India Unbound
Colourful Diversity
From a town full of toys to a chilli once crowned the world's hottest, every corner of India has its own colours, flavours and stories. Let's explore a few more!
Did you know?
In 2007, Guinness World Records named the bhut jolokia the world's hottest chilli. It is grown in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. In Nagaland, it is called 'Raja mirja', the king chilli!
On Phool Dei in Uttarakhand, children gather fresh flowers and place them on the doorsteps of homes to welcome spring. It begins on the first day of the month of Chaitra, and families thank the children with sweets.
Channapatna in Karnataka is called 'Gombegala Ooru', which means toy town. Its wooden toys are coloured with vegetable dyes, which makes them safe for little children to play with.
Try this: Language Panel Hunt
Ask an adult to show you a rupee note. On the back, find the small panel where the note's value is written in many Indian languages. Count the languages. Can you spot any scripts you know, such as Telugu, Tamil or Bengali? Copy one word in a script you don't know. Then ask family and friends which languages they can read.
Go further: Dots That Tell Stories
Jangarh Singh Shyam (1962–2001) was a Pardhan Gond artist from Patangarh village in central India. He painted Gond stories on paper and canvas, and his style became known as 'Jangarh Kalam'. His pictures show tigers, deer, turtles and crocodiles filled with rows of coloured dots and lines, inspired by Gond tattoo patterns. He also painted the dome of Bharat Bhavan, a famous arts centre. Try filling an animal outline with dots and dashes, Gond style!