ACK-018: Himbala Aur Sat Baune; ACK-019: Hitopdesha How Friends are Parted; & ACK-020: Velu Thampi

The Flag of my country

Furls very high,
We belong to India, a nation of pride
& we say-"HINDU, MUSLIM, SIKH, ISAI, SAB HAI BHAI BHAI."
jai hind!!!

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance .... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again."

- Jawaharlal Nehru (Speech on Indian Independence Day, at the stroke of midnight August 15, 1947).

The day when India woke up to freedom back in 1947 was a day of great celebration. A country got rid of her foreign yoke and became a sovereign nation, she celebrated her sovereignty on this day - the triumph of numerous martyred souls. It was a day of fulfillment, it was the day of a new beginning, a birth of a nation.On the stroke of midnight, a country came into life again as the British handed over the governance of India to the Indian leaders.The long and difficult struggle had borne fruit at last, though the happiness was marred by the fact that the country was divided into India and Pakistan and the violent communal riots had left the countries permanently scarred.

That was the price that India paid for her dearly bought freedom. The British government declared the country independent and left for their own shores. On the 15th of August, 1947, India became completely independent. It was on this historic date that Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime Minister of India, unfurled the Indian tricolor on the ramparts the magnificent Red Fort, symbolically marking the end of the British colonial rule.

August 15 is the 227th day of the year (228th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 138 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, in which Roland is killed.
  
• 927 - The Saracens are conquered and destroyed Taranto.
  
• 1040 - King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.
  
• 1057 - King Mac Bethad is killed in the Battle of Lumphanan by the forces of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada.
  
• 1185 - The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia.
  
• 1248 - The foundation stone of the Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, was laid. Construction eventually completed in 1880.
  
• 1261 - Michael VIII Palaeologus is crowned Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.
  
• 1309 - The city of Rhodes surrenders to the forces of the Knights of St. John, completing their conquest of Rhodes. The knights establish their headquarters on the island, and rename themselves as the Knights of Rhodes.
  
• 1461 - The Empire of Trebizond surrenders to the forces of Sultan Mehmet II. This is the real end of the Byzantine Empire. Emperor David is exiled and later murdered.
  
• 1517 - Seven Portuguese armed vessels led by Fernão Pires de Andrade meet Chinese officials at the Pearl River estuary.
  
• 1519 - Panama City, Panama, is founded.
  
• 1534 - Saint Ignatius of Loyola and six classmates took initial vows that would lead to the creation of the Society of Jesus in September of 1540.
  
• 1537 - Asunción, Paraguay, is founded.
  
• 1540 - Arequipa, Peru, is founded.
  
• 1549 - Jesuit priest Saint Francis Xavier comes ashore at Kagoshima (Traditional Japanese date: July 22, 1549).
  
• 1599 - Nine Years War: Battle of Curlew Pass - Irish forces led by Hugh Roe O'Donnell successfully ambush English forces, led by Sir Conyers Clifford, were sent to relieve Collooney Castle.
  
• 1760 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Liegnitz - Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians under Ernst von Laudon.
  
• 1824 - Freed American slaves form Liberia.
  
• 1843 - The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii is dedicated. Now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, it is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.
  
• 1843 - Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark.
  
• 1863 - The Anglo-Satsuma War begins between the Satsuma Domain of Japan and the United Kingdom (Traditional Japanese date: July 2, 1863).
  
• 1869 - Meiji government establishes six ministries below Pardication in the bottom of Cabinet, officer-of-Shinto-Worship, and jurisdiction of Cabinet.
  
• 1891 - San Sebastian Church in Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed.
  
• 1914 - A male servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright set fire to the living quarters of the architect's Wisconsin home, Taliesin, murdered seven people, and burned the living quarters to the ground. It is unknown if the servant was arrested or not.
  
• 1914 - The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon.
  
• 1920 - Polish-Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw - Poles defeat the Red Army.
  
• 1935 - Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after engine problems during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.
  
• 1939 - 13 Stukas dive into the ground during a disastrous air-practice at Neuhammer. No survivors.
  
• 1942 - World War II: Operation Pedestal - The SS Ohio reaches the island of Malta barely afloat carrying vital fuel supplies for the island defenses.
  
• 1944 - World War II: Operation Dragoon - Allied forces land in southern France.
  
• 1945 - World War II: Victory over Japan Day - Japan surrenders.
  
• 1945 - World War II: Korean Liberation Day.
  
• 1947 - India gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes an independent nation within the Commonwealth , Jawaharlal Nehru addresses the nation with the Indian Declaration of Independence and takes office as the first Prime Minister of India.
  
• 1947 - Founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah is sworn in as first Governor General of Pakistan at Karachi.
  
• 1948 - The Republic of Korea is established south of the 38th parallel north.
  
• 1950 - Srikakulam district is formed in Andhra Pradesh, India.
  
• 1952 - Devon, United Kingdom A flashflood drenches the town of Lynmouth, killing 34 people.
  
• 1960 - Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) declares its independence from France.
  
• 1961 - Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall.
  
• 1961 - Keiyo Road is specified to be the first driveway in Japan.
  
• 1962 - James Joseph Dresnok defected to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, running across the Korean DMZ. Dresnok still resides in the capital, Pyongyang.
  
• 1965 - The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, marking the birth of stadium rock.
  
• 1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Festival opens.
  
• 1971 - President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard by ending convertibility of the United States dollar into gold by foreign investors.
  
• 1971 - Bahrain Independence Day.
  
• 1973 - Vietnam War: The United States bombing of Cambodia ends.
  
• 1974 - Yuk Young-soo, First Lady of South Korea is killed amid an apparent assassination attempt upon President of South Korea, Park Chung-hee, during the anniversarial ceremony of the Liberation day.
  
• 1974 - Turkish invasion of Cyprus continues, and the 37% of the island is now under Turkish control.
  
• 1975 - Military coup in Bangladesh. Sheikh Mujibur Rehman killed along with all family members, except Haseena Wajid.
  
• 1975 - Miki Takeo makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by a sitting prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II.
  
• 1977 - The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by The Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" for notation made by a volunteer on the project.
  
• 1999 - Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria; some 29 people killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.
  
• 2003 - Global oil production begins a four-year plateau (and subsequent decline) in the face of rising demand, causing the start of the Oil price increases since 2003.
  
• 2007 - An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090.
  

Holidays and observances

• VJ Day / VP Day (Victory over Japan Day/ Victory in the Pacific Day)
  
• India – Independence Day (from the United Kingdom, 1947).
  
• Egypt – Flooding of the Nile Day.
  
• Italy, Ferragosto, remembrance of an ancient Roman holiday in honor of Augustus (Feriae Augusti).
  
• Korea – Gwangbokjeol (Liberation Day).
  
• Tuva – Naadym.
  
• Costa Rica– Mother's Day.
  
• Eastern Orthodoxy – Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, the commemoration of the death of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
  
• Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Holy Day of Obligation. Public Holiday in: Austria, Belgium, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, East Timor, France, Greece, Guatemala, India, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Poland, Portugal, Seychelles, Slovenia and Spain.

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Friends, these are the first 10 ACK, please add these in ACK list. These were based on famous fairy tales:

#1.Jack & The Bean Stalk
#2.Little Red Riding Hood
#3.Cinderella
#4.The Magic Fountain
#5.Aladdin & His Lamp
#6.Pinochhio
#7.The Three Little Pigs
#8.The Wizard of Oz
#9.The Sleeping Beauty
#10.Snow White & Seven Dwarfs

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Himbala Aur Sat Baune

(Snow White & Seven Dwarfs)

The Brothers Grimm, Jakob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), were German academics who were best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales and for their work in linguistics, relating to how the sounds in words shift over time (Grimm's Law). They are among the best known story tellers of novellas from Europe, allowing the widespread knowledge of such tales as Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Hansel and Gretel.

The German version features elements such as the magic mirror and the seven dwarfs, who were first given individual names in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).

Download original story (50.5 KB)

Many many thanks to “Ajay Misra” for providing rare ACK scan.

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Hitopdesha
How Friends are Parted & other stories

One of the most widely read Sanskrit books in India, Hitopadesha tales are short stories that have the priceless treasure of morality and knowledge.

Hitopadesha has been derived from two words, hita and upadeśa. It basically means to counsel or advice with benevolence. The author of Hitopadesha, Narayana (11~12 th centuryA.D.) says that the main purpose of creating the Hitopadesha is to instruct young minds in a way that they learn the philosophy of life and are able to grow into responsible adults. The stories are very interesting and youngsters not only find it interesting, but also accept it easily.

The Emperor Akbar, impressed with the wisdom of its maxims and the ingenuity of its apologues, commended the work of translating it to his own minister Abdul Fazel. He accordingly put the book into a familiar style, and published it with explanations, under the title of the Criterion of Wisdom. He followed the Emperor's suggestion that the incantions which often interrupt the narrative be abridged.

Many many thanks to “Ajnaabi” for providing ACK scan.

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An out of print ACK

Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi (1765 - 1809) was the Dalawa or Prime Minister of the Indian kingdom of Travancore between 1801 AD and 1809 AD during the reign of His Highness Maharajah Bala Rama Varma Kulasekhara Perumal. He is best known for being one of the earliest individuals to rebel against British supremacy in India. He was an exceptional administrator and led a daring rebellion in 1808 against the British Resident Macaulay’s intervention in the affairs of Travancore.

In his famous Kundara proclamation, in 1809, Velu Thampi made an impassioned plea to the people to rise up against the British. In the beginning, he had many allies including Paliath Achan, the Diwan of Cochin. But in the later stages he fought a lonely battle as his army stood no chance against the modern weaponry of the mighty British. At the brink of defeat, he chose to kill himself than submit to a humiliating surrender. The British made a public display of his corpse in the gallows at Thiruvananthapuram.

Many many thanks to “Ajnaabi” for providing ACK scan.