I don’t
know from which part of the world you’re reading this, whether it is Sydney
in Australia, Tokyo in Japan, New York in the United States or New Delhi in
India but whichever place in the world you live in has its story. Let me tell you about the place I live in - Mumbai.
Mumbai is the financial capital and is one of
the major cities of India.
Mumbai comprises of 7 islands that have now been joined.
So, in the 15th century after the sea route to India was discovered
by Vasco da Gama. Many European colonial powers started colonizing India and
one of them were the Portuguese. After the Portuguese settled down in Goa, they
started capturing ports like Cochin, Daman and Diu and one of these ports
included Mumbai. Mumbai soon started to prosper because of the flourishing
trade, and this is the reason the Portuguese named it “Bom Bahia” which
translates into English as “the Good Bay”. Now let us fast-forward to 1661. In
1661 Charles II married a Portuguese princess and as dowry from the Portuguese
the islands of Mumbai were given to the British. The British could not
pronounce the word “Bom Bahia”, so they called it Bombay.
But this is not the
end, after India gained independence in 1947 Bombay was renamed Mumbai after
the Koli goddess Mumba Devi. This is how Mumbai got its name.
You all must have had some soup whether it be
tomato soup or pumpkin soup, but do you know what soup people living in the
Indus Valley Civilization would have had?
The Indus Valley Civilization was located on
the banks of the Indus river as the name suggests, there would have been
crocodiles and gharials- the long-nosed crocodiles in the river and this
allowed them to hunt crocodiles and gharials. And do you know what dish they
made from gharial meat? Gharial soup! So, the next time you have some soup
think of what people in the Indus Valley Civilization would have put in it.
Have you ever played polo in the dark? If not
ask Akbar.
Akbar was the 3rd Mughal emperor who
ruled during the 16th century. He was the son of Humayun and the
grandson of Babur. Akbar was very fond of playing polo and wanted to play it in
the dark too! So, he invented a bamboo ball which had a piece of cloth soaked
in oil placed inside and was lit this allowed him to play even at night.
Did you know Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland
inspired by a spider?
Robert the Bruce or Robert I was the King of
Scotland. He was the son of Robert de Brus. He was the leader of the First War
of Scottish Independence. So, years before the First Scottish War of
Independence or the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 he was a fugitive from the
English. Once, he had decided to give up while he was hiding in a cave but was
inspired to continue by the perseverance of a spider building a web. Can you
now think of some animal you were inspired by?
Did you know that the Hundred Years War didn’t
last for exactly 100 years?
The Hundred Years War started between France
and England in 1337 and ended in 1453. Can you now calculate and tell me how
many years the war lasted for? If you said 116 then you’re correct. The Hundred
Years War lasted for more than 100 years! Now, that is a very long war.
In modern times we go to dentists to whiten our
teeth, but do you know what people in Mauryan times would have used to whiten their
teeth?
Most of you might know of the Mauryans as they
were the most prominent rulers in ancient India. In the reign of the 3rd
Mauryan king Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire rose to its peak. So, in Mauryan times
women used a powder to whiten their teeth but darken the gums, luckily this
“beauty product” has not survived otherwise we would have women looking like
vampires walking around!
You must
have heard of hair color, but have you heard of “beard color”?
Men in Mauryan times dyed their beards bright
colors like blue, green, red, orange and yellow. Luckily this tradition has not
survived otherwise we would have had “beard dyeing” services in salons.
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