A clean place is selected for the Havan. Participants should shower, wear clean clothes and sit in easy postures. After prayers, fire is lit and Vedic Mantras are chanted and offerings are made to God. Singing of Aarti symbolizes the end of the ceremony and Prasad is offered to the participants. Fire or agni is one of the five manifestations …

In North India:: Ramlila is the backbone of the celebration of Dusshera in northern India, where the scenes from Rama’s life are depicted, especially Bharat Milap, the reunion of Rama with his brother Bharat, the destruction of Ravana (the highlight of Dussehra) and the return of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita to Ayodhya, their kingdom after fourteen years of exile. In …

∼ Khushbu Nanavati

Eggs seem to break all too easily, but they are really quite strong. They can withstand firm pressure exerted on them without shattering. Try breaking a chicken’s egg by squeezing its end – you’ll find it almost impossible to break it this way.

Tintin is 80 — he was created in postwar France by Belgian artist Georges Remi, who took the name of Herge. Tintin is a Belgian reporter, and has a faithful fox terrier called Snowy. The comic series first appeared on January 10, 1929, in a Belgian newspaper and was a hit with children. Later, Herge added the popular Captain Haddock, …

Humans spend about eight hours in every twenty-four hours asleep. Cats sleep a great deal longer than that. They spend sixteen out of every twenty-four hours asleep-they are awake for only one-third of their lives.

Tigers have very big appetites indeed. A full-grown tiger may eat as much as one fifth of its own body weight at one sitting. If a man of 76 kg (12 stone) were try to eat an equivalent amount, he would need to consume a might 15 kg (2½ stone) meal at one sitting.

Of the 3,000 species of snakes, only about 300 of them are venomous.

There are about 250 species of venomous fish. The most venomous is probably the stonefish. Stonefish are very well camouflaged. If you accidentally step on one, the venomous spines on the back and sides of the stonefish will inject venom and cause severe pain, illness, and perhaps death.

There is an endless variety of wines. Wines of all types can be classified by either the primary grape variety or the region where the grapes are grown. Even within types of wines, there is a great variety of flavour and texture because the climate varies in different regions. The two major categories are red and white. The red colour …