April Fool

Few years back, it was one of our friends birthday and we had been invited to join him for a dinner. By evening everybody assembled at Susanto pan shop. As we were about to start, one of our friend announced a cocktail party, preceding the dinner had been arranged at Andabeda (little far away from the meeting place).

All of us walked to the spot where Mr Naidu (Sada Siva) pulled a polythene bag from the bush. From the very appearance, one could judge it contained fried fish, but few of us was looking for something better. Just at the nick of time, Kam Prasad (Ram Prasad) appeared from nowhere with a bag. Center of attention immediately shifted to the clattering of bottles in the bag. That is it! exclaimed Murkesh (Tarkesh) and got the first bottle in his hand. Without waiting for the cheer, he gulped almost a quarter of it only to spew the liquid back at us! Ack thooooo!

Interestingly during the time Murkesh was gulping the “fool drink” Heera (Ch Veeraswamy) was seen struggling with fried fish which in reality were dried out pieces of tender coconut husk wrapped in oiled paper. Every one of us but him bust into peels of laughter. In no time did we realise being first day of April, it was an April Fool prank. We had been framed.

Following the prank, the dinner party hosted by Birthday Boy came under cloud of suspicion. After lot of persuasion, everybody except Heera agreed to join the dinner. Which not only turned to be real but appetizing too. We still remember the day, not just for the practical prank or the dinner, but for the birthday boy K Vasudev Rao, who passed away recently following brief illness.

History is replete with such practical jokes cracked on 1st April on friends, family members, teachers, neighbors, work associates, etc. Though pranksters dupe others on April Fool's Day, no one knows exactly when or why, or even where, this tradition began. According to the most widespread theory, the origin of April Fool's Day could be linked to change from Julian to the Gregorian calendar in the late 16th century. Under the Julian calendar, New Year was celebrated during the week from March 25th and culminated on April 1st. But under the Gregorian calendar, New Year was shifted to Jan 1st. Those who refused to accept the new calendar were mocked at and practical jokes played on them around their New Year (March-April) in a bid to demoralise them.

The earliest recorded association between 1st April and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392). According to one of the tale "Nun's Priest's Tale" is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two. Chaucer probably meant 32 days after March, i.e. May 2nd, the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381. Readers however misunderstood this line to mean "32nd of March," i.e. 1st April.

The most elaborate instances of prank is however believed to have occurred sometime in the mid-nineteenth century. Pranksters printed and distributed cards inviting “bearer and friends” to the White Tower, on the 1st day of April, to witness the grand annual ceremony of “Washing the lions.” Thousands flocked to witness the event, which turned out to be nothing but an April fools prank!

Now here is a trick (suggestion) for you to try on your colleague. On the D-day, leave a note on a co-worker’s desk informing “Jim Panzie” had come looking for him, could not wait but left his phone number. The trick is to furnish the phone number of the local zoo. The unsuspecting victim would end up calling the zoo to speak to “Jim Panzie.” It is estimated that major zoos each receive over 2000 such calls on April Fool’s Day asking them to connect to Mr Bear, Mrs Robin, Mr Wolf, Mr Lion, Mr Bird, Ellie Font, Mr G Raffe, Al Gator, Anna Conda, Ann Eagle, Albert Ross, Sally Mander, Dyna Soris, Sue Keeper, or Don Kee. You can innovate further and try the trick with your own list, the fun would be immense. All the best!


The article was carried in Andaman Sheekha dated 31/03/2011