The Childless Indian Woman Who Mothered Hundreds of Trees
Meet ‘Saalumarada’ Thimmakka, an uneducated environmentalist who, along with her late husband, planted and cared for 384 banyan trees in her hometown of Hulikal village, in Karnataka, India. Now 103 years old, she lives on to tell the tale. When Thimmakka was a young girl, she married a farmer named Chikkaiah and together they made […]
Indian Cook Can Dip Hands in Boiling Oil without Pain or Injury
Prem Kumar, from New Delhi, India, regularly shocks people with his high tolerance to heat – the man can fry fish with his bare hands, dipping them into and out of a wok of boiling oil. The 65-year-old runs a street food stall in Karol Bagh, where he serves fried fish to thousands of customers each day. […]
India’s Lake of Toxic Foam Is So Polluted It Sometimes Catches Fire
Despite its tropical climate, parts of Bangalore city in southern India have been experiencing what looks like snow. Except, it’s not actually snow, but a toxic foam from a severely polluted lake! The 9,000-acre Bellandur lake is the largest one in the city, and also the most polluted. Decades’ worth of untreated chemical waste and sewage in […]
Guy Quits Job to Train for Breaking World Record for Most Selfies in an Hour
When 24-year-old Bhanu Prakash, from Hyderabad, India, realised that his job was eating into his precious selfie-time, he decided to quit working altogether. He now spends all his time taking pictures of himself, and training to break the world record for most selfies in an hour. The record currently belongs to American football player Patrick […]
Indian Artists Turn Mumbai Taxis into Artworks on Wheels
‘Taxi Fabric’ is an innovative art project in Mumbai, India, that allows upcoming designers to transform the interiors of taxicabs in the city. Ten cabs have been given vibrant makeovers so far, and a Kickstarter campaign is underway to raise funds for more. “The Taxi Fabric project is all about providing Indian designers with a […]
Manipur, the Indian State Ruled by Korean Pop-Culture
Despite being a part of India, the northern state of Manipur can culturally be described as Korean. Ever since local authorities banned Bollywood movies and Hindi TV channels in a bid to “stamp out Indianisation”, a vast majority of the local population have turned to Korean pop-culture. They are now big fans of Korean films and […]
Indian “Road Doctor” Has Been Using His Own Pension Money to Fix Potholes
Meet Gangadhara Tilak Katnam, the man who single-handedly fixed over 1,000 potholes in his hometown of Hyderabad, India. The 66-year-old pensioner has made it his mission to fix the city’s roads, earning himself the nickname ‘road doctor’. Since 2011, the former railway engineer has been driving around the city every single day, looking for abandoned […]
India’s Medicine Baba Takes Prescription Medicine from the Rich, Gives It to the Poor
Omkarnath, a retired blood-bank technician from New Delhi, is a modern-day medical Robin Hood. For the past three years, the 79-year-old has been collecting unused prescription drugs from the wealthy and distributing them among the less fortunate. His efforts have earned him the nickname ‘Medicine Baba’. ‘Baba’ is a term used in India to describe a […]
How the “Waterman of India” Revived Five Rivers and Brought Back Water to Over 1,000 Villages
Rajendra Singh is considered a hero in the state of Rajasthan, in India, for single handedly reviving five rivers that had been dried up for decades. His exceptional work and dedication have earned him the nickname ‘Waterman of India’. Singh, who studied Ayurvedic medicine at college, had always dreamed of becoming a farmer. So when he […]
Indian Millionaire Gives Up His Fortune to Become a Humble Monk
Indian businessman Bhanwarlal Raghunath Doshi made headlines last weekend for publicly renouncing his wealth to become a monk. The ‘plastics king’ of Delhi gave up his 600-crore ($100 million) business empire during a ceremony on Sunday, becoming the 108th disciple of Jain guru Shri Gunratna Surishwarji Maharaj. Doshi’s decision wasn’t an impulsive one: Jain lectures have […]
Alleged Pakistani Spy Pigeon Arrested in India
In a puzzling turn of events, Indian authorities have arrested a pigeon on the suspicion of spying for the Pakistani government. The dubious bird is believed to have landed on the terrace of a barber’s home in the village of Manwal, four kilometers away from the India-Pakistan border. The barber’s 14-year-old son noticed an Urdu […]
The Water Wives of India Live Only to Fetch Water for Their Families
Men in drought-stricken Indian villages often take a second or even a third wife whose sole purpose is only to bring water to the family. They make several long trips to distant water sources every single day, carrying large vats of water on their heads. Life is hard in dry villages, like Denganmal, 150 km […]
Walking Advertising Billboard Tattoos His Body with Logos of His Favorite Brands, for Free
If you think about it, logos are works of art too – they’re clever, well designed and come in a variety of colors. But are they appealing enough to tattoo on to your body? Well, for 23-year-old Indian tattoo artist Jason George, they are. The self-confessed ‘human billboard’, sports hundreds of tattooed logos of international companies that […]
Indian Librarian Has Been Donating Every Penny Earned to Charity for 35 Years
Meet Kalyanasundaram, an Indian librarian with a heart of gold. During his 35 years of service, he donated almost all the money he earned to orphanages and children’s welfare funds. Now that he is retired, Kalyanasundaram donates his entire pension to those who need it more than he. Although he has no material possessions to his […]
Indian Man Is on a Quest to Date 365 Women This Year
Most people are desperate to find ‘the one’, but this Indian man is quite the opposite. He wants date one woman… per day! He’s on a quest to go out on 365 dates this year, and has already been on 110 so far. Although his goal might make him sound like a Casanova, Sunder Ramu’s […]