Early in the morning, the sun was peeping from the mountaintops and radiating its brilliant colored hue to the entire city of Goa when my telephone rang at 7 a.m. ‘Tring, ..tring.” It shook me out of my morning sleep.
The caller wanted to know the direction to reach my residence and the price of my land. He wished to buy my plot as his old house was going to be demolished due to broadening of the road. I said, “Wrong number,” and placed the receiver down and snuggled deeper into my blanket.
After a pause, came another call. Then, on and on, the callers called, enquiring about the same thing. I thought that all these callers were tossing on waves of error. I had no patience to talk to them; so, I pulled the telephone connection out of the socket and picked up my sleep.
My daughter who was staying with me, was expecting a call from abroad, so, she turned the telephone on. Alas! Again, “Tring, tring …” the phone rang. Thinking every ring to be a call for her from her husband she would pick the receiver. The caller wanted to know similar things. She politely told the callers that there must be a mistake. The caller exclaimed, “What! Your advertisement is on the paper and you are saying that!”
A drop of doubt wetted her mind. Although she found me sleeping, she woke me up and I tumbled out of bed. I was shocked to know that I had advertised. We thought that it was some ‘printer’s error’ that made readers to call me over the phone. I pulled the phone wire from its socket.
Our neighbour knocked at our door. His friend told him to enquire whether our phone was out of order as he wanted to have some important personal talk with me. “OK,” I said and kept the receiver back to its cradle.
Tring, ..tring… Tring, … again and again and again. The caller said, “Joseph, what is the price of the plot?”
I asked, “Who gave you my name?” He said that it is in the advertisement. He wanted to buy my land and open his Tavern in my plot as it was more than 500 metres away from the main road.”
Many tortured thoughts crowded my mind. I swung from desperate knee-jerk reaction and purchased the paper and read: “Quick sale: Plot with mango trees and grass (earlier known as coconut tree). Area 1000 sqm . Contact Joseph Phone xxx”. It is only then, it dawned on me that it was Fool’s Day; some wisest, brightest, rude-conditioned mind had played an April fool joke on me just for the sake of an adrenalin thrill.
Dear reader, some go gaga on this day. However, what is popular is not always right. Some harmful thoughts and intentions may turn a person wicked to play April fool’s joke, as was the case some years back with death announcement of a living person on the paper, like this — “My 77-year-old uncle Bernard, slipped into eternal bliss.”
Such jokes destroy peace of mind, wound the heart and draw tears in the eyes of the affected relatives. Therefore, one must imagine the impact and effect on others — “Empathy is your pain in my heart” said Jess Lair.
