10 Silly Hoaxes Which Took Indians For A Ride

The Internet is a treasure chest of amazing finds. At times, you come across certain images and pieces of information that truly blows your mind. But another thing about the Internet is that not everything you find in there is really true. Here are 10 hoaxes that found their way to 'believability' thanks to the internet.

1. A photo that went viral on Facebook with the title, "India during Diwali."

Fact:
This message went viral in India on the occasion of Diwali. The message came with a picture showing the satellite image of the Indian map during the day, followed by the same during the night, appearing bright and colorful throughout. However, the message was a hoax. The image in question is put up by National Geophysical Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA and is actually a composite satellite view of India at night, showing the change in night illumination during the period 1992-2003. Satellite data from the year 1992 is shown in blue color, 1998 green colored, and that in 2003 is colored red. This stunning composite satellite image of India at night was developed by NASA so as to illustrate the increasing population of India over the years.

2. The "Original" Swiss Bank statement to India.

Fact:
There are so many false features in the letter that it's a miracle anyone actually believed it.  Firstly, the official address to India is "Government of India" and not "Indian Government." Secondly, the amount in the bank accounts are mentioned in INR, that too using the Indian denomination system whereas the Swiss bank operates in US dollars, Euro pound, and GB pound, not INR. The telephone code of the bank mentioned in the address section of the letter is 0044, which is actually the code for the U.K. The international code of Switzerland is 0041. Also, the sign of the bank manager is on the right side end of the letter, where as the European system of communication and correspondence uses the left corner of the page for signatures.

3. The Indian three headed snake.

Fact:
This picture showing a live three headed snake on an Indian road started circulating on many social networking websites. The message that comes with the picture states that it is a beautiful creation of nature. The story however, is a hoax. The three headed snake picture is not real, it is a photoshopped one.

4. "UNESCO declares Indian National Anthem as best in the world."

Fact: 
This story was very widely circulating through emails, blogs and social networking sites. The message claiming that the Indian national anthem "Jana gana mana.." was selected as the best in the world by UNESCO was never heard of or confirmed by any kind of news or media reports. If the story was factual, it would have definitely received wide attention from the media. If the UNESCO released such a statement, it would be readily available on their official website, which is no where to be seen. India Today wrote to UNESCO to get clarity on these stories and got a confirmation message from UNESCO that these messages were indeed a hoax. 

5. Indian woman gives birth to 11 kids at once!

Fact:
The photograph which shows 11 new born babies along with hospital staff was accompanied by a message claiming that an Indian woman gave birth to all of them in a single delivery, and considers it as God's miracle. 6 out of the 11 babies were reported to be twins. The photograph is genuine, but the story is a hoax. The photograph actually shows 11 kids born to different mothers on 11.11.11 at the 21st Century Hospital & Test Tube Baby Center in Surat, India. The doctors and hospital staff together with the new born babies took photographs and shared it as an interesting achievement on 11.11.11.

6. Pictures showing the excavation site of a giant human skeleton. 

 

Fact:
Many versions of this story were circulating through emails along with these pictures of giant human skeletons. The news related to this story appeared in the media in countries like India, Bangladesh etc. However, all these versions were false. The pictures depicting giant human skeletons are actually a part of image manipulation contest conducted by worth1000.com.

7. Hanuman Gadha found during an excavation in Sri Lanka.

 

Fact:
This picture claims to show the Hindu God Hanuman's Gadha (mace), supposedly discovered during an excavation in Sri Lanka. Other versions said it is the world's largest Gada of Veer Hanuman discovered in Gujarat. The claims are not true. It actually shows a 45 feet Gada replica  for installation on a 125-foot-high Hanuman statue on the outskirts of Indore, India on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti (birthday) on 25 April 2013. (As quoted in Hindustan Times epaper.)

8. Bhagat Singh was hanged on the 14th of February, Valentine's Day.

Fact:
This hoax was a  rather unfortunate and disrespectful mis-interpretation of Bhagat Singh's biography. Bhagat Singh was arrested following the 1929 Assembly bomb throwing incident. Fearing civil agitation, the then Viceroy of India Lord Irwin set up a special tribunal called the Privy Council to speed up his trail process. An Indian defence committee in Punjab appealed against the Privy Council, which was again dismissed by the  Judge Viscount Dunedin. After the rejection, the then Congress party president Madan Mohan Malviya filed a mercy appeal before Lord Irwin on 14 February 1931, but even that did not work, and Bhagat Singh was hung on 23 March 1931 at 7:30 pm in Lahore jail along with fellow freedom fighters Rajguru and Sukhdev.

9. "Important message from Delhi Police: Frooti can contain HIV."

 

Fact:
This story broke on Facebook walls and Whatsapp chats all over India. A supposed warning from the Delhi Police warned consumers that a worker from the "Frooti Company" was HIV positive and had added his blood to the drink mix. It also claimed that the story had been reported by NDTV. As you can guess, the whole thing was a hoax. Both the Delhi Police and NDTV denied the ridiculous story. Besides one can't even get AIDS through "infected" food. 

10. A mysterious tree sighted in Nalgonda, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Fact:
The messages showed pictures of a tree with mysterious wooden carvings of various animals like crocodiles, monkeys, snakes, spiders and others; claiming that it is a 'Baobab' tree that has the largest trunk in the world. The message stated that this mysterious tree was found near a hermitage in the dense forests of Nalgonda, Andhra Pradesh, India. The truth? There was no mysterious tree or hermitage. This was in fact an art work in Disney Land.

13 Places You Should Visit In India Before You Visit Their Counterparts Abroad

Indians are travelling like never before and going to countries all over the world. But a lot of us seem to forget that what we seek abroad, we can find as easily in our own country. This doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t travel abroad, but it does mean that one should travel within India and witness all its marvels before we step out into the world. So here are a few places you should visit in India before you visit their counterparts abroad.

1. Before you get lost in the beauty of Switzerland,

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Find your piece of paradise in Kashmir.

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2. Before you get drenched at the Niagara Falls,

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Get drenched at the Chitrakoot Falls in Chhattisgarh.

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3. Before you surf the sands of the Sahara,

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Tame the dunes of the Thar.

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4. Before you visit the Bonneville Salt Flats in America,

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Visit the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.

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5. Before you take a trip to Madagascar,

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Take a trip to the Andamans.

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6. Before you chill on the beaches of Brazil,

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Give the beaches of Goa a chance.

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7. Before you go “Woah” about the bridges in Taiwan,

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Go “Hoodi-Baba” at Howrah Bridge in Kolkata.

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8. Before you feast your eyes on the flowers in Antelope Valley in the U.S.A,

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Drink in the colours of the Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand.

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9. Before you hear the roar of the African Lion,

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Be awed by the majesty of the Royal Bengal Tiger.

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10. If it’s French architecture you crave, why go all the way to Saigon in Vietnam,

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When you can see it all in Pondicherry in India?

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11. Before taking a stroll in a Japanese flower garden,

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Take a romantic walk in Nainital.

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12. Before you get dwarfed by the statue of “Christ The Redeemer” in Brazil,

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Get dwarfed by Saint Thiruvalluvar’s statue in Kanyakumari.

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13. And before you take selfies at the Arc de Triomphe in France,

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Feel proud and take one at India Gate in New Delhi.

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“Your vision becomes clear when you look inside your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” - Carl Jung

The Seven Wonders of the World The Ancient and Modern 7 Wonders of the World

The Seven Wonders of the World has historically been a listing of seven sites known to the Ancient Greeks as the most notable locales in their known world.

Since then, many have developed lists of the "modern" Seven Wonders of the World. The only list that really stands out and has stood the test of time for more than a decade is the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, developed by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The Original Seven Wonders of the World

The Colossus of Rhodes
The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

The Seven Wonders of the Modern World

Channel Tunnel
CN Tower
Empire State Building
Golden Gate Bridge
Itaipu Dam
Netherlands North Sea Protection Works
Panama Canal

Natural Wonders of the World

In 1997, CNN announced a listing of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World...

Grand Canyon
The Great Barrier Reef
The Harbor at Rio de Janeiro
Mt. Everest
Northern Lights
Paricutin Volcano
Victoria Falls

The "New" Seven Wonders of the World

On July 7, 2007 (7-7-07) an organization announced a "new" set of the Seven Wonders of the World based on online voting from around the world...

Chichen Itza, Mexico - Mayan City
Christ Redeemer, Brazil - Large Statue
The Great Wall, China
Machu Picchu, Peru
Petra, Jordan - Ancient City
The Roman Colosseum, Italy
The Taj Mahal, India

If you would like to know what I think the current Seven Wonders of the World are, see my listing of the Seven Wonders of the World.

The Principality of Sealand- The Principality of Sealand off the British Coast is Not Independent

Paddy Roy Bates is putting his non-country of the Principality of Sealand up for sale after a 40-year struggle for independence. The Principality of Sealand, located on an abandoned World War II anti-aircraft platform seven miles (11 km) off the English coast, claims that it is a legitimate independent country but that's quite doubtful.

In January 2007, the Bates family announced that they were wanting to move on from the challenge of Sealand and placed the tower up for sale. According to media reports, they hope to receive bids in the eight figure range. It remains to be seen who would want to buy a platform that is not a country by any stretch of the imagination.

History

In 1967, retired British Army major Paddy Roy Bates occupied the abandoned Rough's Tower in the North Sea, northeast of London and opposite the mouth of the Orwell River and Felixstowe. He and his wife discussed independence with British attorneys and subsequently declared independence for the Principality of Sealand on September 2, 1976. Bates called himself Prince Roy and named his wife Princess Joan. They began issuing coins, passports, and stamps for their new country.

In support of The Principality of Sealand's sovereignty, Prince Roy fired warning shots at a buoy repair boat that came close to Sealand. The Prince was charged with unlawful possession and discharge of a firearm by the British government. The Essex court proclaimed that they didn't have jurisdiction over the tower and the British government chose to drop the case due to mockery by the media. That case represents Sealand's entire claim to de facto international recognition as an independent country. (The United Kingdom demolished the only other nearby tower lest others get the idea to also strive for independence.)

Today, only Prince Roy lives on the tower of the The Principality of Sealand at sixty feet above the sea. Princess Joan's arthritis isn't conducive to living on the North Sea and though the royal family's son, Prince Michael takes care of much of the business for Sealand, he also lives onshore. The Bateses all maintain "dual" citizenship in the United Kingdom and Sealand.

In 2000, the The Principality of Sealand came into the news because a company called HavenCo Ltd planned on operating a complex of Internet servers at Sealand, out of the reach of governmental control. HavenCo gave the Bates $250,000 and stock to lease Rough's Tower and the company has the option to purchase Sealand in the future. This transaction was especially satisfying to the Bates as the maintenance and support of Sealand has been quite expensive over the past 40 years.

New Countries of the World- The 34 New Countries Created Since 1990

Since 1990, 34 new countries have been created. The dissolution of the USSR and Yugoslavia in the early 1990s caused the creation of most of the newly independent states.

You probably know about many of these changes but a few of these new countries seemed to slip by almost unnoticed. This comprehensive listing will update you about the countries which have formed since 1990.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Fifteen new countries became independent with the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. Most of these countries declared independence a few months preceding the fall of the Soviet Union in late 1991.

1. Armenia
2. Azerbaijan
3. Belarus
4. Estonia
5. Georgia
6. Kazakhstan
7. Kyrgyzstan
8. Latvia
9. Lithuania
10. Moldova
11. Russia
12. Tajikistan
13. Turkmenistan
14. Ukraine
15. Uzbekistan

Former Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia dissolved in the early 1990s into five independent countries.

1. Bosnia and Herzegovina, February 29, 1992
2. Croatia, June 25, 1991
3. Macedonia (officially The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) declared independence on September 8, 1991 but wasn't recognized by the United Nations until 1993 and the United States and Russia in February of 1994
4. Serbia and Montenegro, (also known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), April 17, 1992 (see below for separate Serbia and Montenegro entries)
5. Slovenia, June 25, 1991

Other New Countries

Thirteen other countries became independent through a variety of causes.

• March 21, 1990 - Namibia became independent of South Africa.
• May 22, 1990 - North and South Yemen merged to form a unified Yemen.
• October 3, 1990 - East Germany and West Germany merged to form a unified Germanyafter the fall of the Iron Curtain.
• September 17, 1991 - The Marshall Islands was part of the Trust Territory of Pacific Islands (administered by the United States) and gained independence as a former colony.
• September 17, 1991 - Micronesia, previously known as the Caroline Islands, became independent from the United States.
• January 1, 1993 - The Czech Republic and Slovakiabecame independent nations when Czechoslovakia dissolved.
• May 25, 1993 - Eritrea was a part of Ethiopia but seceded and gained independence.
• October 1, 1994 - Palau was part of the Trust Territory of Pacific Islands (administered by the United States) and gained independence as a former colony.
• May 20, 2002 - East Timor (Timor-Leste) declared independence from Portugal in 1975 but did not became independent from Indonesia until 2002.
• June 3, 2006 - Montenegro was part of Serbia and Montenegro (also known as Yugoslavia) but gained independence after a referendum.
• June 5, 2006 - Serbia became its own entity after Montenegro split.
• Febraury 17, 2008 - Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia.
• July 9, 2011 - South Sudan peacefully seceded from Sudan following a January 2011 referendum. Sudan itself was the first to recognize South Sudan and did so one day early, on July 8, 2011.

The World's Smallest Countries -The 17 Small Countries of Less Than 200 Square Miles in Area

This is a comprehensive listing of the world's seventeen independent smallest countries, from smallest to largest. They each contain less than 200 square miles in area. If we combined the land area of these 17 countries, we would have a country just a bit larger than the state Rhode Island. Even tiny Singapore is too big for this list (it's 246 square miles)!

1. Vatican City - 0.2 square miles - The world's smallest state, the Vatican has a population of 770, none of whom are permanent residents. The tiny country which surrounds St. Peter's Basilica is the spiritual center for the world's Roman Catholics (over 1 billion strong). Also known as the Holy See, Vatican City is surrounded by Rome, Italy.
   
   
2. Monaco - 0.7 square miles - The tiny state of Monaco lies along the French Riviera on the French Mediterranean coast near Nice. An impressive 32,000 people live in this state known for its Monte Carlo casinos and Princess Grace. It has been independent off-and-on since the 13th century.
   
   
3. Nauru - 8.5 square miles - The 13,000 residents of the Pacific island Nauru rely on diminishing phosphate deposits. The state became independent in 1968 and was formerly known as Pleasant Island.
   
   
4. Tuvalu - 9 square miles - Tuvalu is composed of 9 coral atolls along a 360 mile chain in Polynesia. They gained independence in 1978. The former Ellice Islands are home to 12,000.
   
   
5. San Marino - 24 square miles - Located on Mt. Titano in north central Italy, San Marino has 29,000 residents. The country claims to be the oldest state in Europe, having been founded in the fourth century.
   
   
6. Liechtenstein - 62 square miles - This microstate of 34,000 is located on the Rhine River between Switzerland and Austria in the Alps.
   
   
7. Marshall Islands - 70 square miles - The atolls (including the world's largest, Kwajalein), reefs, and 34 islands (population 58,000) gained independence in 1986; they were formerly part of the Trust Territory of Pacific Islands (and administered by the United States).
   
   
8. Saint Kitts and Nevis - 104 square miles - This Caribbean country of 39,000 gained independence in 1983. Nevis is the smaller island of the two and is guaranteed the right to secede.
   
   
9. Seychelles - 107 square miles - The 81,000 residents of this Indian Ocean island group have been independent of the United Kingdom since 1976.
   
   
10. Maldives - 115 square miles - Only 200 of the 2000 Indian Ocean islands which make up this country are occupied by 340,000 residents. The islands gained independence from the U.K. in 1965.
    
    
11. Malta - 122 square miles - This island is just south of the Italian island of Sicily. It became independent from the United Kingdom in 1964 and the British military were completely gone by 1979. The population is 400,000.
    
    
12. Grenada - 133 square miles - This Caribbean country (population 90,000) became independent of the U.K. in 1974. It's located quite close to Venezuela.
    
    
13. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - 150 square miles - 117,000 people live on these Windward Caribbean islands which gained independence from Britain in 1979.
    
    
14. Barbados - 166 square miles - About 280,000 people live on this Caribbean island, the farthest east of the Lesser Antilles. Barbados obtained independence from the U.K. in 1966.
    
    
15. Antigua and Barbuda - 171 square miles - This Caribbean nation of 69,000 has been independent from the United Kingdom since 1981. The three islands which compose this country rely on tourism (as do many of the Caribbean countries and territories).
    
    
16. Andorra - 180 square miles - The independent Principality of Andorra is co-governed by the President of France and the Spain's Bishop of Urgel. With just over 70,000 people, this mountainous tourist destination tucked in the Pyrenees between France and Spain has been independent since 1278.
    
    
17. Palau - 191 square miles - Palau (also known as Belau) was a Trust Territory of Pacific Islands. It was formerly known as the Carolines and is composed of more than 200 islands in the Pacific; the population is about 20,000. It became independent in 1994.

World's Largest Aircraft Could Fly in Early 2015

The Wright Brothers flew their first flight in a 21 ft. airplane over the Outer Banks of North Carolina. About 14 of their planes could fit inside the world's newest, largest aircraft, the Airlander, a 300 ft. zeppelin-shaped, helium-filled vessel.

The U.S. government originally funded the development of the voluminous aircraft, but scraped plans due to budget cuts. The aircraft — built in England — made one flight in Lakehurst, N.J., at McGuire Air Force Base in August 2012.

SEE ALSO: 15 Themed Planes for Die-Hard Fans

Hybrid Air Vehicles, a British company, brought the plane back and is reviving the Airlander project. H.A.V. had the plane's parts shipped in 40 huge crate-size boxes to its headquarters in Cardington, England, where zeppelin planes flew the British skies nearly a century ago.

The aircraft can carry a load of 2,700 lbs. for up to 21 days. On shorter flights, it could carry up to 5 tons, according to the BBC. The bubbly ship has three rounded points in the front and propellers on each side. H.A.V intends to fly it again in early 2015 with hopes of making it available for passenger and cargo flights.

If it flies again, the airship would be 24 feet longer than the world's largest plane, the Antonov Mriya, a Russian-Ukrainian cargo plane.

Perhaps more impressive: the Wright Brothers' flight only went 120 ft., or 160 ft. shorter than the length of the Airlander project.