NATIONAL PARK OF KERALA

The Silent Valley National Park 

The Silent Valley, a national park in Kerala, is one of the last undisturbed tracts of South Western Ghats montane rainforests in India. Located in the Nilgiri Hills in Kerala’s Palakkad district, it is part of the Western Ghats, a chain of mountains traversing six states and covering an area of 1,40,000 sq km, that is internationally recognized as a region of immense global importance for the conservation of biological diversity and designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The Silent Valley national park has a core area of 89.52 sq km. A surrounding area of 148 sq km has been designated a buffer zone to protect the park’s rare flora and fauna. The park is home to 41 mammal, 211 bird, 49 reptile, 47 amphibian, 12 fish, 164 butterfly, and 400 moth species. Its most famous resident is the lion-tailed macaque (Macaca Silenus), a monkey endemic to the Western Ghats, that ranks among the rarest and most threatened primates in the world.

Other animals found here include the tiger, leopard cat, brown palm civet, small flying squirrel, Indian pangolin, and mouse deer. Rare birds spotted include the Nilgiri wood-pigeon, the great Indian hornbill, the Nilgiri flycatcher and the white-bellied shortwing.

The park is a roughly rectangular tableland closed on all sides, with high and continuous ridges along its entire east, north, and northeast borders and a somewhat lower ridge along the entire western and southern border. A perennial river named Kuntipuzha originates from the south-western edge of the Nilgiri mountain mass and flows through the western side of the park. Along its entire length, the plateau slopes toward the bed of the Kuntipuzha, which divides itinto two sectors. The valley is drained by five main tributaries of the Kuntipuzha that originate near the eastern border and flow westwards.

There are many legends about how the Silent Valley got its name. The most popular one is that this is a distorted or Anglicised version of its original name, Sairandhrivanam, literally ‘forest of Sairandhri’. Sairandhri or Draupadi was the wife of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata, and she and her husbands are believed to have hidden in this forest while escaping their cruel cousins, the Kauravas. Another version attributes the name to the unearthly silence of the valley due to the absence of cicadas, whose noisy, constant buzzing is a typical feature of normal rainforests.

The Silent Valley shot into the limelight in 1973 when the Kerala State Electricity Board initiated a hydroelectric project here that involved building a dam across the Kuntipuzha river, which in turn would flood 8.3 sq km of virgin rainforest and threaten the habitat of the lion-tailed macaque. The decision engendered a storm of protest as environmentalists and intellectuals joined the fray, bringing the matter to public attention at the international level.

Thus was born the Save Silent Valley movement, a high-profile campaign against the project that went on to become India’s fiercest environmental movement over the next two decades. Eventually the project was cancelled and the SilentValley was formally notified as a national park in 1984. The Silent Valley National Park was formally inaugurated on September 7, 1985.

FATHERS OF MODERN AVIATION

The Wright Brothers

 

Orville and Wilbur were two American brothers, inventors and aviation pioneers. They were recognised for inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane. 

The Wright brothers gained the mechanical skills essential for their success by working for years in printing presses, and by working with machinery related to bicycles, motors etc. Their work with bicycles in particular influenced their belief that an unstable vehicle like a flying machine could be controlled and balanced with practice. 

Early life: Wilbur was born on April 16, 1867 and Orville was born on August 19, 1871 in Indiana. Wilbur and Orville Wright grew up in a close, caring family. Their mother Susan was warm, loving, protective, and encouraged the intellectual interest of her children. The Wright brothers had their share of squabbles, like siblings everywhere. But they were much closer than most of the children. 

Education and career: Both brothers attended high school, but did not receive diplomas. The family's unexpected move from Richmond, Indiana to Dayton in 1884 prevented Wilbur from receiving his diploma after finishing four years of high school. Orville dropped out of high school after his junior year to start a printing business in 1889, having designed and built his own printing press with Wilbur's help. They launched a weekly newspaper, the West Side News. Capitalizing on the national bicycle craze, the brothers opened a repair and sales shop, the Wright Cycle Exchange in 1892, and later changed the name to Wright Cycle Company and began manufacturing their own brand in 1896. 

Developing the airplane: The Wright brothers closely followed the research of the German aviator, Otto Lilienthal. When Lilienthal died in a glider crash, the brothers decided to start their own experiments with flight. Determined to develop their own successful design, Wilbur and Orville headed to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina known for its strong winds. Wilbur and Orville set to work trying to figure out how to design wings for flight. They observed that birds angled their wings for balance and control, and tried to emulate this, developing a concept called "wing warping".

The Wright brothers found the magic formula when they added a movable rudder, and on December 17, 1903, they succeeded in flying the first free, controlled flight of a power-driven airplane. Wilbur flew the plane for 59 seconds at 852 feet. It was accepted by the government.

Awards and graduations: The Wright brothers received awards on three separate occasions: Cogressional Medal of Honour awarded on June 17, 1909, Legion of Honour, awarded on June 20, 1909, Collier Trophy awarded on February 3, 1914. All totalled, there were 15 honorary degrees awarded to one or both of the brothers. 

Later years: Wilbur passed away on May 30, 1912. After his brother's loss Orville gave up his interest in manufacturing. His chief public activity was in service on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the government agency that came before NASA, until his death in Dayton on January 30, 1948.

AN AMAZING HOUSE

Fujian Tulou 

This incredible house - architecture is called as Fujian Tulou. It is located in the mountainous regions and is the best preserved example of the earthen houses in China. Fujian Tulou is a property of 46 buildings constructed between the 15th and 20th centuries. 

Fujian architecture is the symbol of harmonious relationships with the environment; Tulou becomes an outstanding Illustration of human settlement. Several storeys high, they are built along an internal-looking, circular or square square floor plan. Each storey houses 100 families which count up to 800 people. 

They use wooden floor boards, ridgepoles and girders and are covered with a tiled roof. They were built for defense purposes around a central open courtyard with only one entrance and windows to the outside. Housing a whole clan, the houses function as village units and were known as "a little kingdom for the family" or "bustling small city".

A common characteristic of these houses is the long construction period which usually lasted two or three years. The resulting structures are proof against wind, water and earthquakes. Another characteristic feature is their ordinary arrangement of the rooms. 

WORLD FAMOUS FESTIVALS OF INDIA

Ratha Yatra 

     Ratha Yatra is a major Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath (another name of Lord Krishna) held at Puri, in Odisha, India, during the months of June or July. This year, it will be celebrated on Sunday, 7th July 2024. 

     The Puri Ratha Yatra is world famous and attracts more than one million pilgrims every year, not only from India but also from the different parts of the world. Ratha Yatra in other words the Chariot procession is a festival that symbolises equality and integration. 

     The three deities, Lord Jagannath, his elder brother, Lord Balabhadra and their sister Subhadra are worshipped within the temple. But on this festival, they are taken to the streets of Puri so that everyone can have their glimpse. The three deities make an annual journey to their aunt's temple (Gundicha Temple), 2km away from Lord Jagannath temple. The Jagannath Temple in Puri is one among the many sacred temples in India. 

    The festival begins with the invoking ceremony in the morning and the chariot pulling on the roads of Puri in the afternoon is the most exciting part of the festival. The three deities have three different chariots. 

     The chariot of Lord Jagannath, Nandighosha, has 18 wheels and is 45.6 feet high, the chariot of Lord Balabhadra, Taladhwaja has 16 wheels and is 45 feet high and the chariot of Subhadra, Devadalana has 14 wheels and is 44.6 feet high. Every year, wooden temples like chariots are constructed newly. The idols of these three deities are also made of wood and they are religiously replaced by new ones in every 12 years. 

UFO

Unidentified Flying Object 🛸

You must have seen movies and books featuring saucer shaped discs that hover the ground and are filled with weird looking creatures. In books and movies, the weird looking creatures are aliens from outer space, and the discs are space ships from another planet - or UFOs. The term UFO means an Unidentified Flying Object, and UFOs are one of the great mysteries that have fascinated man for centuries. 

Even in ancient times, people looked up to the skies and saw objects that were not stars or celestial bodies. Today UFO sightings are more common than ever. Practically every country in the world has sent in reports of UFO sightings. In many cases, they can be explained as weather balloons, lightning, rockets, birds, atmospheric disturbances - and some have been proved to be hoaxes too. But in 5% of the cases, there is no scientific explanation. 

DO YOU KNOW

How was the first artificial sweetner invented?

The first artificial sweetner to be invented was saccharin. Russian chemist Constantin Fahlberg is credited with this invention, which was actually accidental. In the late 1870s, Fahlberg was working with another chemist, Ira Remsen. Together, they were studying substances derived from coal tar. 

One evening, Fahlberg returned returned home and sat down for dinner. As he bit into a roll, he found it sweet. He asked his wife about this, but she claimed that her rolls were perfectly normal. Fahlberg then tasted his fingers. They were sweet. 

He rushed back to his lab and began checking up all that he had done that day. He found that he had accidentally invented a substance that was as sweet as sugar, but had no fattening effects like sugar. He named this substance 'saccharin'. It caught on commercially and Fahlberg grew rich. 

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL MULTI-SPORT EVENT 2024

Paris Olympics

Journey of how Olympic Sports events started: According to ancient Greek mythology and history, the origins of the ancient Olympic Games date back as far as 3000 years ago when track race competitions and games were held across 5 days as part of the religious celebrations in honor of their God Zeus. The Modern Olympic Games, as they are known today, were revived by the efforts of Pierre De Coubertin, a French physical educator, with the first games being opened by the king of Greece in the first week of April 1896. 

There have been 30 Modern Summer Olympic games held every four years since 1896, except for those in 1940 and 1944 which could not be held due to the ongoing World War. Since 1924, the Modern Winter Olympic games have been held on a staggered two-year schedule after the Summer Olympics. Since 1960, the Paralympic Olympic games, held for the participation of athletes with a range of disabilities, were added as a part of the schedule for the Summer Olympics. They are also held every four years, with their participation increasing from 400 disabled athletes from 23 countries in 1960 to 4520 disabled athletes from 163 countries in 2020.

Women Power: Though the ancient Olympic games did not allow girls and women to participate, since 1900, the Modern Olympic games introduced the participation of women, with 22 women out of the 997 athletes participating in the games the same year. Since then, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made committed efforts to increase women's participation at the Olympics, and it also strives hard to promote gender equality in sports. The London 2012 Olympic schedule was the first one in which women participated in all of the sports on the programme. The latest Olympics - Tokyo 2020 saw 5409 women participate out of the total 11,319 athletes. 

Why Paris and not France? The honor of hosting these Olympic games is entrusted to a city (not a country) which is decided by the IOC. The host must promise that every competitor shall be given free entry without any discrimination on grounds of religion, gender, colour, or political affiliation. 

Which sports will we see: The Paris 2024 Olympic schedule comprises more than  30 Sports, i.e., Archery, Gymnastics, Artistic Swimming, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Breaking, Canoe events, Cycling, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Golf, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Swimming events, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Rugby, sailing, Shooting, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, Surfing, Table tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Trampoline, Triathlon, Volleyball, Water Polo, Weightlifting, with about 10,000 to 11,000 athletes from over 200 countries participating in these games. They will be shown live on the television. These games bring so many different people across the world together in the same spirit of hope, perseverance, hard work, dedication, joy, and the pride and exhilaration of representing their homeland on the world stage. 

The Olympic symbol consists of five interlaced rings of equal dimensions, used alone, in one or in five different colours, which are, from left to right blue, yellow, black, green, red. The Olympic rings express the activity of the Olympic movement and represent the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic games. 

Olympic Phryge and the Paralympic Phryge are the Mascots of Paris Olympics 2024.