For many of us, memories of summer vacations of your youth would mean the glorious train ride into one’s hometown. But did you know that arguably the largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people?

Contributed by Mayank Singh, dated 08 Aug 2006

Bombay Duck is a delicacy eaten as an accompaniment to curry. It is usually served fried and has an acquired pungent taste adored by curry lovers. The origin of the name is somewhat of a mystery. One theory goes that during the British Rule, the Europeans could not stand the smell of the fish drying in the sun. It reminded them of the odour of the wooden railroad cars of the Bombay Mail train. The Hindi word for mail is "dak", hence the Bombay-Dak, or Bombay-Duck.

Contributed by Srikanth, dated 08 Aug 2006

Varanasi, also known as Benares in Uttar Pradesh, was called "the ancient city" for accounts of Lord Buddha having visited it in 500 B.C, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.

Contributed by Mayank Singh, dated 01 Aug 2006

The State of Karnataka enjoys a good mix of arguable etymologies with regards to its name. One accepted theory is that the name comes from the Kannada words ‘karu’ and ‘nadu’ which literally means the elevated land. Another derivative comes from Kar – Lear or black, a reference to the abundance of Black Cotton Soil of the region. During the British Raj, the words Carnatic was used to refer to this region, which later became Karnatak.

Contributed by Vinayak, dated 01 Aug 2006

The Sanskrit name Sindhu arguably comes from the root word sidh, meaning ‘to go’, an indirect referrence to the river Indus as a fast-going river.

Contributed by Mayank Singh, dated 25 Jul 2006

How many know the how the Democracy of India aliter Hindustan got its name? Better still how many know that the republic was once referred to as ‘Aryavarta’? If you didn’t, no worries as the phrase went out of usage long back, though its occurrence is common in ancient texts. Aryavarta means the Land of Aryas, Arya in Sanskrit meaning Noble.

Contributed by Venkataraghavan V, dated 25 Jul 2006

Every Indian kid knows the story of the pet mongoose that saved the baby by killing the snake, only to e killed by the mother thinking it bit the baby. But did you know that the word mongoose comes from India? The name is a folk alteration of the Marathi name ‘Mangus’ for the mammal. It might be of worth to mention that the plural form is mongooses and not the more popular mongeese. Goose and Mongoose are linguistically unrelated.

Contributed by Rohit, dated 18 Jul 2006

Did you know that common terms and phrase taken for granted in India are unique to the country? In other words, they are pretty much incorrect! Arbit – Short for arbitrary to mean vague or bad. Updation – IT bum chums will know this one. ‘Done with the update‘, will become ‘I have done the updation.’ Batchmate – Associated to somebody in the same grade but a different class. Timepass – A variation of Past-time, something that is just good enough to kill time. Dickey – Most Indians will not know what the topic is, when one is talking about the boot of a car. Here the boot is the Dickey! Prepone – Quite literally the opposite of Postpone!

Contributed by Venkataraghavan, dated 18 Jul 2006

The state of Kerala in south India, known as “God’s Own Country”, gets its name from a phrase meaning “land of coconuts”.

Contributed by Vinayak, dated 11 Jul 2006

Bhaarat, the official name of India, has an interesting etymology In Sanskrit, "bha" means knowledge or light, and "rat" is a verb for 'doing'. Bhāarat is thus 'the one in search of enlighntenment or knowledge.' Bharatavarsha also means The Land of Bharata, and The Cherished Land. The name Bharata means The Cherished One in Sanskrit. The name derives from the times of Vedic civilization after King Bharata, who also finds mention in the Abhignana Shakuntalam

Contributed by Mrityunjay, dated 11 Jul 2006