KOCHI: When pranksters came out in force, the internet was fired up with the best of ‘April Fool Day’ pranks on Wednesday.
As usual, many were brilliant, some were ceremonial and at least a few others left people unsure whether to laugh or cry.
The one that shot to fame in quick time was by Kochi-based e-retailer ‘Parippuvada.com’.
They offered to sell a piece of one of the meteor fireballs that struck the Kerala skies last month.
Whatever it means, the ad said the company had a partnership with ‘Archeology House of Kerala’ to bring you the chance to own a piece of meteor that weighs 0.9 Kg. Wrapped with an attractive price tag of Rs 151 and free home delivery option, it went abuzz in social media circuits for sometime. And guess what, 33 people booked their order!
Another one that did the rounds roped in the most vendible news makers of the season- Chief Whip P C George and solar case accused Sarita S Nair.
The site ‘meencurry.com’ floated a link where it offered the readers a letter written by Sarita to George. Those who clicked in desire to read a sleazy tell-all expose of the solar case soon realised that their time is yet to come.
Even established media houses pretended they have a funny bone. The Malayala Manorama was easily caught as it created a prank story online about superstars Mohanlal and Mammootty going for the adventure that Aamir Khan did for the poster of the Bollywood blockbuster ‘PK’.
But then, lamented some readers in social media, had it not been April 1 also, some of the stories appearing in mainstream media are tough to believe.
A bunch of activists dragged such concerns to the streets, by organising an event titled ‘People’s Voice Against Media Foolism’ at Rajendra Maidan in Kochi on Wednesday evening. An array of celebrity writers and activists, including Paul Zacharia and N S Madhavan, were announced to attend the event.
It was too late when those who turned up realised that the list was also a prank.