ONE OF THE OLDEST FORTS IN DELHI

Purana Qila

The Purana Qila, also known as Qila-i-Kunha and Shergarh, is one of the oldest forts in Delhi. It was built in the 1530s inside Din Panah, which was a small city in Delhi. Recent studies have also suggested that the site of construction was the old city of Indraprastha, the capital city of Pandavas. Interestingly, excavations done at the site have also thrown up pottery fragments that date back to the 4th century BC.

The fort was constructed by Mughal emperor Humayun and later renovated by Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri. The fort itself is rectangular in shape, with extremely tall walls and three gates around it. All the walls are supported by bastions, which are embellished with coloured marble and blue tile work. The fort originally stood on the banks of the Yamuna River before the river changed its course. Therefor, the westward wall was built in a way that it protected the fort from being submerged. 

The gates, which are double storied and built with red sandstone, show Muslim and Hindu architectural styles. The northernmost gate is the Tallaqi Darwaza or the Forbidden Gate and entry from here is prohibited. It is engraved with panels and a painting that shows a fight between a human and a lion. In the olden days, the emperor and his family used this gate to go in and out of the fort. The two other gates are Humayun Darwaza or the South Gate and Bara Darwaza or the West Gate, which is now used as the entry point. The gates are known for their engraved balconies, chattris and pavilion.

The three prominent attractions here include the Sher Mandal, which is now a memorial in honour of Humayun's death. This was being built as a personal observatory and library for Humayun. Unfortunately, Humayun fell from the second floor of this building and died. Entry to the library is thus restricted. The Quila-i-Kunha Masjid, which was constructed in 1541 by Sher Shah Suri, is known for its inscriptions from Quran. The Archaeological Museum here showcases objects that are as old as 1000 BC. These include antiques, paintings, pottery and utensils from the Mauryan, Mughal, Gupta and Rajput periods. 

* The Quila-i-Kunha Mosque has a single dome and five entrance doorways. 

* The fort is now used as a venue for a sound and light show that showcases the history of Delhi. 

* The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered a rare 12th-century sculpture of Lord Vishnu and terracotta seals from the Gupta period here. 

* The walls of the fort are 20mts tall and 4mts thick. The fort is enclosed by two walls - one inside the wall and one exterior wall. Between the walls, there was a water body to prevent attacks. 

* After the Mughals, the fort lost its glory till the British arrived. Edwin Lutyens designed the Viceroy's House (now called Rashtrapati Bhawan, where the Indian President resides) at an elevation so it would look at the Purana Qila. During World War II, the fort was used as a campsite for 3,000 Japanese civilians. After India got its independence, it was used to set up refugee camps during Partition. 

MAY 7

World Athletics Day

Athletics is a group of sporting events that include competition running, throwing, walking and jumping. World Athletics Day is celebrated annually on May 7. The first celebrations were held in 1996, when Primo Nebiolo, the former President of Worldwide Athletic Federation IAAF, decided to celebrate the day to educate and promote athletics among youth as a primary sport.

Meet top 5 Indian athletes 

* Gurbachan Singh Randhawa won a gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games in the decathlon and was the first athlete in India to be felicitated with the Arjuna Award, in 1961.

* Milkha Singh, better known as the Flying Sikh, is the only athlete to win gold in the men's 400mts at the Asian Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. He also won gold at the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games. 

* P. T. Usha, better known as the Queen of Indian Track and Field, won five gold medals and one bronze at the 1985 Jakarta Asian Championships and also set an Asian record in the women's 400mt race. 

* Anju Bobby George is the first and the only Indian athlete to win a medal in World Championship in Athletics. She won a bronze medal in long jump at the Championships in Paris in 2003. George also received the BBC Lifetime Achievement Award for Best Athlete in India. 

* Neeraj Chopra clinched India’s first ever athletics Olympic medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. He won the gold in javelin with a throw of 87.58mts.

Did you know?

# The first known person ever to win an athletics event was Korobios - a Greek cook from Elis. He won a 600ft-long stadium race in 776 BC.

# Sprinter Puma Banerjee was India’s first Olympian to be the flag-bearer for the Indian contingent, at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Belgium. 

MORAL STORY

Never trust anyone blindly

Once upon a time, there was a huge neem tree in the forest. An old, blind vulture made his home on the tree. Many birds also built their nests on the tree. Being old and blind, the vulture would struggle to find food. The other birds took pity on the vulture and would feed him their leftover scraps. The blind vulture was so overwhelmed with gratitude that he thought to himself, "All these birds are so kind to me; it is my duty to protect their babies when the birds go out to fetch food."

Thus the vulture would hang around the young fledglings while the birds were out and provide comfort and a sense of safety to the babies. They were all happy with this equation and many years passed by. 

One day a cat was passing by the tree and heard the chirping sounds of the young birds. He was thrilled to have found a place where he could have a good meal every day. With these thoughts, the cat climbed up the tree. The fledglings began to chirp with fear and this alerted the vulture. The blind vulture noticed their anxiety and shouted at once, "Who is there?" The vulture came out and started looking for the intruder. 

The cat, who was standing right in front of the vulture, noticed that the vulture was blind. He picked up courage and fooled the vulture by saying that he had heard about the vulture's good deeds and how kind he was towards the young birds. Finally, the cat said, "I came to ask you to take me as your disciple." The vulture said, "You are an enemy to these birds. I cannot take you. Go away. Otherwise I'll beat you." The persistent cat convinced the vulture that he had given up killing animals and eating meat. He said he had become pious and had pledged that he would survive only on fruits and herbs. He promised never to kill the fledglings. These words softened the vulture. The vulture also fell for the cat's praise and pretentious words of goodness. Finally, the vulture accepted the cat as his disciple. 

The cat started visiting the vulture every day on the pretext of discussing spiritual matters. As days passed by, the young birds also got used to the cat and became friendly with him. The birds and the vulture trusted the cat but the cat was only waiting for an opportunity to strike. One day, when the vulture was taking a nap in the afternoon, the cat quietly came and ate all the fledglings. Once his appetite was fulfilled, he placed the remaining bones in the hole where the vulture resided and left the place quietly. 

When the birds came back that evening, they noticed that all their little ones were missing. They started investigating and finally saw the bones of the fledglings near the vulture's home. They came to the conclusion that the vulture had eaten all the fledglings. They were enraged by the vulture's ingratitude and attacked the vulture. The poor, innocent vulture died without having an opportunity to tell them what really had happened. 

The kindhearted vulture believed the cat's words and lost his life. The cat played a trick to achieve his ambition, fooled the vulture and escaped, landing the vulture in trouble. The cat was selfish and did not care about hurting people to accomplish what he desired. 

The morals of this story are:

* One should not give shelter to the unknown.

* One must always be on guard to watch for deceit.

SECOND SUNDAY OF MAY

Mother’s Day

 

Mother’s Day is a special day that is celebrated each year in honour of mothers and mother figures. It is a day to show appreciation and gratitude for all the hard work, love and care that mothers provide to their children and families. 

The history of Mother’s Day dates back to the early 20th century when a woman named Anna Jarvis campaigned for a day to honour mothers. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day in the United States. Now, this day is celebrated in most countries, including India. 

There are many ways to celebrate Mother’s Day and show your appreciation for your mom. Some people choose to buy gifts and flowers, while others prefer to make homemade cards or cook a special meal. No matter how you choose to celebrate, the most important thing is to show your mom how much you care about her. 

Being a mother is certainly not easy. At times there are special moments and at times stress and frustration takes over. This Mother’s Day, why not remember some of the special moments or crazy times or silly days that you have spent with your mother. According to a survey, mothers agree that, being remembered by their children on Mother’s Day holds a special place in their heart. Receiving a card or a gift or any other token has an emotional meaning for them.

SAVOR THE COFFEE

Life is like a cup of coffee

 

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conservation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee. 

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, "If you have noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee. The jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor the coffee, not the cups! The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."

BE CAREFUL WHILE HAVING COLD

Ice cream headaches 

When you stick something extremely cold in your mouth and eat it quickly such as drinking an ice cold beverage or eating ice cream rapidly, it quickly cools the palate of your mouth. Why this is significant is that there is a nerve centre located just above the back of the roof of your mouth. This nerve centre includes nerve clusters that send signals to the brain about changes in body temperature. When these nerve clusters are rapidly cooled by what you are consuming, they are over stimulated and send the message to the brain that the body just lost a severe amount of heat. This ends up resulting in the rapid contraction of blood vessels in your head. Shortly thereafter, the temperature at the palate of your mouth goes back to normal and the nerve centres signal everything is fine and the blood vessels end up rapidly dilating. This all happens in a matter of few seconds, but the end result of this rapid contraction and dilation of blood vessels is an extreme, sharp pain, often in your temples, forehead or sometimes even your face itself and is referred to as 'ice cream headaches' or 'brain freezes'

DO YOU KNOW

Why newspapers turn yellow over time?

Paper is made from wood, which is made up mainly of white cellulose. Wood also has a lot of a dark substance in it called lignin, which ends up in the paper, too, along with the cellulose. The exposure of lignin to air and sunlight is what turns yellow.

Lignin makes wood stiff and trees stand upright. You can say it acts as a glue to bind the cellulose fibres together. Dr. Hou-Min Chang, a professor of wood and paper science at N.C., compares lignin to the concrete used in buildings, with cellulose as the steel frame. Without lignin, Chang says, a tree could only grow to be about 6 feet tall. Lignin also helps protect the wood from pests and other damage. 

Newsprint, which must be produced as economically as possible, has more lignin in it than finer papers. At the mill, the wood that will be turned into newsprint is ground up, lignin and all. 

Paper manufacturers utilise the benefits of lignin in some types of paper, though. Brown kraft paper, the dark brown paper used in grocery store bags, and cardboard are stiff and sturdy because they have more lignin in them, and because those kinds of paper aren't treated with bleaching chemicals. It doesn’t matter how dark they are because the printing on them is limited. 

To make a fine white paper, the mill puts the wood through a chemical solvent process, which separates and discards the lignin. Pure cellulose is white, and the paper made from it will be white and will resist yellowing. 

Lignin eventually turns paper yellow because of oxidation. That is, the lignin molecules, when exposed to oxygen in the air, begin to change and become less stable. The lignin will absorb more light, giving off a darker colour. If newsprint were kept completely out of sunlight and air, it would remain white. After only a few hours of sunlight and oxygen, however, it will start to change colour.