Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you

FOOLS’ DAY SPECIAL

Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you.-Chinese Saying

BY MUSYOKA NGUI

“Hi, class, due to the coming exams, the deadline to submit your Newsletter assignment is today 3pm. Please let’s meet S302 for the same. Dr. Ngugi” read an SMS sent by Lawrence Kitema to me.

In the morning I’d been trawling the internet for news, gossip and researching for assignments. Little did I know that it is April 1, Fools’ Day.

Nothing in the news updates showed today was fool’s day. Only serious stuff on Standard Digital and Nation.Co.Ke.  I checked Jackal News. Ghafla.Co.Ke.  and ashfordmusya.blogspot.com. (My little bro’s own technology blog). I reply an email from a reader on my blog requesting to be told the singer of a song I posted along with the piece on Sahara Tuaregs.

Nothing much. Twitter, Youtube and Facebook are closed “because their time to be opened is not yet.” Here they do so at 5pm throughout the night till 8am the following day.

And so I log everything out and head to main campus. Lazy chats between me and Jemutai Kibet:

Where are you going?

To pick my exam card and read for exam.

Okay, me I go for lunch now. Later.

No hurry.

See yah

You too.

We part.

As soon as I am done eating lunch I get the opening text I began with above. People are forwarding madly. Panic. Worry.

You see Dr. Ngugi isn’t the best joker. We take him serious. He is the Dean and our Desktop Publishing lecturer. Our mothers taught us to respect elders and play far from them.

I forward mine to Ann Wangui and Martin Wachira. I confirm with Kitema, the originator. Before I do Ann can’t be fooled. She realizes I am pulling a prank. She replies: Weeeee acha April fools. Martin calls. He warns its past 12 noon and the jokes about April fools should stop. Amepatikana. He is embarrassed that he is naswad.

Kitema answers back:Ulikuwa ushaanza kujipanga?

Me: Yah.

Kitema: Relax.

Until next year.

Fact: Kitema is not the Class Rep to confirm when deadlines for submissions are due. The Class Rep is Susan Wangari who I guess will be fooled before the day ends.

 Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you.-Chinese Saying

PS: Like New Year resolutions, I will forget and be caught flat footed again. Is it me or what…no one seems to learn. Actually, the lesson is we never learn at all. Of course if we ever learned Kitema and other Kitemas will not get someone to fool. Make a career out of it guys.

The writer is a student of Bachelors of Arts Degree in Communication and Media at Chuka University. He blogs at musyokangui.blogspot.com

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