SANTOSH 9702: Lesser

Showing posts with label Lesser. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

What are some lesser known facts about Ileana D'Cruz?

Though Ileana D'Cruz started her career from Tollywood, many people are not aware that she was born in a Goan Catholic family at Mahim, Mumbai on November 1, 1986. In her family, she has three sisters and one brother. She has done her Bachelors from Mumbai, St Xavier's college.

Ileana D'Cruz started her career as a model. Her mother was working in a hotel and the hotel manager advised Ileana that she has a vibrant smile and she should start modeling. Ileana describes her first photoshoot which was created in January 2003, a disaster. From her second portfolio, she received three assignments of advertisements, Emami, Electrolux, and Fair & Lovely. One was directed by Rakesh Roshan which gave her much needed exposure and brought several offers in acting.

In 2006, Ileana D'Cruz made her debut from Tollywood romantic movie Devadasu. She was nervous and felt pressured while shooting and she doesn't want to move ahead but it was her mother who motivated her. Ileana describes that conversation as the lecture of a lifetime at 3 AM. She went on to earn the Filmfare Award for the Best Female Debutant for Devadasu. She also featured in various successful movies like Pokiri, Julai, Jalsa, Aata, Kick, etc.

Ileana D'Cruz was offered superhit movie Wanted opposite Salman Khan as she was the one who did its original movie Pokiri opposite, Mahesh Babu. But she turned down the role because she had exams during that time.

Ileana D'Cruz was starred in the Kollywood movie Nanban, a remake of All-time Blockbuster movie 3 Idiots opposite Vijay. The movie was a financial success.

6. Bollywood Debut

Ileana made her Bollywood debut from Anurag Basu's Barfi in which she portrayed the role of Shruti Ghosh and also the role of a narrator. Her performance was well-received by the audiences and she bagged another Filmfare Award for Best Female Debutant. Later she did many Bollywood movies like Main Tera Hero, Rustom, Baadshaho, Raid, Mubarakan and become one of the leading actresses in Bollywood.

Friday, March 13, 2026

What are some cool lesser-known facts about Stephen Hawking?

(I) Stephen Hawking once tried to find potential time travellers by throwing a party and only sending out invitations after the party.

(II) Hawking was born on Galileo's 300 death anniversary and died on Einstein's birth date.

(III) Stephen said "outside of our own universe lies another different universe-- and in that universe, Zayn is still in one direction."

(IV) Hawking outlived his life expectancy due to ALS by over 50 years.

(V) He is the only person to ever portray himself in the star Trek universe.

(VI) When asked what his IQ was, Stephen said "I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers."

(VII) Timothy Hawking added swear words to his dad's (Hawking) voice synthesiser as a prank.

(VIII) In his final book Brief Answers to big questions Stephen mentioned "there is no god in the universe and no one directs our fate."

(IX) When Stephen was 9, he was ranked as a dull student in the Class.

(X) Stephen got married & divorced twice.

(XI) He could speak upto 15 words per minute, that too with a help of a speech generating device.

(XII) Hawking has written a children book named George's secret key to the universe.

(XIII) His life story was the subject of the 2014 film The Theory Of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne.

(XIV) During his school time, Hawking was nicknamed as Einstein.

Friday, March 6, 2026

What are some of the lesser-known facts about Morgan Freeman?

Surprised no one has written this yet.

Morgan Freeman wears earrings because sailors wore them to pay for funerals in case they died in foreign lands. Even though he's an airman, he has had a long affinity towards the sea. His own words.

“I always wanted an earring. It has to do with my attachment to the sea. When I was around 35 I was separated from my wife and she said, “I’m going to pierce your ear.” I’m an avid sailor, a dyed-in-the-wool blue-water man.

You know why sailors used to wear a gold earring? It’s enough money to bury you in a foreign country.”

During earlier times sailors used to wear golden/diamond earrings as these were also an incentive for people to search for their corpses and recover them if they died in the sea.

What are some lesser known facts about Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav?

1.) Humble background

Son of a brick kiln owner, Kuldeep’s family shifted from their native village in Unnao to Kanpur when he was fairly young so that his dream to become a cricketer could one day be realised.

2.) Started career as a fast bowler

Kuldeep wanted to bowl fast like his idol Wasim Akram. But when he met his coach Kapil Pandey in Kanpur, he was advised to become a spinner rather than a pacer due to his physique. The first ball that he bowled was a Chinaman and the coach asked him to build upon it that became his major forte later.

3.) Idolizes Shane Warne

While he was a fan of Akram in his younger days, Kuldeep started to appreciate the art of spin bowling once he started bowling Chinaman himself. He watched a lot of Shane Warne videos in order to perfect his techniques. Although Warne is not a Chinaman, the only difference between him and Kuldeep is that the former bowls with the right arm while the latter does it with his left.

4.) Excelling at the U-19’s

He was first picked in the Indian U-19 team as a 17-year old in April 2012 but missed out on selection for the U-19 World Cup, which India eventually went on to win under the leadership of Unmukt Chand. Later, he played for India in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2014, where he took a hat-trick against Scotland.

5.) IPL career

He was a member of the Mumbai Indians squad in 2012 but didn’t get a chance to play a game with them. In 2014, he scalped 6 wickets from 5 games in the Champions League T20, thereby playing a crucial role in Kolkata Knight Riders’ progress to the final. Since then, he has been a regular member of KKR squad.

6.) Dream Test debut

Kuldeep made his Test debut against Australia at Dharamsala in 2017. In the first innings of the Australian team, he returned with figures of 4/68. David Warner was his first Test scalp.

7.) Hobbies and interests
He really loves soccer and is a big fan of Football Club Barcelona. He doesn’t watch cricket much but loves watching soccer. He also enjoys playing table tennis and watching movies. Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez is his all-time favourite.

8.) ODI debut

Kuldeep made his One Day International debut for India against West Indies at the Port of Spain in June 2017. Although, the southpaw didn’t get a chance to bowl as the match was called off due to rain.

9.) Third Indian to take a hat-trick in ODIs

Kuldeep Yadav became the third Indian to take a hat-trick in ODIs after Kapil Dev and Chetan Sharma in the 2nd ODI against India vs Australia on 21st Sep 2017.

Thursday, February 26, 2026

What are some lesser known/interesting stories in Mahabharata?

Kauravas were not 100 they were actually 101.

100 brothers and 1sister

The story goes like this:-

Queen Gandhari : once, sage vyasa came to visit gandhari in hastinapur. Indeed, gandhari took great care of the comforts of the saint and tried to ensure that he had pleasent stay in hastinapur. The saint pleased with gandhari, granted her a boon.

Gandhari expressed her wish for a 100 sons who could as powerful as her husband. Vyasa, in turn granted her the boon and in due course of time, gandhari was pregnent. However,even though two years had passed, still the baby remained unborn.

Then, one day, gandhari gave birth to a hard piece of lifeless flesh that was not a baby at all. Gandhari was devastated as she had expected a hundred sons according to the blessing of rishi vyas.

.Gandhari was about to throw away the piece of flesh. Ved vyas appeared and told her that his blessings could not have been in vain. He asked gandhari to arrange for 100 jars to be filled with ghee.

Before the process could start gandhari pressed her desire for having a daughter. Ved vyas agreed and then chopped the piece of flesh into 101 pieces and placed them in the jars, promising them that they would develop into the 100 sons and 1 daughter she desired.

What are some lesser known/interesting stories in Mahabharata?

1.Identity of Vidur as we all know

As we all know that Vidur was the prime minister of Hastinapur as well as the major advisor to the king Dhritarashtra.
He was often called as the embodiment of Dharma and the Pandavas had been rescued by Vidur from the cunning plans of Duryodhan and Shakuni in many instances.

But who is Vidur???

Many years ago a bunch of thieves took something valuable from their king’s palace while he was sleeping and kept them in Rishi Mandavya’s hermitage while he was in meditation.
After a search operation all the stolen things were collected from Mandavya’s place and the king gave him the insane punishment of impalement.

[Yamamaraja and the sage Mandavya]

After death he asked Yamaraj about the injustice done to him.
Yamaraj replied that some insects were impaled by you during your childhood and so that was the cause behind your mode of death.
Then Mandavya told Yama that his extent of punishment far exceeded his childish sin as an ignorant child.
Then he cursed Yamaraj to burn in the mortal world in the personification of Dharma as a sudra and to be helpless during the war between Dharma & Adharma in front of you.
And may be that was the reason why he was born to the maid of Ambalika by sage Vyasa and was appointed as a prime advisor to the king of Hastinapur.
Eventually when the war was on the verge of commencement,he was helpless for being unable to stop the war because he had not the authority to take any decision regarding the war. At last he resigned from the position.

So we can see that life is all about cause and effects. “When there is a cause,you can’t avoid its effect and if there is an effect,there must be a cause behind it.”

2. When Yudhisthir entered heaven he found all the Kauravas there

Yes you have listened right. It sounds shocking ,right? Well,there is a story behind it. Let’s jump to that story without wasting any more time.

What is the story?

When the Pandavas along with Draupadi started their journey to heaven one by one died on the way because of their sins except Dharmaraj Yudhisthir accompanied by a dog in the personification of Dharmaraj.
When Yudhisthir entered heaven,he was shocked to find all the Kauravas there welcoming him. He even shocked more to get to know that his brothers along with Draupadi were in hell suffering their punishment for their respective sins in the mortal world.

Story behind it….

Actually some generations ago ,king Kuru choose this land(kurukhetra: Land of Kuru) to settle there.
He performed many yangyas and rituals there for embedding spirituality with the 8 virtues.
By impressing with this Lord Vishnu gave him a boon that “ Any person dying here doing his/her duty will go to heaven irrespective of other factors”
As Kshatriya the Kauravas died on that land doing their duty of fighting as warrior. So eventually all of them found themselves in the heaven after their death.

Well,this is the real story.

3.Bheesma: The one and only legitimate heir to the Hastinapur throne

Well,we all know the story of Mahabharat and its result. In the entire story, all of we are revolved around the Hastinapur throne.
Sometimes it was Duryodhan and sometimes Yudhisthir. Moreover we fight against ourselves to give resaons for whosoever was eligible for the throne or not.
I was also shocked and amazed when I got to know about the true fact.
The fact is that Ganga putra Bheesma was the one and only legitimate heir for the throne of Hastinapur. Let’s rewind from the beginning.
Bheesma was the 8th son of Hastinapur king Shantanu and Ganga. Then after sometime Shantanu was attracted by the charm and beauty of Satyavati and wanted to marry her.
So here Bheesma’s vow came into picture to remain celibate for the entire life as Satyavati’s father put a condition before marriage that Satyavati and Shantanu’s son will be the prince of Hastinapur.
But 2 of their sons Vichitravirya and Chitrangada died early in their life leaving Hastinapur throne empty.
Here Sage Vyasa came into picture. Vyasa was begeted to Satyavati by Rishi Parasara before marrying to Shantanu.
So Satyavati requested his son Vyasa to beget his daughter-in-laws.Then Dhritarashtra,Pandu and Vidur were begeted to Ambika,Ambalika and a maid respectively.[NOTE-This was a practice of that time called NIYOGA. Whenever there was a situation of no heir to the throne, because of death of the King, a very pious and pure tapasvi (sage / rishi), who doesn't hold or have even an iota of lust, used to make the queen conceive with one union.]
Then their lineage continued from Dhritarashtra and Pandu in the form of Kauravas and Pandavas and they continued to fight among themselves for the throne.
Also another fact is that Even Shantanu was not a Kuru. Bharata lineage was stopped when Bhoomanyu was adopted and made the king of Hastinapur. That was many generations before Shantanu. But considering the time of Mahabharat war,Bheesma was the only legal heir to the Hastinapur theone.

But the fact remains the same that none of them were legally eligible for the throne.

NOTE: All types of comments,suggestions or compliments to improve and modify the answer are welcome.

I will be adding more interesting stories of Mahabharat to my above answer,whenever I find something interesting as well as lesser known.

Thank you for reading.

Special thanks to Thyagarajan KR , Sandesh Balan , Pallavi Alai for their valuable comments for improvement of the answer.

SOURCE:Wikipedia and other internet sites.

Friday, February 20, 2026

What are some lesser known facts about Antarctica?

The Future Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent. It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,000,000 square kilometres (5,400,000 square miles), it is the fifth-largest continent. For comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km (1.2 mi; 6,200 ft) in thickness, which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Now coming to some of the information that I gathered from various websites about Antarctica

You cannot work in Antarctica unless your wisdom teeth and appendix are removed. (Appears to me that your very wise, wisdom teeth could not hang out with your other stupid teeth . LOL)