My Science School

Morocco is only one of the two countries to call its currency dirham. The UAE Dirham was established in 1971 as an official national currency and is used only in the United Arab Emirates. 1 Dirham is divided into 100 Fils.



The UAE Dirham is tied to the US Dollar with a fixed exchange rate. Therefore, 1 Dirham always equals to 0.2723 US Dollar.

The word "dirham" ultimately comes from drachma the Greek coin. The Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire controlled the Levant and traded with Arabia. It was this currency which was initially adopted as a Persian word (Middle Persian drahm or dram). The "dirham" was the coin of the Persians. The dirham was struck in many Mediterranean countries, including Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) and the Byzantine Empire (miliaresion), and could be used as currency in Europe between the 10th and 12th centuries, notably in areas with Viking connections, such as Viking York.

In the late Ottoman Empire the standard dirham was 3.207 g; 400 dirhem equal one oka. The Ottoman dirham was based on the Sasanian drachm (in Middle Persian: drahm), which was itself based on the Roman dram/drachm.

In Egypt in 1895, it was equivalent to 47.661 troy grains (3.088 g).

 

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Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, all Arab states of the Persian Gulf (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, Burma, German East Africa, the Trucial States, and Tibet.

The Indian rupees (?) and Pakistani rupees (?) are subdivided into one hundred paise (singular paisa) or pice. The Mauritian, Seychellois, and Sri Lankan rupees subdivide into 100 cents. The Nepalese rupee subdivides into one hundred paisa (singular and plural) or four Sukaas.

The immediate precursor of the rupee is the r?piya—the silver coin weighing 178 grains (11.53 grams) minted in northern India by first Sher Shah Suri during his brief rule between 1540 and 1545 and adopted and standardized later by the Mughal Empire. The weight remained unchanged well beyond the end of the Mughals till the 20th century.

The Hindustani word rupy? is derived from the Sanskrit word r?pya, which means "wrought silver, a coin of silver", in origin an adjective meaning "shapely", with a more specific meaning of "stamped, impressed", whence "coin". It is derived from the noun r?pa "shape, likeness, image". The word r?pa is further identified as related to the Dravidian root uruppu, which means "a member of the body".  Also, the word r?pam is rooted in Tamil as uru (shape) derived from ur (form) which itself is rooted in ul meaning "appear".

 

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The ngultrum is the currency of the Kingdom of Bhutan. It is subdivided into 100 chhertum. The Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan is the minting authority of the ngultrum banknotes and coins. The ngultrum is currently pegged to the Indian rupee at parity.

Until 1789, the coins of the Cooch Behar mint circulated in Bhutan. Following this, Bhutan began issuing its own coins known as chetrum, mostly silver 1?2 rupees. Hammered silver and copper coins were the only types issued until 1929, when modern style silver 1?2 rupee coins were introduced, followed by bronze 1 paisa in 1931. Nickel 1?2 rupee coins were introduced in 1950. While the Cooch Behar mint coins circulated alongside Bhutan's own coins, decimalization was introduced in 1957, when Bhutan's first issue of coins denominated in naya paisa. The 1966 issues were 25 naya paisa, 50 naya paisa and 1 rupee coins, struck in cupro-nickel.

While the Bhutanese government developed its economy in the early 1960s, monetization in 1968 led to the establishment of the Bank of Bhutan. As monetary reforms took place in 1974, the Ngultrum was officially introduced as 100 Chhetrum equal to 1 Ngultrum. The Ngultrum retained the peg to the Indian rupee at par, which the Bhutanese coins had maintained.

 

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The birr is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. It is subdivided into 100 santim.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Maria Theresa thalers and blocks of salt called "amole tchew" served as currency in Ethiopia. The thaler was known locally as the Birr or talari. The Maria Theresa thaler was officially adopted as the standard coin in 1855, although the Indian rupee and the Mexican dollar were also used in foreign trade.

The talari (thaler, dollar, birr) became the standard unit on 9 February 1893 and 200,000 dollars were produced at the Paris Mint in 1894 for Menelik II. The talari, equivalent to the Maria Theresa thaler, was divided into 20 ghersh or 40 bessa.

A new Ethiopian coinage appeared about 1903. The new silver birr maintained the same weight and fineness as the old, but there was now a quarter-birr and a silver ghersh, the latter 1/16 the weight of the birr. The money of account now became 1 birr' = 16 ghersh = 32 bessa.

 

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The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas and the Philippines. Originating in Spain, the word peso translates to "weight" and uses the peso sign. It is sometimes wrongly spoken as pieces in some countries.

The name peso was given to the 8-real silver coin introduced in 1497, minted at 83?8 pesos to a Castilian mark (230.0465 grams) of silver 134/144 fine (25.56 g fine silver). It was minted in large quantities after the discovery of silver in Mexico, Peru and Bolivia in the 16th century and immediately became a coin of worldwide importance in international trade between Europe, Asia and North America.

Initially the peso was produced in Spanish Latin America in a rapid and simplified manner by cutting off a lump of silver of proper weight and fineness from the end of a silver bar, which was then flattened out and impressed by a hammer. This resulted in a crude, irregular coin called a cob in English, or a macuquina in Spanish. The Crown was entitled to a fifth of all gold and silver mined, the quinto real (royal fifth), and cobs were a convenient means of handling and accounting for silver. In most cases these cobs were immediately melted down by the recipient. However, some did remain in circulation as currency, and these cobs were ideal candidates for clipping and counterfeiting due to their irregular shape and incomplete design.

 

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The lev is the currency of Bulgaria. In old Bulgarian the word "lev" meant "lion", the word 'lion' in the modern language is luv. The lev is divided in 100 stotinki. Stotinka in Bulgarian means "a hundredth" and in fact is a translation of the French term "centime". Grammatically the word "stotinka" comes from the word "sto" - a hundred.

The name of the currency means "lion", and is derived from the Dutch thaler. The Dutch leeuwendaalder was imitated in several German and Italian cities. These coins circulated in Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova and gave their name to the respective currencies the Bulgarian lev, Romanian leu, and Moldovan leu.

The lev was introduced as Bulgaria's currency in 1881 with a value equal to the French franc. The gold standard was suspended between 1899 and 1906 and suspended again in 1912. Until 1916, Bulgaria's silver and gold coins were issued to the same specifications as those of the Latin Monetary Union. Banknotes issued until 1928 were backed by gold or silver.

In 1952, following wartime inflation, a new lev replaced the original lev at a rate of 1 "new" lev = 100 "old" leva. However the rate for banking accounts was different, ranging from 100:3 to 200:1. Prices for goods were replaced at a rate of 25:1. The new lev was pegged to the U.S. dollar at a rate of 6.8 leva = 1 dollar, falling to 9.52 leva on July 29, 1957.

 

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The Indian cobra (Naja naja), also known as the spectacled cobra, Asian cobra, or binocellate cobra, is a species of the genus Naja found, in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan, and a member of the "big four" species that inflict the most snakebites on humans in India. It is distinct from the king cobra which belongs to the monotypic genus Ophiophagus. The Indian cobra is revered in Indian mythology and culture, and is often seen with snake charmers. It is now protected in India under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972).

Naja naja is considered to be the prototypical cobra species within the subgenus Naja, and within the entire genus Naja. All Asiatic species of Naja were considered conspecific with Naja naja until the 1990s, often as subspecies thereof. Many of the subspecies were later found to be artificial or composites. This causes much potential confusion when interpreting older literature.

The Indian cobra varies tremendously in colour and pattern throughout its range. The ventral scales or the underside colouration of this species can be grey, yellow, tan, brown, reddish or black. Dorsal scales of the Indian cobra may have a hood mark or colour patterns. The most common visible pattern is a posteriorly convex light band at the level of the 20th to 25th ventrals. Salt-and-pepper speckles, especially in adult specimens, are seen on the dorsal scales.

Specimens, particularly those found in Sri Lanka, may exhibit poorly defined banding on the dorsum. Ontogenetic colour change is frequently observed in specimens in the northwestern parts of their geographic range (southern Pakistan and northwestern India). In southern Pakistan, juvenile specimens may be grey in colour and may or may not have a hood mark. Adults on the other hand are typically uniformly black in colour on top (melanistic), while the underside, outside the throat region, is usually light.

 

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Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World (TEOW) is a map with a bio-geographic regionalization of the Earth's terrestrial biodiversity. The bio-geographic units are eco-regions, which are defined as relatively large units of land or water containing a distinct assemblage of natural communities sharing a large majority of species, dynamics, and environmental conditions.  The map has been prepared through compilation and correlation of existing global and regional maps, gap-filling from landform and vegetation information, followed by reclassification and validation by regional experts.

TEOW differentiates 867 terrestrial eco-regions, classified into 14 Major Habitat Types such as forests, grasslands, or deserts. Each eco-region is portrayed in detail in terms of geographical location, area description, floral and faunal biodiversity features, current conservation status, and types and severity of threats.

 

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On average, newborn calves stand about 9 m (3 ft.) high and weigh 120 kg (264 lb.) at birth. Newborn male African elephants may weigh up to 165 kg (364 lb.). Newborn Asian elephant calves weigh about 91 kg (200 lb.).

The newborn is helped to its feet by its mother and other females. Calves are able to stand on their own within minutes of birth.

The mother and other females help guide the calf to nurse almost immediately. The trunk of the calf is still short, so it uses its mouth to nurse.

Calves are able to walk within one to two hours of birth.

Within two days, calves are strong enough to join the rest of the herd, which is waiting patiently nearby.

Calves nurse for the first six months of life. Elephant milk is high in fat and protein (100 times more than the protein contained in cow's milk).

On average, calves drink about 10 L (21 pt.) a day.

Calves begin to experiment with their developing trunks between four and six months of age by picking grasses and leaves to supplement their diet. Weaning from milk gradually follows this process. Calves are not completely weaned until they are over two years of age and may weigh between 850-900 kg (1,874-1,984 lb.).

 

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The first of three ODIs between India and England in the series that marked the end of the visitors tour to India was played on March 23, 2021 at Pune. India won the match by 66 runs and even though they lost the second ODI, went on to win the series 2-1.

The first ODI, meanwhile, marked the ODI debuts of both Krunal Pandya and Prasidh Krishna. Both men made it a day to remember for themselves as they made record-breaking performances.

Playing for India for the first time in ODI cricket, both Prasidh Krishna (left) and Krunal Pandya (right) made a mark for themselves with match-winning performances in a high-scoring game. Batting first, India posted 317 for five on the back of Shikhar Dhawan's 98. Krunal Pandya's unbeaten 31-ball 58 included reaching half-century in 26 balls, the fastest fifty by an ODI debutant. And while it seemed England would run away with the chase at one point, India pulled it back. Prasidh Krishna's four for 54, the best figures on ODI debut among men for India, certainly had a role in that.

Prasidh Krishna's four for 54 is the best bowling figures by an Indian male on ODI debut, beating the previous best of three for 21 set by Noel David against West Indies in 1997. Varun Aaron (3/24), Subroto Banerjee(3/30) and Hardik Pandya (3/31) come in third, fourth and fifth in this list.

By reaching his 50 in just 26 balls, Krunal Pandya broke the record for the fastest fifty by an ODI debutant, held previously by England's John Morris. Morris' fifty against New Zealand in 1990 had taken 35 balls.

 

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The 2008 Pixar movie "Wall-E" portrays the story of a robot that diligently cleans up garbage left behind by humans in a post-apocalyptic world. The futuristic world is devoid of life - no humans, no birds, no plants and no animals, but for one. A cockroach, which keeps Wall-E company. Can cockroach outlive everything on Earth? How did the myth come to be? In a paper titled-The Cockroach Papers: A Compendium of History and Lore, author Richard Schweid tried to trace the origin of the myth. He noted that cockroaches were reported to have survived the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombing. And the notion that cockroaches are immune to nuclear radiation started to spread.

So, what's the truth? Cockroaches are not immune to radiation but are 10 times more tolerant than humans. They are incredibly adaptive and can survive in any environment because of their eating habit. They can survive without food and water for weeks. They can also live without head for weeks. If our head is cut off, we would die of not being able to breathe, and also bleed to death. But the cockroach has an open circulatory system and simply continues to breathe through its spiracles. The neck would close up and clot. There's no uncontrolled bleeding. But it would die of starvation as it can't eat without the head. Yes, cockroaches have been around for 300 million years, outlasting even the dinosaurs, but their lifespan is after all 18 to 24 months.

 

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Do you know what the following words have in common? Guffaw, snigger, chuckle, chortle, cackle and crack up? They are all words for laughter! Different words are available to describe different forms of laughter. They go from LOL a popular acronym, to the number 555. In between are words such as snicker and snort as well as idioms, for example: "The clown kept the audience in stitches with his antics." All words that stand for laughter have a history of their origin, or etymology. A lot of the regular words came down to us from Latin, Greek, German and other European languages. Now that we do most of our communication online, we have invented ways of creating words to align with our online life.

[1] The laughter emoji

In the mid-2010s, letters gave way to emojis. Two emojis that stood for laughter became extremely popular, and were attached to texts in social media in a big way. Do you know which ones they are? The face with tears of joy and rolling on the floor laughing. According to reports, Face with Tears of Joy' is consistently one of the most used emojis across the globe. and is used to express different degrees and types of happiness. The Rolling on the Floor Laughing emoji is meant to communicate something even more hilarious. Often, they are used together to express laughter online and in text messages.

[2] LOL (or lol)

This is one of the commonest ways to express laughter online. It is an acronym standing for "laughing out loud". It has been around since the time message boards appeared online in the 1980s. On message boards, conversations were conducted through typing, so typers had to come up with short forms. They made an acronym with the first letters of the words in the phrase "laughing out loud." Soon LOL became a word that everyone understood, and this gave birth to other contractions.

[3] Luiz and lel

Lulz is based on a colloquial pronunciation and informal spelling of the plural form of LOL or LOLS. Lulz usually refers to laughter that comes at someone else's expense.

Lel is a playful version of LOL- used generally in response to comments that troll. It emerged on the popular image-board site 4chan in the mid-2000s. Why the E? Just a random substitute for the O in LOL. Today some people pair lel with a trollface, and form a meme.

[4] ROFL and roficopter

The rolling on the floor laughing emoji was, you can imagine, inspired by its acronym ROFL This acronym rhymes with "awful" when you pronounce it as a word, and came into being in 1989. In the 1990s, ROFL was combined with LOL in ROTFLOL - rolling on the floor laughing, laughing out loud. Wow, whatever makes you laugh that much must be quite a joke!

Another version of ROFL is the roflcopter - a mix of helicopter and ROFL. The term is supposed to have been coined in 2003 by moderators on a forum for World of Warcraft III, an online game. The game, if you remember, had a vehicle called the gyrocopter. Gamers were asked to use roflcopter as a response to something they found extremely funny. For instance, Man, roflcopter, that was hilarious!" ROFL can also be ROTF (rolling on the floor) and ROTFL.

[5] MDR and PTDR

The French have their own acronyms and abbreviations for texting. When it comes to laughing, they type MDR which stands for mort de rire, or "dying of laughter."

Instead of ROFL they use the acronym PTDR short for pété de rire, an expression that translates to "broken with laughter." Go ahead, impress your friends with your “knowledge” of French!

[6] XD or SD

Before emojis, we used emoticons like XD or xD to convey laughter. XD/XD are supposed to resemble someone's eyes scrunched closed and mouth open wide in laughter. These were first seen in the 1990s and early 2000s. When emojis became popular and widespread, XD was largely dropped.

[7] Kek

Kek is an online term, similar in meaning to LOL or haha. Online gamers were the first to use it. It was launched in Blizzard's 1998 real-time strategy game Starcraft. Korean gamers could not add the Korean writing system, so the Korean equivalent to the English hahaha, became written as "kekeke." Kek is also the name of an ancient Egyptian deity often represented as a humanoid figure with the head of a frog. In 2015, an anonymous user on 4chan posted information and pictures of Kek, the god. Users compared the god to Pepe the Frog, an innocent cartoon character. The use of the term has since been stopped.

[8] wwww

Wwww is pronounced "wah-rah-wah-rah wah-rah-wah-rah." It is the Japanese equivalent of the English hahahaha. The use of wwww to represent laughing comes from the Japanese wara, which means "to laugh." In the 1990s and 2000s, the Japanese adapted the kanji (a Chinese pictographic symbols used in Japanese writing) to denote laughter (similar to LOL). People eventually found it easier, though, to use the letter w, from the romanji (writing in Japanese with Roman letters), wara. Then someone pointed out that all those Ws looked like blades of grass, so people began to refer to wwww as kusa, Japanese for "grass." And just like haha or lol, a shortened w can be used sarcastically: "Haha or w, real funny. Not."

[9] 233

Why use the Latin alphabet to denote laughter, asked some on social media platforms. Why not do away with alphabets altogether? Some Chinese speakers use the number 233 as shorthand for laughter. This comes from the popular Chinese online forum Mop.com, which uses emoji-like characters. On Mop, the 233rd character is a GIF of a small, furry creature pounding the ground in laughter. As a result, 233 spread as shorthand for laughter. As in many forms of online laughter, the longer the string of numbers, the more enthusiastic and long-drawn the laughing. So, if 233 means "haha." 2333333333 is more like "hahahahahaha."

[10] Jaja and jeje

These two are from Spanish. In Spanish, J is usually pronounced with a strong H sound. The name José, for instance, is Hosé and mija is mee-hah. If you ask a group of Spanish speaking people to write "haha", they will write "jaja." A string of hahahaha (for laughter) will be jajajajaja for a Spanish speaker. Some will write jejejeje instead of jajajaja to refer to trollish, mocking laughter just as English speakers will write hehehe for snide laughter.

 

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What is manuscriptology?

As the name suggests, the field of manuscriptology looks at history through its written literature, particularly handwritten documents. A scientific study of manuscripts, it revolves around deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts.

Manuscripts can offer deep insights into how people lived in a particular age and time in history. And India has a vast repository of ancient manuscripts - more than 50 lakh in the country itself, while some 60,000 Indian manuscripts are in possession of European countries, according to the National Manuscript Mission.

How it works

Manuscriptologists study the scripts and help catalogue them. They specialise in the preparation of raw material, study of development of scripts and alphabets, translation, interpretation, the reconstruction of texts, conservation and storage, designing archives for manuscripts, and cataloguing. Manuscriptologists often work with archaelogists and palaeologists to help them make sense of documents recovered from the past.

What are the job prospects?

Manuscriptologists are in demand right now as there is a move to digitise manuscripts as part of the UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, a compendium of documentary heritage of exceptional value. As a manuscriptologist, you can work with different manuscript research institutes in India. The National Manuscript Mission is the apex body under the Central Government. Similarly you can be a part of the Institute of Asian Studies, which serves as Asian regional training centre for UNESCO's Memory of the World project.

What to study

Several institutes in India offer postgraduate and certificate courses in Manuscriptology. It is advisable to also pursue a Bachelors or a Masters degree in an Indian language, especially Sanskrit.

Where

• University of Mumbai: Certificate course in Manuscriptology, Masters of Arts in Archaeology 


• Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Bengaluru: Postgraduate (PG) Diploma course in Manuscriptology and Palaeography


• KJ. Somaiya Centre for Buddhist Studies, Mumbai: Certificate course in Manuscriptology


• Pondicherry University: PG Diploma in Manuscriptology and Palegography


• Centre of Studies for Manuscriptology, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kerala: PhD in Manuscriptology


• Deccan College, Pune: M.A. in Sanskrit

DID YOU KNOW?

• First discovered in the 1940s, the Dead Sea Scrolls are thought to be the second oldest surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible. They are of religious, cultural, historic, and linguistic significance.


• The Dispilio Tablet, a wooden tablet carved with a set of heiroglyphs that was preserved in lake mud for more than 7,000 years, is probably the oldest manuscript in the world.

OH REALLY?

• In India, manuscripts were written on materials such as tala patra (palm-leaf). bhurja patra (birch-bark), leather (animal skin), tulapat (a type of paper made out of cotton).


• They are written in ancient languages such as Sanskrit, Brahmi, Pali, Prakrti, Burmese, Sinhalese, Newari and Tibetan, along with Urdu, Arabic, and Persian.

 

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Who was Charles Addams?

Growing up in the shadow of World War I. Addams found humour in the darkest of places-death. Born in New Jersey on January 7, 1917, his parents encouraged him to channel his creativity into doodles. One of his first jobs involved retouching photos of corpses that appeared in a detective magazine. It helped him come to terms with death and inspired, his macabre cartoons, which were later published in The New Yorker magazine under the pseudonym Chas Addams.

In over a five-decade-long career, Addams contributed over 1,300 cartoons, with at least 80 of them featuring reccurring gothic mysterious and spooky characters, Gomez Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Fester, who came to be known as "The Addams Family".

Getting started

At the age of 12, Addams faced his first rejection. He was told that he was not talented by a New York Herald newspaper cartoonist. Instead of feeling disappointed, Addams spurred into action and enrolled at a prestigious art school. In just one year, Addams sold his first drawing, a sketch of a window washer, to The New Yorker. It was published on February 6, 1932. Within a few years, he became a regular contributor to the magazine. And from 1938 till his death on September 29, 1988, the magazine published 'The Addams Family" series regularly.

The franchise and adaptations

What began as a humble monochromatic cartoon strip in The New Yorker turned into a giant franchise after the series was adapted for television by producer David Levy. However, Addams kept his distance from "The Addams Family" television series. He only decided on the characters' names and descriptions. The series ran on ABC for two seasons, from 1964 to 1966, and gained global attention.

Intrigued by the popularity of the series, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera introduced an animated version of the Addams Family characters as guests in an episode of the "Scooby Doo" series. The episode titled, "Scooby-Doo Meets the Addams Family", first aired on television on September 23, 1972. The characters were drawn to the exact specifications of the original Addams cartoons. And the fans loved them so much that Hanna-Barbera created their own animated show featuring the beloved characters.

Considering the enduring appeal of the Addams Family, Netflix has announced a live-action TV series adaptation to be based around the character of Wednesday Addams. With the legendary director Tim Burton at its helm, the series will follow Wednesday as she solves mysteries using her psychic ability.

DID YOU KNOW?

• In 1961, Charles Addams received a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.


• Addams loved collecting armour and arms, as well as tinkering with cars.


• Keeping with his dark sense of humour, Addams married his third and final wife, Marilyn Matthews Miller in a pet cemetery. And their home in Sagaponack, New York was called "The Swamp".

OH REALLY?

• Addams was friends with author Ray Bradbury. In fact, the duo were planning to collaborate on a project. But Addams died before it could materialize.


• Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock too was a friend of Addams, and owned two pieces of original Addams art.


• The University of Pennsylvania has a Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall on its campus at 36th and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia. There is a small sculpture of the Addams Family in front of the building.

 

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Built in the year 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, a ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, Charminar is an iconic monument in Hyderabad, India. This square-shaped structure is built out of granite and lime mortar, predominantly in an Islamic-style design. However, influences of Hindu architecture can be noticed in the ornamentations.

1. What's in a name?

The Charminar takes its name from the four pillars/minars that are part of the monument. However, its relation to the number four goes beyond just the four pillars. There are four main arches in the monument and each of the main arches has four smaller arches on either side. Each of the pillars is also divided into four parts and the number of galleries found at each level is also four. Apart from these, one can spot many more connections to the number four, according to experts.

2. Commemorates the end of an epidemic

There exist several theories about the purpose of the construction of the Charminar. But the one widely accepted is that the monument was built to commemorate the eradication of plague in Hyderabad. Plague was a widespread disease in Hyderabad at that time. Another popular theory, according to the 17th Century French traveller Jean de Thevenot, is that the Charminar was built in 1591 to commemorate the beginning of the second Islamic millenium year.

3. The centrepiece

When Qutb Shah moved his capital from Golconda to Hyderabad, he planned for the Charminar to be the centre of the Old City of Hyderabad. The Old City was spread around the Charminar in four different quadrants that were segregated according to the established settlements. The modern city of Hyderabad has expanded since, but the Charminar remains the centrepiece of the once walled Old City.

4. A secret tunnel?

It is believed Qutb Shah had built a secret underground tunnel from the Charminar to the Golconda Fort, his former capital. He is said to have built this tunnel as an escape route in case of a siege. However, till date no one knows the location of this secret tunnel.

5. On the state emblem

The Charminar features in the emblem of the state of Telangana. The logo was designed by noted Telangana artist Laxman Aelay in four days and has been in use since June 2014.

 

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