Indian Authors In English

1. Wings of Fire --------- A.P.J Abdul Kalam
2. You Can Win ---------- Shiv Khera
3. One Day Wonder ------ Sunil Gavasker
4. The Namesake --------Jhumpa Lahiri
5. Pinjar Amrita ---------Pritam
6. The God of Small Things --- Arundhanti Roy
7. The Glass Palace -------Amitav Ghosh
8. New World ---------Amit Chaudhary
9. Fasting Feasting --------Anita Desai
10. Getting There ---------- Manjula Padamanabhan
11.A Train to Pakistan --------- Khuswant Singh
12. A Room on the Roof ----------Ruskin Bond
13. English August ---------Upmanyu Chatterjee
14. Beastly Tales ----------Vikram Seth
15. Show Business---------- Shashi Thakur
16. Coolie Mulk--------- Raj Anand
17. The Broken Wings --------------Sarojini naidu

Know First In India -II

Woman to climb mount Everest ----Bachhendri Pal
Woman Judge in Supreme Court---- Mrs. Meera Sahib Fatima Biwi
Woman Chief Justice of a High Court---- Smt. Leela Seth
Indian Woman to go in space (Now U.S. Citizen) ----Kalpana Chawla
The first Indian weightlifter to win bronze medal in Olympics---- Karnam Malleshwari (Sydney, in 2000)
The First Indian World Chess Champion---- Vishwanathan Anand
India's first paperless Newspaper ----The News Today (Launched on Jan. 3, 2001)
India's First woman Merchant Navy Officer---- Sonali Banerjee
The first Dalit Speaker of the Lok Sabha ----G. M. C. Balyogi
The first Vice-President of India to die in harness---- Krishna Kant
The first Indian woman cricketer to score double century ----Mithali Raj (August 2002 playing against England)
The first woman Air Vice-Marshal---- P. Bandopadhyaya
The first Indian to be appointed as United Nations Civilian Police Advisor---- Ms. Kiran Bedi
The first astronaut of Indian origin to perish aboard U.S. space shuttle in a tragic accident---- Dr. Kalpana Chawla (Columbia space shuttle, Feb. I, 2003)


The first woman to be appointed Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India ----K. J. Udeshi (appointed on June 10, 2003)
The first Indian girl to register a win in a Wimbledon tournament----Sania Mirza (2003)
The first Indian lady to win a medal in World Athletic Championship---- Anju Bobby George (Aug. 2003)
The first woman Chairman and Managing Director of NABARD---- Mrs. Ranjana Kumar
The highest individual test scorer of India---- Virendra Sehwag ( 309 runs in the first test in Multan against Pakistan)
The first Indian cricketer to make double centuries five times---- Rahul Drgvid (playing test against Pakistan in Pakistan in. April 2004)
The first Orissa woman to top I.A.S.---- Smt. Roopa Misra (Indian Civil Services Exam., 2003)
The first Sikh Prime Minister of India---- Dr. Manmohan Singh
The first woman Director General of Police of a State---- Kanchan C. Bhattacharya (DGP Uttaranchal)
The first woman to be appointed as the crime branch chief ----MeeriJ Borwankar (took over as crime branch chief of Mumbai police)
The first woman to reach the rank of Lt. General in the Indian army---- Puneeta Arora (Commandant, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune)
The first Indian to cross seven important seas by swimming---- Bula Chaudhury
The first woman to become Indian Air Force's first woman Air Marshal---- Padma Bandhopadhyay

Know First In India - I

British Governor General of Bengal-----------Warren Hastings
Governor General of Independent India-------Lord Mountbatten
Commander-in-chief of Free India------------General Roy Bucher
Cosmonaut-----------------------------Sqn. Ldr. Rakesh Sharma
Emperor of Moghul Dynasty in India----------Babar
Field Marshal--------------------------------S. H. F. J. Manekshaw
Indian Governor General of Indian Union-----C. Rajagopalachari
Indian I.C.S. Officer-------------------------Satyendra Nath Tagore
Indian Member of Viceroy's Executive Council----Sri S.P. Sinha
Indian to swim across English Channel--------Mihir Sen

Indian woman to swim across-English Channel-----Miss Arati Saha
Man to climb Mount Everest-----------------Tenzing Norgay
Man to climb Mount Everest without Oxygen------ Phu Dorjee
Man to climb Mount Everest twice-----------Nwang Gombu
Nobel Prize winner--------------------------Rabindra Nath Tagore
President of Indian National Congress-------W. C. Banerjee
President of Indian Republic-----------------Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Talkie Film----------------------------------Alam Ara (1931)
Test Tube Baby (Documented)--------------Indira
Viceroy of India-----------------------------Lord Canning
Woman Minister of Indian Union------------Rajkumari Amrit Kaur

Woman Chief Minister of State--------------Mrs. Sucheta Kriplani

Woman Governor---------------------------Mrs. Sarojini Naidu

Woman President of Indian National Cong.----- Dr. Annie Besant

Woman Prime Minister----------------------Mrs. Indira Gandhi

Woman Speaker of a State Assembly-------Mrs. Shanno Devi

Prime Minister of India----------------------Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru

Muslim President of Indian Union-----------Dr. Zakir Hussain

Speaker of Lok Sabha----------------------G. V. Mavlankar

General Knowledge Quiz Part - II

1)Which is the longest river in the world ?
Ans:- Nile
2)Which country is called the playground of Europe ?
Ans:-Switzerland
3)What is the capital of Indonesia? Ans:- Jakarta
4)What is the currency of China ?
Ans:- Yuan
5)Which country in the world does not have a rectangular flag? Ans:- Nepal

6)What is the currency of Russia? Ans:- Ruble
7)Which is the largest volcano on Earth?Ans:- Hawaii's Mauna Loa
8)In our Solar system, which planets have rings around them? Ans:- Four of the large outer planets in our solar system have rings around them.
Jupiter - 3 rings
Saturn - has thousands of rings Uranus - 11 rings Neptune - 6 rings
9)What is a Meteor? Ans:- There are pieces of rock orbiting space called Meteoroids. Sometime these meteoroids hit the Earth. When they are falling through the Earth's atmosphere, they burn up.These are called Meteors or Shooting Stars
10)What is the capitol of Canada? Ans:- Ottawa
11)Is Canada bigger than USA?Ans:- Yes Canada is bigger than USA
12)What is the name of the river that falls over Niagara Falls?Ans:- The Niagara River flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It serves as the border between Ontario in Canada and New York State in the USA. The river is about 56 kilometers (35 miles) long and includes Niagara falls along its way
13)Which country has the world’s largest Rainforest?
Ans:-Brazil is the largest country in the continent of South America and has the largest rainforest in the world.
14)Which river runs through this rainforest?
Ans:-Amazon River
15)Which country is the world’s largest gold producer?Ans:-South Africa
16)What is Arachnophobia?
Ans:-The word Arachnophobia comes from the Greek words, ARACHNE, meaning SPIDER, and PHOBOS, meaning FEAR.Some people have an irrational, persistent fear of spiders. It is very difficult for them to overcome this fear.

General Knowledge Quiz- Question and Answers

The place known as the Garden of England is - Kent
The tallest tower in the world is the - C.N.Tower,Toronto, Canada
The country famous for its fish catch is - Japan
The old name of Taiwan was - Farmosa
Montreal is situated on the bank of river - Ottawa
The city of Bonn is situated in - Germany
The literal meaning of Renaissance is - Revival
Julius Caesar was killed by - Brutus
The title of Desert Fox was given to - Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
The largest airport in the world is the - King Khalid Int.Airport, Saudi Arabia
The city in Russia which faced an earthquake in the year 1998 was - Armenia
The largest bay in the world is - Hudson Bay,Canada

The largest church in the world is - Bascilica of St.Peter,Vatican City,Rome
The largest peninsula in the world is - Arabia
The largest gulf in the world is - Gulf of Mexico
The tallest statue in the world is the - Motherland,Volgagra d Russia
The largest railway tunnel in the world is the - Oshimzu Tunnel,Japan
The world's loneliest island is the - Tristan da cunda
The word `Quiz'was coined by - Jim Daly Irishman
The original meaning of `Quiz'was - Trick
The busiest shopping centre of London is - Oxford Street
The residence of the Queen in London is - Buckingham Palace
Adolf Hitler was born in - Austria
The country whose National Anthem has only music but no words is - Bahrain
The largest cinema in the world is the - Fox theatre,Detroit, USA
The country where there are no Cinema theatres is - Saudi arabia
The world's tallest office building is the - Sears Tower,Chicago
In the year 1811,Paraguay became independent from - Spain
The cross word puzzle was invented by - Arthur Wynney
The city which was the capital of the ancient Persian Empire was - Persepolis
WHO stands for - World Health Organisation
WHO is located at - Geneva
FAO stands for - Food and Agriculture Organisation
FAO is located at - Rome and London
UNIDO stands for - United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
UNIDO is located at - Vienna
WMO stands for - World Meteorological Organisation
WMO is located at - Geneva

International Civil Aviation Organisation is located at - Montreal
The Angel Falls is located in - Venezuela
The Victoria Falls is located in - Rhodesia
Ice Cream was discovered by - Gerald Tisyum
The number regarded as lucky number in Italy is - Thirteen
Napoleon suffered from alurophobia which means - Fear of cats
The aeroplanes was used in war for the first time by - Italians(14 Oct.1911)
Slavery in America was abolished by - Abraham Lincoln
The Headquarters of textile manufacturing in England is - Manchester
The famous Island located at the mouth of the Hudson river is - Manhattan
The founder of plastic industry was - Leo Hendrik Bakeland
The country where military service is compulsory for women is - Israel
The country which has more than 10,000 golf courses is - USA
The famous painting `Mona Lisa'is displayed at - Louvre museum,Paris
The earlier name for tomato was - Love apple

Amazing Facts

Tuesday is considered as the most productive day of the week.
In human body the right lung takes in more air than the left one.
The sun is 330330 times larger than the earth.
Bill gates house was designed using Macintosh computer which is a brand of the microsoft’s rival company.
Almost all varieties of breakfast cereals are made from grass.
In the 1930’s America track star Jesse Owens used to race against horses and dogs to earn a living.
There is a great mushroom in Oregon that is 2,400 years old. It Covers 3.4 square miles of land and is still growing.
Jimmy Carter is the first USA president to have born in hospital.
Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump.
Cleopatra married two of her brothers.
Human birth control pill works on gorillas.
It is illegal to own a red car in shanghai china.
Tru to spin an egg, Its strange that a hard-boiled egg will spin but an uncooked or soft-boiled egg will not.
Astronauts cannot burp in space.
People with blue eyes see better in dark.
The snowiest city in the USA is Blue Canyon, California.
Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua is the only fresh water lake in the world that has sharks.
Kite flying is a professional sport in Thailand.
The gasoline can not freeze no matter how cold the temperature falls.
Human stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks otherwise it will digest itself.
Every person has a unique tongue print.
Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn’t wear pants.
A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it go mad instantly and sting itself to death.
By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can’t sink in quicksand.
Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
The Polar Bear can can reach 25 miles / hr of speed.
Leonardo Da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.
Chocolate affects a dog’s heart and nervous system. A few ounces will kill a small sized dog.
Most lipsticks contain fish scales.
Courtesy : amazing facts website

USA General Knowledge

On 4th July 1776 America declares itself as an independent country
The U.S President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865
According to a theory California State was nbamed by its Spanish settlers after a utopian society described in a popular 16th-century novel called Serged de Esplandian.
The State Georgia named after King George II of England, who charted the colony in 1732.
Louisiana state named after French King Louis XIV.
Washington Named after George Washington.
Wyoming derived from the Algonquin word for “large prairie place”
Rhode Island named by “Roode Eylandt” (Red Island) because of its red clay.
Teaxas word Derived from the Caddo Indian word for “friend,” or “ally.”
North and south Dakota taken from the Sioux word for “friend,” or “ally”.
Virginia and west virginia was Named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, the “virgin” queen, by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584.
Newyork was named after the Duke of York and Albany.
Minnesota was derived from the Sioux word for “sky tinted” or “muddy water”.
New Mexico is the Spanish name for the territory north of the Rio Grande.
Kansas word was taken from the Sioux word for “south wind people,” their name for anyone who lived south of Sioux territory.
Hawaii is an English adaptation of the native word Owyhee, which means “homeland”.
Indiana state was named by English-speaking settlers because the territory was full of Indians.
Kentucky was possibly derived from the Indian word kan-tuk-kee, meaning “dark and bloody ground.” Or kan-tuc-kec, “land of green reeds”, or ken-take, meaning “meadowland”.
Shakespeare invented the word ‘ assassination’ and ‘bump’