1. Buttons-

More than 4000 years ago, buttons were invented in the Indus Valley civilization and they were made out of seashells. But, they were not like the ones we use today because they were used in a fashion statement to show off how wealthy they were. Later when the foreigners came, they used it to fasten their clothes and decorations to keep their tradition. Nowadays, they're made out of plastic wood.

2. Shampoo-

Shampoo was derived from the Hindi word 'Champo' which means 'massaging your scalp'. Back in the 4th century BC, they used fruits and herbs to massage their scalps to make it smell good. It became popular when Sake Dean Mohammed moved to England to open a hair care spa in Brighton. It gained popularity that he did it for the Royal family and some hospitals referred patients to him.

3. USB-

The USB was invented by Ajay Bhatt who studied engineering in India and later moved to New York to work at Intel. He invented it because his wife wanted to print something for her daughter but back then, devices needed to have different connections and it was really annoying. So, the idea was to put everything in one connection. He and his team were working on it and it became a success in the 1990s.

4. Chess-

Chess was earlier known as 'Chaturanga'(means 'four divisions' in Sanskrit) in the Sixth century. The fun legend was that the king then wanted a game that would show the complexities of war, so a wise man named 'Sissa' invented it and the king was really impressed. Later, the game was sent to Persia(present day 'Iran') and new rules and new words were added (for eg: Shah means 'king' and Shah Mat means 'Checkmate').

5. Snakes and Ladders-

In the 2nd Century B.C, it was known as 'Moksha Patam' and it was used to teach kids morals. The ladders meant that you would get rewarded if you did good deeds and snakes meant that you would go downhill if you did bad deeds.

6. Fiber Optics-

Indian-American physicist Narvinder Singh Kapany invented fiber optics in 1952 based on John Tyndall's experiments 3 decades earlier. It changed the world because we can get faster internet access and look inside a human's body without surgery.

7. Yoga-

Yoga means 'union' as it's the exercise for the body, mind and spirit. It was invented 5000 years ago with different terms such as- Asanas(Postures) and Breathing(Pranayama). Some poses include Adho Mukha Svanasana, Tadasana, Uttanasana and Malasana.

8. Flush System-

The flush system was invented 4500 years ago in the Indus Valley Civilization. They introduced advanced hygiene with flushed toilets linked to sophisticated sewage systems. How it worked was that it removed the wastes by nearby wells, so it could stop the spread of diseases and made the cities cleaner.

9. Ruler-

This tool was made 4400 years ago but it had a different system. For accuracy, they made linings that are 1/16 of an inch and they used Ivory as the material for a fancy look. The people in the Indus Valley used it to build their streets and homes in a straight length to make them fit perfectly.

10. Cataract Surgery-

Cataract Surgery was made 2600 years ago by an ancient surgeon named Sushruta. This surgery was used to fix blind people. It was done by the process of couching where a sharp tool removes the cloudy area(blind part) in the eye.

11. Plastic Surgery-

Sushruta also invented Plastic Surgery(specifically the nose job). This surgery was used to fix noses if they had committed crimes. It was done as the piece from the forehead was taken out to rebuild the nose. Sushruta's surgeries gave them a second chance of life and he was later called 'The Founding Father of Surgery'.

12. Candy-

Here's the invention of what everybody loves- Candy! For their technique, they chew down on sugarcane then boil it to make sugar and use sugar to make it. The origin traced back to the desi 'khanda' meaning 'a piece of sugar' in Sanskrit. The first candy they made was a lump of sugar crystals or 'rock candy'.

13. Natural fiber-

We know that our clothes come from natural fibers and man-made fibers, but here we will learn about natural fibers. Natural fibers come from plants and animals which include cotton, wool, silk, jute, flax, bamboo, cashmere, alpaca, etc. They were made 5000 years ago with cotton to make clothes and flax to make lenin.

14. The number Zero (0)-

The most impressive invention is the number '0' and it was discovered 1500 years ago by an ancient mathematician Aryabhatta. There are a few reasons why this was invented because algebra and calculus existed and computers came to life with 1 & 0 as binary code numbers.

15. Pi-

1500 years ago, Aryabhatta found the value of pi by dividing 62832 with 20000 and he got 3.1416. He expressed the value of pi as 22/7 or 3.14 in his book titled 'Aryabhattiyam'. He mentioned that given a circle, Pi is the ratio of its diameter to its circumference.

We are so grateful to have these inventions which changed the world and make our nation proud. We'll hope that we will see more successful inventions for years to come. I wish you all Happy Independence Day.

JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT!