rakes (train sets) of 9-car, 12-car & 15-car composition are utilised to run 2342 train services, carrying 6.94 million passengers per day. If annual ridership (2.64 billion) is taken into account, the Suburban rail would be the second busiest rapid transit system in the world.

Due to the geographical spread of the population and location of business areas, the rail network is the principal mode of mass transport in Mumbai. As Mumbai's population swelled, frequent overcrowding has become a serious issue, and numerous safety concerns have been raised over the years. Due to its extensive reach across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and its intensive use by the local urban population, the Mumbai Suburban Railway suffers from some of the most severe overcrowding in the world. Over 4,500 passengers are packed into a 9-car rake during peak hours, as against the rated carrying capacity of  1,700. This has resulted in what is known as Super-Dense Crush Load of 14 to 16 standing passengers per square metre of floor space. Trains on the suburban line are on average more than 4 minutes apart, contributing to the problem of overcrowding. The impending introduction of new higher speed rakes may help address the issue.

WORLD'S FASTEST HUMAN COMPUTER

Shakuntala Devi is a calculating prodigy who was born on November 4, 1939 in Bangalore, India. Shakuntala Devi is popularly known as a 'Human Computer' because of her extraordinary talents in solving complex mathematical problems without any mechanical aid. Manifested with an extraordinary love for numbers at the age of 3, she became an expert in complex mental arithmetic at the age of five. By age six she demonstrated her calculation and memorization abilities at the University of Mysore. At the age of eight she had success at Annamalai University by doing the same. In 1977 she extracted the 23rd root of a 201-digit number mentally. On June 18, 1980 she demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers 7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779 picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She answered the question in 28 seconds. Her correct answer was 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730. She also found her place in the Guinness book of records as a result of her extraordinary talents.

She has authored many books especially the world famous Figuring: the Joy of Numbers where she shares some of the methods of mental calculations. Puzzles to puzzle you, More Puzzles to Puzzle you, The Book of Numbers, Mathability: The Math Genius in Your Child, Astrology for you, Perfect Murder and Awaken the Genius in Your Child are some of the books authored by her. In 2006 she has released a new book called In the Wonderland of Numbers with Orient Paperbacks which talks about a girl Neha and her fascination for numbers.

 Update: Shakuntala Devi passed away at Bangalore on Apr 21, 2013 after brief illness. She was 83 and is survived by a daughter.

WORLD'S LARGEST INDIVIDUAL PLANT

By a strict definition of individuality, and using contending measures of size, , the giant banyan trees of India, Ficus benghalensis, are the largest trees in the world. In these trees, a network of interconnected stems and branches has grown entirely by vegetative, "branching" propagation. One individual, Thimmamma Marrimanu, in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, India,  covers 19,107 square metres (4 acres), making it the largest single tree by two-dimensional canopy coverage area. This tree is also the world's largest known tree by a related measure, perimeter length, with a distance of 846 metres required to walk around the edge of the canopy. Thimmama Marrimanu is likely also the world's largest tree by three dimensional canopy volume. It is present in the Indian Botanical Gardens and is more than 200 years old. Its branches spreads over 8 acres, and hence was recorded as the biggest tree in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1989. A small temple dedicated to Thimmamma lies under the tree. An account of this lady in Telugu kept at the shrine reveals that she was the daughter of a Setti Balija couple Sennakka Venkatappa and Mangamma, born in AD 1394. She was married to a Bala Veerayya who died in 1434, and Thimmamma committed Sati. The banyan tree is believed to have sprouted at the place where she ascended the funeral pyre.