A month that starts with a misnomer like “All Fools day” or simply “April Fool” can hardly be dull. There are some interesting facts to the month beginning with the uncertainty of how the name of this month has been derived from. Interestingly, the month was the second month of the earliest Roman calendar, before Januarius and Februarius were added by King Numa Pompilius about 700 BC and became the fourth month of the calendar year during the time of the decemvirs about 450 BC, when it was given 29 days. The 30th day was added in the Julian Calendar in the mid 40’s BC. Though the month is marked with festivals in different parts of the world signifying cultural, religious and social significance, it is April Fools day that is noted and surprisingly marked with much seriousness all over the world. There is much planning involved and often, the media gets involved in planning and implementing elaborate April fool pranks. The major April gag this year was an announcement that popular website Youtube would be shut down and that it was merely a project to pick and choose the best video. Though TV news channels have not been a part of the April fool joke, newspapers in India and more so, entertainment magazines have been known to carry exclusive scoops that border on near ‘real’ but only to be followed up later with a ‘April fool’ disclaimer. Nearer home, there has only been one instance when a newspaper reported that all the animals from the Iroshemba zoo had escaped but apart from disgruntled zoo staff that complained over the lack of taste over the story, there were no takers or appreciation for the humor quotient.
But after the April Fools Day in the state, the developments on the matter of presents in the form of clothes being handed out to the group of children who have been rescued from Jaipur where they had been trafficked to speaks volumes of the manner in which serious issues like child trafficking can become almost trivial in their nature. As pointed out earlier, the rescued children have already undergone a long phase of uncertainty, fear and dread while being cut off from their homes and all things familiar to them. They have lived with various forms of abuse and then been rescued in a raid and then lived through a phase where they would surely have been totally left clueless where they were headed next. The visit of an MLA with a media entourage is insensitive and smacks of a publicity exercise and can set off a precedent of sorts where VIPs can well gather in a queue to outdo one another with their show of ‘serious concern’ and ‘help’. At this stage, the one major help that the children need is to be left alone and aided by trained cousellors. They have already suffered in their young lives and do not need to be projected as symbols of pity or recipients of piecemeal token gestures. As an elected representative, what the honorable MLA can do and has the mandate to do is liaison with the law enforcement department in the state and with the Social Welfare Department, reach into his area development fund and involve community leaders and grass roots NGOs and other agencies who have an ear to the ground to stay alert of child traffickers on the look out for their next lot of victims. The visits to the children at the observation home at Takyel can be taken much later after the dust and settled and can be done in quiet without the media in tow.
On a more hopeful note, the month of April will see various celebrations centered around a new lunar or solar year. Apart from the Meiteis who, in keeping up with its tradition of factions will see the observation of two different New Year marking, others including the people of Assam, Orissa (or Odisha), Karnataka, Kerala and others will also be marking their New Year in the second week of April and more specifically, 14 April. Those who will be saying ‘Happy New Year’ in the month of April include people living in Thailand, Laos, Burma, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. In India, the traditional new year day will be marked with feasting and elaborate preparations in keeping with the advent of crops coming up, fruits beginning to take shape but generally, the food bowl taking shape. For Manipur, April will also be an indicator of how the monsoons are going to play itself out though current readings look like the weather gods are bent on its own ‘April Fool’ joke, given the nature of the sound and fury of the skies above with no rains showing up.