Gyan of the Day - Why is Loo called as "Loo"?

Some say restroom, some say bathroom, some say toilet etc. Now a days I have heard more and more people calling it as loo. So why is Loo called as Loo is todays gyan.



The British word for toilet, "loo", derives from the French "garde a l'eau!" In medieval Europe people had little conception of hygiene and threw the contents of their chamber pots out the window into the street below. In France the practice was preceded by "garde a l'eau!" ("watch out for the water!"). In England, this phrase was Anglicised, first to "gardy-loo!", then just "loo", and eventually came to mean the toilet/lavatory itself. The American word for toilet, "john", is called after the John Harington who in 1596 invented an indoor water closet for Queen Elizabeth I.

Happy Birthday Internet

Gyan of the day - Spicy food and Water

Yesterday Paulina and Michael cooked food for us as a token of thanks for couch surfing. Michael prepared some salsa and asked me to taste it. As an Indian who eats more spicy food I asked him add some more chili sauce to it. We sat for dinner and I loved the salsa. But others who were on table were very uncomfortable with the amount of spiciness in salsa. After sometime I was asked as what would I do if I feel spicy. We spoke about options like taking sugar or having some sweet etc. Later I got a doubt as why does water not calm the tongue after eating hot spicy food? I have searched online and got the below answer:

The spices in most of the hot foods that we eat are oily, and, like your elementary school science teacher taught you, oil and water don't mix. In this case, the water just rolls over the oily spices. Water would in fact spread oil around. What can you do to calm your aching tongue? Eat bread. The bread will absorb the oily spices. A second solution is to drink milk. Milk contains a substance called "casein" which will bind to the spices and carry them away. Milk will only help briefly as it cannot strip the oil completely. Alcohol also dissolves oily spices.

Gyan of the Day - Evolution of Credit Cards

I just can't imagine today's world without credit cards. It's now part of everybodys life. Banks around the world has given credits worth billions of dollars based on these cards. So today's gyan is about when and how this credit card has actually started.

In 1950, Diners Club and American Express launched their charge cards in the USA, the first "plastic money". In 1951, Diners Club issued the first credit card to 200 customers who could use it at 27 restaurants in New York. But it was only until the establishment of standards for the magnetic strip in 1970 that the credit card became part of the information age.



The first use of magnetic stripes on cards was in the early 1960's, when the London Transit Authority installed a magnetic stripe system. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit installed a paper based ticket the same size as the credit cards in the late 1960's.

The word credit comes from Latin, meaning "trust". Do you think it still holds the meaning :-)

Gyan of the Day - April Fools Day

We have been fooling our friends and cousins all these years on April 1st. I was just wondering as why do we fool people on that specific day. Yet again nothing else came to my mind other than Google to check that. Below is an article which I found:



It is widely proclaimed that April Fool's day originated in France in 1562, or thereabouts, when Pope Gregory replaced the Julian calender with the Gregorian calender in the Julian calender month of April. The day of introduction of the Gregorian calender was made the first day of January. Some people hadn't heard about the change in the date, so they continued to celebrate the New Year's Day, but it being 1st April. So, others called them "April fools." The fact is that Pope Gregory XIII ordered Thursday 4 October 1582 to be the last day of the Julian calendar. The next day was Friday 15 October. April Fool's Day is an April Fool's tale.

The April Fool's Day tradition in France includes poisson d'avril ("April's fish"), attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed.

Gyan of the Day - Chocolate

I was getting bored at office and was going through some blogs and websites. Mean while I came across something which I didn't knew previously. So I thought I should share this with you all.

We have been eating lot of chocolate since our childhood days in many forms of foods. Did we really think where this all started. Today some how I got that thought and tried checking out the history of Chocolate. The story of chocolate spans more than 2,000 years and now it has conquered the globe. The story began in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America where cacao (kah KOW) first grew. Chocolate is made from the seeds of the cacao tree. But the journey from seed to sweet is a long one, spanning many centuries and requiring many processes.

The first people known to have made chocolate were the ancient cultures of Mexico and Central America. These people, including the Maya and Aztec, mixed ground cacao seeds with various seasonings to make a spicy, frothy drink. Later, the Spanish conquistadors brought the seeds back home to Spain, where new recipes were created. Eventually, and the drink’s popularity spread throughout Europe.

Since then, new technologies and innovations have changed the texture and taste of chocolate, but it still remains one of the world’s favorite flavors.

Wish you all Happy Holi

First of all Happy Holi. Last night when I and Ramya were discussing about holi we just tried to remember if we know anything about Holi. The conclusion was never did not know anything about the legends and rituals attached to it. So I went ahead and read on the net for what holi actually means and why it is celebrated. I would confidently say that 90% of my friends would not know any of this. So I thought I shall collectively post all the myths and legends about this festival in my blog.


Holi, the festival of colours, has many interesting legends and rituals attached to it. The mythological origins vary in different parts of the country, but the variety only gives one more reason to enjoy the festival!

Legends and Mythology
Legend 1 :
In Vaishnava theology, Hiranyakaship was the king of demons, and had received the boon of immortality from Lord Brahma. As his power and arrogance grew, he began objecting to people’s belief in the divine power and demanded that they worship him instead. However, Hiranyakaship’s son Prahlad was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. When he failed to destroy his son’s beliefs despite placing him in near fatal situations, he ordered young Prahlad to sit on a pyre in his sister Holika’s lap. Holika was blessed with a shawl, which would prevent the fire from harming her.

Prahlad happily followed his father's orders and prayed to the lord to save him. As the flames grew, to the spectators’ amazement, the shawl flew from Holika to Prahlad. From that day on, the burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi.

Legend 2 :
In Vrindavan and Mathura, Holi is celebrated in memory of the divine love of Radha for Krishna. It is believed that when Lord Krishna was young, he often whined about his dark complexion and wondered why Radha was so fair. One day, his mother Yashoda playfully suggested that he can smear colour on Radha's face and change her complexion to any colour he wanted. Fascinated by the idea, Krishna proceeded to do so and thus, introduced the festival of colours.

Lord Krishna is believed to have popularised the festival by playing pranks on the gopis . The holi of Braj is famous all over India for its intimate connection with the divine deities and their love plays. Mythology also states that Holi is a celebration of the end of ogress Pootana, who tried to kill infant Krishna by feeding him poisonous milk.

Legend 3 :
Another Holi legend, which is popular in Southern India, revolves around Lord Shiva and Kaamadeva (God of lust). Kama's body was reduced to ashes by the force of an angry Shiva’s third eye, when he shot a flower-draped arrow at him to disrupt his penance. On the tearful requests of Kama's wife Rati, the lord restored him, but only as a mental image, representing true love rather than physical lust. The Holi bonfire is believed to be celebrate this event.

Legend 4 :
Also popular is the fable of ogress Dhundhi who devoured innocent children in the kingdom of Raghu. She was ultimately chased away by the children’s pranks on Holi. This is the reason that young boys are allowed to indulge in rowdiness on Holi.

Rituals of Holi
True Holi:
Fire or water? The emphasis is on ‘ Holika dahan’ or lighting up of Holi on the eve of Holi. The origin of the Holi bonfire is attributed to the burning of demonesses like Holika and Putana . In places like Bihar and UP, ‘ Holika dahan’ is also known as 'Samvatsar Dahan' . The concept of Samvatsar New Year varies in different provinces of our country.

Thandai:
The name says it all. Thandai is part and parcel of Holi celebrations. This refreshing and healthy drink is to be served amid the play of colours. In fact, Bhang thandai is used to set the mood for the festival of colours. Drinking thandai in this season also goes with the weather, as it acts as a coolant for people in North India, where the temperature is usually high at this time.

Vital ingredient: Bhang
There are no two ways about it — Bhang has become the official Holi drink. Culled from the leaves and buds of cannabis, the intoxicating bhang escalates the spirit of Holi. Lip-smacking bhang thandai , bhang pakoras and bhang vadas are some popular snacks people look forward to on Holi. The tradition of bhang on Holi is particularly popular in North India where Holi itself is celebrated with a zest not witnessed elsewhere.

Holi Mela
Holi melas are grand affairs and an ideal way for people who want to spend Holi in a different and more colourful way. Apart from being a source of entertainment, these fairs play a significant role in bringing people together. Colour is the main theme of any Holi fair. Everywhere, one can see aromatic colours kept in thalis or gunny bags. Even shopkeepers are seen with painted faces and hands to create the perfect aura.

Rang barse!
Splashing coloured water, smearing friends with gulal (coloured powder) and tossing water balloons on each other, playing with colours will be the order of the morning and any offence caused to anyone is washed away.

Rangoli
The beautiful, intricate patterns made from coloured rice powder or sand are considered auspicious. Traditionally, rangoli is made by unmarried girls of the family.

Say it in style!
Tray-loads of sweets and colours are distributed to near and dear ones. Blessings are exchanged and gulal is used to anoint the feet of elders or the forehead of a younger person. Other gifts, such as puja thalis, pichkaries (long metallic syringes used to splash water), packets of colour, chocolates can also be gifted.

History of Middle Finger

Well, now......here' s something I didn't knew before, and now that I got to know it through a forwarded mail, I feel compelled to share it on to my more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel edified. Isn't history more fun when you know something about it?

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew" (or "pluck yew").

Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, See, we can still pluck yew! Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodentals fricative F', and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute! It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird."

IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.

Fools Day

As you know April Fool's Day is among us. I've tried to compile a list of some technology related pranks that you may want to use at your own risk.

Here is my top 5:

1) Fake Format. A free at that simulates Window's formatting of drives. The user is unable to stop, interrupt, or cancel this format. Once the fake formatting is complete, the standard Windows format summary appears. Upon closing this summary screen the program can be exited. No harm done.

2) The Finger:Another tool from the same vendor that changes the cursor to the middle finger and then back to normal again. A lot of nice options available with this piece of software.

3) The Blue Screen of Death. Another oldie but goodie. Download an image of the famous blue screen of death and set it to run on screen saver. I've seen people hit ctrl-alt-delete as soon as they see this screensaver pop-up so use this one with caution.

4) Here is an easier one to implement. The old put a piece of tape under the optical mouse's laser sensor. The tape will make the mouse go haywire.

5) The Naked Women Prank. This is a variation of the format C: prank. Download the fake erase program and rename it to "naked_women.zip". Send it over to unsuspecting victims and once opened it will begin the fake format. You'll instantly here yelling from various cubes letting you know who tried to open it.

Feel free to add your favorites to the list.

Again, use good judgment when trying to implement any of these... You have been warned :)

Did you know?

How much do you know about Hyderabad .. here are some of the facts which most of us dont really realise ...

1) The IMAX Theatre with Worlds Largest screen and the only true 3D screen in INDIA

2) Asia 's biggest and one of the Worlds' biggest and best Convention centres 'HICC'

3) World's biggest Film Studio complex ' Ramoji Film City '

4) Country's best Animation and art work studios

5) Country's best and biggest Exhibition centre so far 'HITEX'

6) Country's biggest single real estate venture at the cost of US $2.2Billion by ICICI Ventures and Tishman of New York !

7) Hyderabad is leading in Hospital Tourism, now trying to lead also in Echo Tourism

8) Hyderabad is the best place to start any new retail business or Mall: This was from a study on how Malls are fuelling sales in India and the max amount of Sales happened in the Malls in Hyderabad despite the huge number of very big malls in Delhi and Mumbai.. Many biggest of the kind malls are being constructed here. You can also see, Reliance group, Tata's, Heritage group and many more venturing their first retail units starting from Hyderabad !

9) Hyderabad is the only place where complete restructuring is happening by even demolishing lot of buildings within the city! Delhi is the other only City, which followed this model.

10) In fact Infosys has planned its world's Largest Campus near to Shamshabad Airport in an area of 500acres of land! However its pending.. it may take of soon. Else some other campus would come up there.

11) Fab City would be the Ultimate answer for the Electronic and chip making industry from India !

12) How many know about ISB

13) IIT is being setup now in Hyderabad .

14) Birla has already setup Bits in Hyderabad

15) Country's largest number of Colleges for Engineering Medicines and largest number of Universities are in AP!

16) Just the colleges in and around Hyderabad produce much more Engineering graduates than any other city in INDIA !

17) Country's most expensive Residential Only venture has started in Hyderabad , with 250 villas where each Villa will be in 1 Acre of land and at the cost of Rs.14crores each! Why only in Hyderabad ? Because people are ready to buy and live there :-)

18) The most connected city in INDIA with highest Teledensity
..... and lot more like this!

Hyderabad is now a tri-city: CYBERABAD-HYDERABAD-SECUNDERABAD!