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A Prank Being Played…
Just imagine getting up one fine morning and finding yourself face to face with a monster and that too in the mirror! I know it sounds horrible, but that’s exactly what happened to me some years back.
It was April 1, a day after my thirteenth birthday party and I woke up early in the morning to look at my recent teen-aged face in the mirror (silly thought indeed!). I was very excited because nobody will call me a kid anymore; for after all I was a teenager now! But what I was facing in the mirror was the worst of my nightmares. I gave a loud shriek and ran to the kitchen and cried at full volume, hugging my mum as tightly as I could. Mum got worried at this sudden attack, however my siblings (who happen to be twins and are always busy planning for a mischief together) were laughing out loud standing at the kitchen door. “Look, she is crying like a three-year-old”, my brother remarked. “Yeah…our plan worked out. She is still a kid,” my sister was grinning.
“So, it was them,” I thought. I looked in the mirror once again only to find that my siblings had painted my face with purple and brown shades of my mum’s make-up while I was asleep. (Mom warned me always, ghorey baich kay met soya kero, but who listens?). It looked as if I was returning from a boxing championship after receiving hard blows from my opponent or as if the red blood cells of my body had suddenly turned purple, replacing my reddish-white fairy like complexion (good old days…sigh!) with brownish-purple monstrous look.
Since that day, I get less excited on my birthday and stay more alert for the upcoming day. Yet, every year my siblings, friends and cousins figure out some new plan (that originates from where my wits end) to play a prank on me and take full advantage of my innocence. Though I show resentment to their behaviour, however, somewhere deep in my heart I enjoy it too.
‘April Fool’s Day’ also called ‘All Fool’s Day’, as we all know is the day of playing pranks on friends, performing hoaxes and spreading rumours. For some, it’s a harmless fun while for others it is a disgusting custom that is not a part of our tradition. To find out what makes some people celebrate this day so enthusiastically and on the contrary what compels others to dislike the activity, let’s read the views of a few youngsters about April Fool’s Day.
Farjad Saeed, 21 in this regard says, “April 1 is a day to have some fun activity in our otherwise boring and nerdy lives (referring to those hefty books being taught at university). I feel happy when someone plays a prank on me. It makes me feel lucky to have such friends around who are close and frank enough to play a practical joke on me. However, jokes should remain jokes. I’m vehemently against those who play with other person’s emotions or scare innocent kids with horrible masks or artificial insects. One should know the difference between fun and offence, jest and disgust.”
Humaira Anwar, 20 recalls the memories of last year’s Fool’s Day. She laughs and says, “Oh God! I’ll never be able to forget my cousin’s horrified face when she found that gold chain missing which her friend had lent her for a few days. She messed up her whole bedroom in search for the chain, even checked the dustbin twice but couldn’t find it. And how could she? Because only I knew where it was. She was about to cry when I finally showed her the chain. Don’t even ask how I saved myself when she was madly running after me screaming that she will break my legs.”
F.D. Sheikh, 19, is not up for celebrating this day and expresses his annoyance in these words, “I’m not in favour of this day particularly when people make serious jokes in the name of April Fool like telling someone that a close friend or relative has had an accident or has been diagnosed with a deadly disease. When people play a prank on others, they seem silly to me. I don’t make others fool and in return I don’t want to be made a fool either. I detest April Fool’s Day and would suggest people to look for other ways of having fun.”
In the light of these views, we can conclude that it’s up to every person’s own choice whether he/she wants to celebrate All Fool’s Day or not. However, those who are in favour of having fun at the expense of family and friends should be a bit careful before playing a prank or spreading a rumour. What is a silly joke for you can be a painful torment for the other.
A common misconception about the history of April Fool’s day is that centuries back when Muslim rule came to an end in Spain, Muslims were offered a ship and were ordered to leave the country by the new masters of the state. It is said that on April 1, when that ship was in the middle of the sea, it was drowned by traitors and all Muslims on board died. Thus Crusaders proclaimed that they made Muslims ‘fools’ and since then they commemorate this day in the form of April Fool’s Day. However, we don’t find any historical evidence for this story.
Though the exact history and origin of this day dwells in obscurity and no one knows when exactly the first time it was celebrated, the current thinking is that it began around 1582 in France. With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX, the Gregorian calendar was introduced and New Year’s Day was moved from March 25 - April 1 (New Year’s week) to January 1.
Nevertheless, as in those days communication was not much advanced, a large majority of world areas did not simply get to know of the change and continued celebrating New Year on April 1. So the rest considered them ‘fools’ and played pranks and jokes on them like inviting them to non-existing parties, etc.
As time passed, this harassment evolved into a tradition of playing pranks on the first day of April and in the eighteenth century it spread to England and Scotland. It was later introduced to the American colonies of both the English and French. April Fool’s Day thus developed into an international fun festival to add fun and frolic to life by befooling friends and associates.
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