Every April, we celebrate All Fool’s Day in the belief that we are unfoolish the remaining 364 days. Most of the people pulling April fool’s pranks on you are fooling themselves the rest of the year. It’s really no different from being named ‘Employee of the Month’ and being laid off in the same month. This year, there are many people playing the fool already. And many a fool has been found. The budget continued to play the fool with our emotions while quietly slipping in a 20% TDS on overseas remittances, lest you try to play the fool with the government’s narrative on the rupee. After all, it is a fool who often points out that the emperor is wearing G20 clothes while our production-linked incentives are linked only to incentives. One looks forward to the current account deficit playing the fool on us next year.
Bollywood continued to play the fool with the audience, acting like it’s still 2019. Luckily, this time, the box office also decided to play the fool with them. Till Shah Rukh Khan came along to play the fool one more time. But enough about Priyanka Chopra.
Zero kept playing the fool with poor Suryakumar Yadav, who had the dubious distinction of scoring three consecutive golden ducks in the ODI series vs Australia. This is not the kind of Zerodha one wants to be! The only person laughing at this joke is Ajit Agarkar, who hopes Suryakumar Yadav will break his record of five consecutive ducks against the same opposition.
Volodymyr Zelenksyy continues to play the fool with Vladimir Putin, sliding naturally into his former profession as a stand-up comedian. Perhaps that explains why he gets along so well with the American president. America is also playing the fool with China by cracking jokes on Taiwan. Even though the jokes are funny, the Chinese are not laughing because it acknowledges Taiwan. One hopes nobody pushes a button somewhere till April 1 next year.
Arshad Warsi played the fool this year, deciding that he is a stock market analyst by recommending a penny stock. Unfortunately, our dear Circuit’s attempts at becoming the next Jim Cramer were short-circuited by the regulator. It would have been rather ironic if these had been criminal charges and he ended up in prison with Sanjay Dutt. That would be taking the joke too far.
Speaking of jokes that have been taken too far, Donald Trump has actually been indicted by the US Government in what can surely only be an April Fool’s prank. The ultimate joke being this might end up in him winning the White House next year. Because, let’s be frank, if the whole UFO thing was not a prank to distract us from Nordstream, then we definitely want Donald Trump dealing with the aliens. We could tell them it’s our version of playing April fool with them to break the ice.
But if you’re in Park Street, you can just play the fool by demanding to go to some place else from Someplace Else. Or go to the 149-year-old New Market. Or step out of Picnic Garden to go for a picnic. But some April fool pranks went a little too far in Howrah and are threatening to do the same in Punjab. So, let’s hope this whole country has a sense of humour. Or else, we might go from April Fool to the Ides of March.
The author is a Marwari investment banker turned corporate comedian. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the website.
