POTATO CHIPS

Can you stop after eating just one crisp, crunchy potato chip? No, impossible! For no one can resist potato chips! How they came into being makes an interesting story.

Sometime in 1885, a chef in a New York resturant created this delicacy, accidentally and in a fit of anger. One evening a patron kept insisting that the fried potatoes were neither thin nor crisp enough. In a rage, the chef dropped the paper-thin slices of potato into the nearest pail of ice water. He forgot all about these until another customer asked for them. Hurriedly, he took the chips out from the pail and threw them into a pan of boiling oil. To his astonishment the fried, salted chips were greatly relished. This was how one of the world's favourite snacks were born.

Potatoes were brought to India by the Portuguese in the early 17th century. They started potato cultivation along the west coast where they were called Batata. The British also introduced potatoes to Bengal where they were known as Alu. Now potatoes are cultivated throughout India. Although full of starch, the potato contains protein and vitamin C. Contrary to popular belief, the potato is non-fattering and low in calories. However, vitamin C is lost when potatoes are deep-fried to make potato chips.

Potato Chips

RICE

Rice is the starchy seeds or grain of an annual marsh grass, Oryza sativa, cultivated in warm climates and used for food. Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low labor costs and high rainfall, as it is labor-intensive to cultivate and requires ample water. Rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a steep hill or mountain. Although its parent species are native to South Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade and exportation have made it commonplace in many cultures worldwide. The major producers of Rice
are China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, Brazil, Japan, Pakistan and
USA.


Methods of cultivating rice are not the same for all localities. It differs greatly in different localities. However, but in most Asian countries like Pakistan and India, the traditional hand methods of cultivating and harvesting rice are still practiced. The traditional method for cultivating rice is flooding the fields while, or after, setting the
young seedlings. This simple method requires sound planning and servicing of the water damming and
channeling, but reduces the growth of less robust weed and pest plants that have no submerged growth state, and deters vermin. While flooding is not mandatory for the cultivation of rice, all other methods of irrigation require higher effort in weed and pest control during growth periods and a different approach for fertilizing the soil.


Eating rice is extremely beneficial for health, just for the fact that it does not contain harmful fats, cholesterol or sodium. It forms an integral part of balanced diet. It abounds in resistant starch, which reaches the bowel in undigested form. It aids the growth of useful bacteria for normal bowel movements. It is rich in insoluble fiber that can possibly protect against many types of cancers.

Rice

THE RADIO

                                  The invention of the telegraph, in the 1830's, showed how messages could be transmitted using electrical signals. But in order to send and receive messages between two places it was necessary that they were linked by wires.
                                  In 1864, the englishman, James Clerk Maxwell, predicted that messages could be sent by electrical signals even without wires. He was proved right in 1887, when Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist, succeeded in sending a signal over a very short distance without the use of wires.
                                 The first practical use of wireless transmission was, by a strange coincidence, demonstrated by two young inventors working different continents at about the same time.
                                  In Calcutta, in 1895, Jagadish Chandra Bose, using an improved version of Hertz's apparatus, transmitted a signal through a solid wall without the aid of wires, making it ring a bell and explode a mini mine. Guglielmo Marconi, a 20-year-old Italian, conducted a similar experiment in which he sent an electrical signal without wires and rang a bell at the other end of the room.
                                 And so, the foundation of modern broadcasting was firmly laid.
                                 Before long, in 1915, the human voice was broadcast for the first time across the Atlantic ocean. A message sent from Virginia, USA, was received by a French military radio station atop the Eiffel Tower in Paris. And sometime later the radio was designed.!

Radios Today

STRANGE MARRIAGE CUSTOMS

                          In Korea, usually the bridegroom is younger than the bride.
                          Among certain Siberian tribes, it is customary to pay "bride price" to the bride's parents, before marriage. The groom, who does not have hard cash often laboured for months, and even for years, in lieu of the bride price.
                          In Tibet and even among some people, living in the Himalayan region of India, polyandry (the practice of a woman having many husbands) is common.

Marriage Rings

SUGAR

                              Egyptians had learnt to make confectionery at least 3,000 years ago, according to Egyptian Hieroglyphics (script). But they used honey to make them.
                              Megasthenes, who visited India during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya has left records that Indians could make sweeteners without having bees-obviously, he was referring to sugar.
                              During the middle ages, Persians helped spread sugar cultivation. But even in the 17th century, one kilo of sugar cost about 15 chickens in England!

Sugar Today

BIRTHDAYS, THE WORLD OVER

                         Children, the world over, love to celebrate their birthdays. It is a day when one is usually pampered. Birthdays are celebrated in numerous ways. The most common type of celebration is to cut a cake and hold a feast afterwards. The cutting of the cake is usually accompanied by the most well-known song, 'Happy Birthday To You!' This song was written by two girls in Kentucky, USA, in 1893.
                        In India, the elders of the family gather to bless the birthday boy or girl with an aarti. An aarti is a ritual during which a tray containing lighted lamps is moved in front of a person. Rice grains symbolising prosperity are also sprinkled on the person.
                        Balloons were first introduced in the USA at birthday parties. Over the years, this practice became common in most parts of the world. A variety of sweets, cakes and pasteries is also a must.
                         In China, birthday boys and girls are usually fed noodles because long noodles signify a long life. Older Chinese celebrate birthday's once in ten years. Several Asian and African people do not celebrate birthdays at all.
                         Like India, Germany too observes children's day. It is called 'Kinderfest'. Children are given gifts and chocolates on that day.
                        In England a big drum would be filled with gifts and toys and everyone invited to the birthday would dip their hands in it and take away whatever they managed to pick up. In Korea, the future of a child is determined by the item he chooses from a number of items kept on a table.
                         The Japanese usually gift a kite to a child who has reached the age of 13. New Year's day in Bhutan is observed as the birthday of all Bhutanese citizens.

A Birthday Cake

THE BANANA

        When Alexander the great invaded India in 326 B.C., he saw bananas for the first time and was greatly impressed by this delicious fruit. The banana is indigenous to the warm, moist parts of North-Eastern India, Burma and other South-East Asian countries. From here it has spread to other parts of the world and has become one of the most important commercial crops in tropical areas.
        Almost every part of the banana plant is useful. Ripe bananas are eaten as fruit. Unripe bananas, the inner core of the stem and the cluster of flowers are used as a vegetable. In many parts of India food is served on banana leaves instead of on plates. In fact bananas are cultivated over large areas exclusively for this purpose. Some species of banana also yield fibre and this is used for making ropes and coarse fabrics in the Philippines and Japan.
       After a banana plant has borne fruit it withers and another one grows right next to it rising from the underground stem called the sucker. This process continues for many years. Above the ground the plant has a false stem composed of sheaths of leaves.
       Hindus consider the banana plant to be auspicious and during religious ceremonies and festivals the stem and leaves are used to decorate the "mandap" or place of worship.

Bananas

                                              
                         

THE RHESUS MONKEY

                   In our towns and cities we often see the Bandarwala and his performing monkey. Look carefully, and you will see that this monkey has orange-red fur on his rump and a bright red face. It is the Red Monkey or The Rhesus Monkey. Rhesus Monkeys live in the himalayas, In Assam and in central India. Before people hunted them out, they used to also live in south India. Outside India, Rhesus monkeys live in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and in the South-Eastern part of China.
                  The Rhesus can easily live in different kinds of habitats - In forests, in swamps, and even among people in villages. They eat many kind of wild foods plus cooked food like chappatis and fried snacks that people like to share with them. When they live near fields they steal rice, wheat, jowar, chana, tamarind and mangoes and when the habitat is difficult, Rhesus are quick to adapt. West of the Ganga, Rhesus have grown to love Algae, bitter Neem and even Crabs!
                  They are very interesting monkeys and many people like to watch them, study them and watch their ways. The Rhesus also help man understand a lot of diseases like Polio, Heart troubles, Viral diseases and Blood disorders.
                  So, this tough, intellegent red monkey is not just a survivor. He has also helped solve many of man's troubles.

The Rhesus Monkey