Know India

He is served bed tea at 4.30am, breakfast at 9am and dinner at 7pm. Five Army soldiers are at his service round-the-clock. There are no chores to be done. Life couldn't be more comfortable for 'Baba' Jaswant Singh Rawat... but for the fact that he is no more.

Baba was captured by the Chinese way back in 1962 and hanged at the spot where his memorial stands today.No soldier, not even a general, is allowed to move ahead, towards the Sino-Indian border, unless he pays his tribute to rifleman 'Baba' Jaswant Singh Rawat. Baba of 4 Garhwal Corps who, along with two other soldiers, held on to this post - 21 km from Sela Pass near Tawang - for 72 hours, orchestrating a counter-attack on the Chinese forces before he was severely injured by enemy bullets, captured and then hanged. Baba Jaswant Singh has attained the status of a deity on the Sino-Indian frontier.

Border Roads Organisation, also known by its acronym BRO,is a unique combination of officers from the corps of engineers of Indian army and Border Roads Engineering Service (BRES) officers from General Reserve Engineer Force ( GREF ) to maintain roads that serve the borders areas. The BRO contributes to the army's other duties and supplies units that are part of the defence forces. BRO's activities have helped to accelerate the economic development of the North and North Eastern border states. The roads construction teams have to deal with some of the harshest climate in the world. The BRO has some formidable hurdles, the icy Himalayan tops, the marshes of West Bengal, the deserts in Rajasthan. BRO undertakes road constructions and maintenance at high altitude in the hills. Some of the BRO roads are built as high as 5,000 metres above mean sea level.

Chess, the game that is beleived to be the 'sport' , excellence in which is achieved only by the best of stratergy makers and thinkers, has a strong bonding with India.Not only it founded here (according to the Encyclopedia), India today houses some of the superstars of the game, whose sheer presence in a tournament gives us hope of another title to India. This article outlines India's long lasting affair with Chess.

The Indian origin of the game of chess is supported even by the Encyclopedia Britannica according to which, "About 1783-89 Sir. William Jones, in an essay published in the 2nd Vol. of Asiatic Researches, argued that Hindustan was the cradle of chess, the game having been known there from time immemorial by the name Chaturanga, that is, the four angas, or members of an army, which are said in the Amarakosha (an ancient Indian Dictionary - S.B.) to be elephants, horses, chariots and foot soldiers.

..Zari is a type of thread made of fine gold or silver wire used in traditional Indian and Pakistani garmentsThis thread is woven into fabrics, primarily made of silk to create intricate patterns. It is believed this tradition started during the Mughal period. The Padiyur Sarvodaya Sangh (PSS), a certified unit of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) near Kangayam, is the lone unit in South India where dyeing, weaving and zari production of silk saris are done. From cocoon to ornamental silks, the unit processes everything under one roof.

The cocoons collected from the farmers are separated quality-wise before being steamed and then reeled to make it into a yarn. After winding, doubling is done to the yarn and then it is twisted and dyed. Production manager Kuppusamy says, "We have a dyeing unit, the only one in the State to colour the silk yarn. We don't let the effluents spoil the environment. We treat it and use the water for our teak plantation." First, gold is made into a liquid form and then coated on the silver yarn.

Bhimbetka rock shelters compose an archaeological site and World Heritage Site located in Raisen District in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.The Bhimbetka shelters exhibit the earliest traces of human life in India; its Stone Age rock paintings are approximately 9,000 years old.The name Bhimbetika comes from the mythological association of the place with Bhima, one of the Pandavas (The five sons of king Pandu and the queens Kunti and Madri) in the Hindu epic Mahabharata.It is the biggest repository of prehistoric art in India. Continuous habitation from the Early Stone Age…." One of the earliest dwellings of human beings, Bhimbetka will take you back to the history 35000 years old. In fact, the place has witnessed a cultural sequences right from the late stone age to the early historic period.