My Trip to Kathmandu and Pokhara

We started our journey by flight from Kolkata to Kathmandu. 

First we went to the kolkata airport to board the flight. It took us 1 hour 25 minutes to reach kathmandu Tribhuban international airport. After that we went to our pre booked hotel and we took rest for that day. The next day after having our breakfast, we started our sightseeing and visited

Bakhtapur city tour and Nagrakot sunset and came back to our hotel. Next day we went for heritage and temple sightseeing which also included Pashupatinath Mandir.   

On the 3rd day we went for Chandragiri cable car ride to visit Baleshwar Mahadev

temple and we came back to our hotel after having a lot of fun on our cable ride. Next day we started our journey to visit Pokhara, which was 4-5 hours drive from Kathmandu. I enjoyed this drive very much to see the valley, water falls, mountains. We reached Pokhara at evening and toured rest  of the day. 

Next day we went out for sunrise tour to Sarangkot , and after lunch we went for boating in Seti river to visit Barahi temple .

On 6th day we came back to Kolkata and our journey to Nepal was completed. I enjoyed this journey very much.

Hell

As known to all
The dirtiest of all
The trouble to all
The home of all evils..... Is Hell !

The careless of all
The painful of all
The sinful of all
The abode of demons and devils...Is Hell!

The deadliest of all
The crooked of all
The most wicked of all
The cursed of all
The destiny of ghosts and witches...Is Hell!

But the worst of all is the one on this earth
That teases and captures you
And makes you devoid of truth...If is the darkest Hell!

Veg Mac Puff

Ingredients-
          Corn, capsicum, carrot, peas, onion, red bell paper, yellow bell paper, maida (flour), baking powder, pizza - pasta sauce, salt, black pepper, cheese, butter, mixed herb.         

Method -   

    Mix flour, salt, baking powder and oil. Add little warm water to make it a little soft dough. Saute all vegetables in butter, add salt, black pepper and pizza-pasta sauce. Let it cool completely and add cheese and mixed herbs. Stuffing is ready. Roll chapatti out of dough, cut it into rectangle sheet and place another sheet on it and paste them with water. Deep fry in hot oil. Your Veg Mac Puff is ready.

Tokyo Skytree

The Tokyo Skytree is a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan.
          Standing 634 meters (2,080 feet ) tall, it is the second tallest structure in the world after the Burj Khalifa (829.8) and the tallest structure in Japan.       

        The tower is the main television and radio broadcast site of many companies for the Kanto region, after the Tokyo Tower couldn't give full broadcasting coverage because of the surrounding high-rise buildings. It is privately owned by Tobu Railway Corporation.
       What's spectacular about this tower is its two observation decks which offer spectacular views out over Tokyo. The two enclosed decks are located at heights of 350 and 450 meters respectively. A large shopping complex with an aquarium is located at its base.             
        

 Designed by the Japanese architectural firm Nikken Sekkei , the structure is earthquake resistant. It uses ancient technology to withstand earthquakes, like Pagodas that have a central pole called a shinbashira that diffuses seismic vibrations and keeps the the whole thing from falling down. A central concrete tube runs almost the entire height of the tower . This tube is fastened to the sides of the tower with fuel dampers, invented by NASA, which allows the tube to sway without hitting the sides of the tower.

Construction of Tokyo Sky Tree started in July 2008 and opened in May 2012.
    
A visit to the Tokyo Skytree starts on the 4th floor where the tickets for the first observation deck ( but not for the second deck ) are sold. A fast and smooth elevator ride takes visitors to the top floor of the first observation deck can be purchased. Visitors then access the second deck before descending back to the lower floors of the first observatory where they board the elevator down to the tower's exit on the 5th floor.     

• The figures 6 ( mu ), 3 (sa ), 4 (shi ) stand for “ Musashi ", an old name of the region where the Tokyo Skytree stands.
•  The total cost of the Tokyo Skytree is reported to be about 65 billion JPY( 806 million USD ).

Brownie Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients-

1.              Brown sugar
2.              Sugar powder
3.              Melted butter
4.              Milk
5.              Vanilla extract
6.              Flour
7.              Oreo
8.              Choco chips
9.              Chocolate syrup
10.              Ice cream
11.              Chocolate Brownie
12.               Salt

Method- 
   

 Bake a cookie batter in a frying pan for 20 minutes. Then take some brown sugar, sugar powder, melted butter and mix them well. Then add milk , vanilla extract, salt, flour and then mix it well. Then add mini Choco chips, some Oreo and chocolate syrup.   

After garnishing it, add cookies and ice cream on the top of it. Then freeze that for 30 minutes. When the  brownie is cooled , add the brownie on the top layer, add more ice cream. Then garnish it with broken Oreos and chocolate syrup. Freeze it for 6 hours. Slice the cake and serve with coffee.

Royal Cars

In 1909, when an American , Henry Ford, mass-produced his famous Model-T, cars became cheaper. They were also easier to drive and more reliable. All Ford cars looked alike . “You can have any colour you like", said Ford, “as long as it's black."         
               

     The Maharaja of Patiala at one time owned ninety Rolls Royces, while the Maharaja of Bharatpur had twenty. However speaking of car lovers , there was no one who could match the Nizam of Hyderabad.
         

     Whenever he saw an expensive and beautiful car in his kingdom, the owner was informed that His Exalted Highness would like a ride in the car .The owner , hardly  believing his luck, would lend his car for the royal drive. The car , of course , was bought and never returned.
          Thus , the Nizam collected a fleet of three to four hundred cars that were never  used. Many years later, when the Nizam turned down the proposal and instead spent lakhs of rupees to get them overhauled.
            The craze for cars ended suddenly with the beginning of the First World War. Car and buses then carried soldiers and their supplies to the battlefield.

     The royalty were among the first to make regular use the car. Knowing that the Maharajas were fond of hunting , Rolls Royce wasted no time in selling them cars specially designed for the purpose. Off came the roof and instead was placed a glass ceiling on four poles to create just the right atmosphere for a hunt. 

    The first Rolls Royce , ‘Pearl of India' as it was called , entered India in 1908 .Designed especially for the Maharaja of Gwalior , it was specially built for tropical conditions. It had a high ceiling and ventilators. It was finished in cream with apple - green stripes edged with gold.

           Around 1911, there were more than a hundred cars in India. Of all these , the Rolls Royce was perhaps the only one that could survive the Indian conditions.

Eggless Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Ingredients-

• Bourbon Biscuits- 240g\2 packs  
  
• Eno (Regular)- 1 pack
• Milk- 1 cup
• Nuts\Choco chips - 1\2 cup

Method-

1.     In a mixer blender crush all biscuits into a fine powder.
2.      Take a mixing bowl and empty the biscuit powder into it.
3.       Now add milk to the powder and give it a good mix .
4.        Lastly add eno powder to the cake batter and stir it only in one direction.
5.       Take a greased baking tin and pour the batter into it.
6.       Now add nuts or choco chips to it and bake it in an oven at 180 degrees centigrade for about 25 minutes.         
   
7.       When it is done , check and your yummy cake is ready to serve.

Big Questions In Science

Why do some people go bald?

•     There are two reasons why people may go bald. The live hair germ centres have either been permanently destroyed or they have been temporarily damaged.     

•      Temporary hair loss often occurs after a high fever, thyroid disease or tuberculosis, but it grows again in most cases after the disease is cured. Drugs, X-rays, malnutrition and some skin diseases can also cause temporary hair loss, but usually it grows again within a year.  

• Stages of female badness pattern

•          There is also a disease called alopecia areata , in which the hair falls out in patches all over the head , usually the germ centres have been injured only temporarily, and in 99% of cases the hair grows again without treatment . Baldness may occur at almost any time of life after childhood.

 

•  Permanent baldness or alopecia occurs in more than 40% of men and may affect the whole head. In women it affects the crown of the head only and never leads to complete loss of hair . Three  factors often lead to permanent baldness: heredity, age and hormone balance . There is no cure. Other causes of permanent baldness may be injuries or diseases which produce severe scarring, inborn lack of hair development and severe injuries to the hair germ centres by chemicals.

    What makes you feel dizzy?
   Dizziness most commonly occurs when a person who has been moving around with speed stops suddenly. The sensitive liquid in the inner ear, which mainly controls balance , continues to move for a time after the body has stopped .So , the surroundings appear to be still in motion. However , it only takes a few seconds for the fluid , and balance to settle.     

Dizziness

       This sensation also called vertigo , may also occur to someone looking down from a height or on board ship. Here the cause is probably not so much physical as a nervous reaction  which effects the fluid in the inner ear.
      

Sewing Machine

There are some inventions like rockets to Mars and humanoid robot that take our breathaway. And there are some common inventions that we take it for granted like the sewing machine.
          So who invented this great machine? There are several contenders for the big honour - USA, Germany, France,Russia and the United Kingdom.
     

First Sewing
Machine

      In 1755, a German mechanic working in London, England by the name of Charles Weisenthal was awarded the first British patent for a mechanical device for sewing - a double pointed needle with an eye at one end.        
   Then in 1790, Thomas Saint , an Englishman, patented an idea for a machine that would punch holes in leather, then run a needle through them. It  was an intriguing idea that never took shape.

Sewing Machine

invented by Thomas Saint.

          Many more German and American inventors of the early 19th century developed machines but none of them were very efficient.
           The first major breakthrough came around 1830. French tailor Barthelemy  Thimonnier patented a machine which used a hooked needle to produce a consistent stitch. He won a contract from the French army, but some 200 rioting tailors, who feared that the invention would ruin their businesses, destroyed the machines in 1831.
          There were major improvements in the sewing machines built by Walter Hunt of New York City in about 1832 - 34, which was never patented , and by Elias Howe of Massachusetts, patented in 1846.

Elias Howe

          Sewing machines were first mass produced after the 1850's when Isaac Singer built the first commercially successful machine . In his machine the needle moved up and down rather than the side-to-side and the needle was powered by a foot treadle. However, singer's machine used the same lock stitch that Howe had patented. Elias Howe sued Isaac Singer for patent infringement and won in 1854. 

Isaac Singer

       Helen Augusta Blanchard of portland. Maine (1840-1922) patented the first zig-zag stitch  machine in 1873. The zig- zag stitch better seals the edges of a seam. making a garment sturdier. Helen Blanchard also patented 28 other inventions including the hat-sewing machine,surgical needles, and other improvements to sewing machines.

zig-zag stitch machine

Word Of The Year

The Oxford Dictionaries has chosen " Nari Shakti" as the Hindi Word of the year 2018.The Oxford Dictionaries, which is a global leader in language , has set a tradition of announcing a Word of the Year. The word or expression is chosen on the basis of the interest it has created over a year. The Oxford Dictionaries website announces that the word of the year “ is eventually chosen that is judged to reflect the ethos, mood , or preoccupations of that particular year and to have lasting potential as a word of cultural significance." 

          The Oxford Word of the Year 2018 is “ toxic ". The word was the most looked up word on oxforddictionaries.com.
          According to Oxford Dictionaries, along with a 45% rise in the number of times “toxic" has been looked up, the word has been used in varied contexts, both in “its literal and more metaphorical senses".
The Word of the Year is a result of extensive language research programme, including the Oxford Corpus, which gathers around 150 million words of current English from web-based publications each month . Dictionary editors also look for contenders throughout the year.
Suggestions sent via social media and in the comments on their blog are also considered. The final Word of the year selection is made on the basis of all these information.

The Magic Fruit

          Along a beach , you can see the tops of tall, slender palm trees, forever in motion, waving their tufts even when the air appears to be still. When there is a storm or strong winds coming in from the sea, the coconut palms toss their heads in torment, bending until they almost touch the ground.
         The four best- known Indian palms are the coconut (nariyal), the palmyra (tal), the date ( khajur) and the betelnut ( supari). Each tree has its own peculiar beauty. They are all valuable for their fruit, sap or fibre. In 1583, an English traveller to India, seeing a coconut tree for the first time , wrote home, ' It bears fruit throughout the year, not dates, but nuts rather like a man's head.'

          The coconut has been known to Indians from the earliest times and mention is made of it in the Puranas and other ancient texts. Arab sailors and merchants called it the 'Indian nut', a name that was also used by Marco Polo when he visited the Malabar Coast in the thirteenth century. In ancient times, the people of Tamil Nadu were active seafarers and together with the mariners of Bengal they were probably responsible for distributing the coconut over a wide area of south-east Asia.
        The Coconut Festival, or Nariyal Purnima , is celebrated at the end of the monsoon, when thousands of people visit the shore to offer coconuts to the sea. Fishermen set out in their small boats and pour milk, flowers and coconuts into the sea in Thanksgiving. These are offered to Varuna, the Vedic god of the heavens and oceans. The god is represented by a pot of water with a coconut placed over its mouth.

Marathon

Have you heard of the Olympic Game? Athletes and sportsmen from all over the world come together. They run and jump and swim and ride horses and play many different sports and games. The Olympic Games are held every four years. One of the most famous Olympic races is Marathon Race. Only the strongest man can run this race of nearly thirty miles.

          first Marathon Race and a great Olympic hero.

          This is the story of the first Marathon Race and a great Olympic hero. The first Olympic Games were held at Mount Olympus in Greece thousands of years ago. There were many city- states in ancient Greece. Each city ruled the land around it. So it was called a city-state. Athens and Sparta were the strongest among the city-states. These two were great rivals. Athens had great artists and wise teachers. Sparta had strong, brave soldiers.

Darius was the King of Persia. He wanted to conquer Greece. He sent a great army to Greece in 490 B.C. Athens heard the news. They knew that the Persian horseman were the best in the world. The Athenians thought of taking the help of the Spartans to defeat a common enemy. But Sparta was more than a hundred miles south of Athens. There was very little time to send a message.
           The first runner in all Greece was Phidippides. He was an Athenian. He had won the races in the last Olympic Games. He was a toll handsome boy. He was brave and strong as a young lion. So the Athenians asked Phidippides to run to Sparta and he ran like a deer uphill and downhill. He swam across rivers and climbed over mountains. He never stopped for too long. He knew how much Athens needed help. At last he reached Sparta. He told the Spartans, ”I have been running for three days to bring this news. We must fight together against Persia.”The Spartans did not want to help Athens. So they said, “we have an important festival now. We shall come after that.

          Phidippides ran back to Athens. Hearing this bad news the Athenians fought like heroes to the death. The Greek army met the Persians at a place called Marathon, beside the sea. They attacked the Persians like ten thousand heroes. The Athenians fight like tigers. At last Athens won the Battle of Marathon. It is one of the greatest battles in history. The Athenians were very happy. They told  Pheddipides to run to Athens from marathon to give the good news. The people of Athens waited anxiously for the news.  They saw their young hero running twords them.He ran as far as the gate of the coty and fell into the arms of his friends. He had run his last race. His heart break as he feel. His last worgs were, “Rejoice! We have won”.

Michael Phelps

          Michael Phelps, the swimming champion, set a world record when he won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.Not only did Michael set a new record, but this young swimmer surpassed the previously set record of seven gold medals by Mark Spitz. 

          Michael Phelps, whose nick name is ‘MP’ was born in Baltimore, United States. In fact as a child he was afraid of water. He tried his hands at various sports like soccer and baseball but gradually moved away from other sports and began trying to be a swimmer under coach Bob Bowman.
          At the age of seven, Michael was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperacitivity Disorder), a condition in which a child is constantly active and is unable to focus his/her attention on anything for even a short span of time. Michael found a release for this extra energy in swimming. Despite all odds, Michael’s focus never changed and he become what he dreamt of becoming –a real champion! 

          In the 2004 Olympics held at Athens, Greece, Michael won six gold and two bronze medals. During an interview after the Athens games, Michael recalls how he had tried for the games.
          On cold, dark winter morning when he did not feel like getting up to train at 5.30 a.m., he would look inside his swimming cap. His cap had ‘ATHENS’ stitched on the inside. He focused on the word ATHENS. It reminded him of his goal and he would grab his bag and head for the pool. He has been doing that ever since. He does not recall missing his training for anything – Christmas, New Year or Thanksgiving. 

          This young athlete spends most of his time training in the pool. Like most young people he is found of movies and music. His favourit movie is Austin Powers and he loves video games and rap music. In one of his interviews he says that, “you should dream as big as possible because only then can you achieve your dream”
     

    Michael studies tapes of his races over and over again so that he doesn’t repeat the same mistakes and can better his performance. He hates losing. Michael’s determination and focused endeavor have made him a youth icon.

Jordan Spieth

Jordan Alexander Spieth is a former world number one professional golfer from America.
       He is a three- time major winner and the 2015 fedEx Cup champion. The men's major golf championships are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional- Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open Championship.     

        Born on 27 july, 1993, in Dallas, Texas, Spieth won the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship twice before starring at the  University of Texas.
       After turning pro in 2012, he became the youngest man in 82 years to win a PGA Tour event.
        In 2015 Spieth triumphed at the Masters and the U.S. Open-becoming the first male since 1922 to win two majors before his 22nd birthday. 

        At the 2015 Masters Tournament, he tied the 72 hole record set by Tiger Woods in 1997 and became the second youngest golfer ( behind Wood) to win the Masters.
         At the 2015 U.S. Open, he was the youngest U.S. Open champion since amateur Bobby Jones in 1923.
         Two years later, Spieth won his third major at the 2017 Open Championship.

•         In July 2017, at 23- years of age , he was the youngest American to win the British Open.2018 was a winless year for him.
• In April 2016, Time magazine named Spieth to its list of the “100 Most Influential People".
• As of December 2017, Spieth has an estimated net worth of $60 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.