A country timed to midnight by astrologers

Astrologers declared 15 August 1947 inauspicious, so India's independence was fixed for the stroke of midnight, which in Hindu reckoning still belongs to the day before.

Nehru gave the "tryst with destiny" speech at that moment. A country of hundreds of millions was timed by a rule about when a day begins, which is either an absurd way to run a transfer of power or a very sensible compromise.