What are some of the interesting facts about India?

1. India has 1650 languages - 30 of which are spoken by more than a million speakers and 122 of which are spoken by more than 10,000. There are 6 distinct language families that go beyond India. In contrast, 95% of Europe comes under a single language family. Most Indians might not know about the Austro-Asiatic Munda languages spoken in the heart of India more related to Vietnamese & Cambodian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mun...), the Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Ladakh, Sikkim and North east and that some Dravidian languages are spoken as far away as Baluchistan. 
   
2. The whole region of Kashmir was "bought" for a measly 7.5 million rupees in the mid 19th century by the Hindu rulers. It even had a bill of sale.
3. India has 1200 million people. That is more than the combined population of US, Russia, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Japan, UK, Germany, Australia, Italy, Spain and New Zealand! In fact, India's population is larger than any other continent in the world, outside Asia.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis...
4. India has the world's largest attended events. The biggest of which is Kumbha mela of 2001 - attended by 60 million people and was seen from space.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/scien...
   
5. Indian laws make it illegal to carry more than Rs. 5000 in Indian currency out of Indian territory (except Nepal and Bhutan) - http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/FA...
6. India invented the game of Chess.
7. Himalayas are growing taller at a rate of 2.5 cm per year.
8. Although widely accepted and definitely deserved, Mahatma Gandhi is never officially designated as the father of the nation by the Indian government.http://www.deccanherald.com/cont...
9. Indian railways transports 20 million people every day on short and long distance transport.
10. The official name of our country in local languages is Bharat and written as such in all Hindi communications of the government. This name is 1000s of years old and is named after the mythical emperor of Bharat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam...
11. India has the wettest place on Earth - Cherrapunji receiving 463 inches of rain every year. Sometimes its neighbor Mawsynram is also claimed as the wettest place.
    
    
12. India's cinema industry is more than US and Canada combined in terms of ticket sales of 3.2 billion per year. And if you include the pirated movie industry, the movie industry is the biggest in the world. 
13. Since its independence in 1947, India has fought 8 main wars - 4 with Pakistan, 1 with China, 1 with Portugal (to take Goa), 1 with Hyderabad Nizam to take the territory into India and 1 in Maldives to restore government rule. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis...
14. The Kashmir dispute is a tri-party dispute between India-Pakistan-China and 5 distinct territories of Kashmir. Yellow territory has the world's highest mountains - including K2 and integrated into Pakistan, Brown territory is one gifted by Pakistan to China, Blue territory is one India has in its maps but has never ever been into. The Red territory is where all the action is.