India is a melting-pot of cultures, enthnicities and languages. It has an umpteen number of fascinating facts that a lot of us are unaware of. Some of them are :

• Anti-gravity hills in Ladakh : Here lies the magnetic hill. If you leave your car here in the marked spot it will move uphill on its own!
• India invented shampooing : The practice of shampooing originated in India. The word is derived from the Hindu word champo, means to massage or knead.
• Mawsynram is the wettest place on earth : Mawsynram is a town in Meghalaya which holds the record for the wettest place on earth due to its proximity to the Bay of Bengal
• India is the second-largest English speaking nation.
• The game of chess was invented in India : Chess was invented in India and slowly spread across Persia and southern Europe.
• Largest number of post offices in the world : with 155,015 post offices, India has the largest number of post offices in the world. 
• The earliest diamond in the world was found in India : It is said that some of the earliest diamonds to have been found were mined on the banks of the Krishna and Godavari rivers, even today a large number of diamonds are being mined in India.
• The first rocket was launched in India : this was a small and light rocket that was launched from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala where the Thumba launching station is located.
• The "Human calculator" is from india : Shakuntala Devi, also known as "The human calculator" is from India. She holds the record for the multiplication of two, thirteen digit numbers. It is said that she gave the correct answer in just 28 seconds.  
• India was the first country to produce sugar : Since Indians were the first people to discover the benefits and uses of sugarcane, this was achieved.
• India is the world's largest producer of milk : it is recently said to have overtaken the European Union.
• India has the largest number of vegetarians in the world: this is mostly due to religious beliefs and also due to some personal choices.
• Varanasi is one of the oldest inhabited places in the world : it is well over 5000 years old. 
• India's first president Dr.Rajendra Prasad received only 50 percent of his salary : he said he didn't need any more than that and towards the end of his presidence, he only took 25% of his salary.