Category Miscellaneous

Why Jodhpur is the Blue City

Jodhpur, Rajasthan’s second-largest city, is known as the “Blue City” for the cluster of azure houses surrounding the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort. The custom began with the Brahmin community, who painted their homes blue to signify status and align with the…

Jigarthanda – Madurai’s iconic “cool heart” drink

Jigarthanda is a chilled milk‑based beverage that originated in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The name comes from the Urdu/Persian word “jigar,” which literally means “liver” but is poetically and popularly used to mean “heart,” and “thanda” meaning cold, together suggesting “cool heart.”…

How a sweet lime became “mosambi” and “battayi”

The sweet lime (Citrus limetta) traveled across continents before becoming the familiar mosambi of India. Its origins trace back to Mozambique, where Portuguese traders first encountered the fruit and brought it to India’s west coast. There it became mosambi, a local…

Understanding cusecs and TMCs when dams release water

During the rainy season, when reservoirs like Srisailam or Nagarjuna Sagar open their gates, we often hear figures like “2 lakh cusecs released” or “storage reaches 300 TMC.” These terms may sound technical, but they’re not difficult to understand. Let’s…