It was the third week of March. March 21st to be precise. March 21st, 2000 to be even more precise. I had given my 10th boards that month and was busy chilling as it got over by the second week itself. Now march 21st happened to be rang panchami....aka Holi. I had a great holi with my building mates. I was totally drenched, completely coloured and basically had a great time.

March 21st 2000....9 p.m. I am in front of the TV having my dinner. Suddenly the phone rang and I went to pick up the phone.
Me: Hullo!
Anonymous voice: Hullo May i Talk to err...Shobha plz?
Me: (puzzled! whose this?) Well This is Shobha speaking!
Anonymous: Well Hi Shobha, Hi I am speaking from MTV. (and I was like huh?????? Y on the earth would someone call me from MTV? )
MTV guy: U r on MTV SELECT!
Me: Are u bluffing?
Anon : Hey no, I am serious, U wud to be talking to him in a few minutes from now!
(MTV Select is a show on MTV wherein U can call and request for ur favourite song. and U get to talk to the cool Nikhil Chinappa! It works something like this. U call up at a particular number, leave behind a message, ur name, ur phone and blah blah and they would get back to you. I had tried calling them before, but with no success. I had totally lost hope that they would ever respond to my messages. So when they called I was quite sceptical and thought someone was playing fool.)
Anon: Shobha, its true, u on MTV select.
(I was sceptical though)
Then suddenly I heard faint voice of Nikhil Chinappa yapping away and for a moment I couldn't believe it was him! IT WAS INDEED HIM!!!! no fool at all!

(Now I was totally excited.....animated....dancing with joy....amma looking at me with a big question mark on her face.....I wanted to be decent so I didn't scream, So i jumped...up and down...up and down...up and down..... many times!
I was soo happy, I was on MTV select. Being on MTV Select meant talking to NIKHIL CHINAPPA......my favourite VJ! I loved him when I was 15. I was his crazy fan (Well...not quite as crazy as I was about Rahul dravid, but still....) I was sooooooooooooooo excited......yayyyyyy...yipppeeeee yayyyyyy! :DDDDD

Anon: Shobha, This is Nikhil's last show. He' getting married, so wish him....! (I was like wat bull crap!!!!)
Me: What nonsense! (thought the guy had lost it)
Anon: Well, I am not bluffing.
Then I heard him speaking," Welcome back people to MTV Select and we have someone on the line (ME all *grin**grin*)

NC: Hey! Whose this?
Me: This is Shobha here. Hie How are you?
NC: Whoa, U seem to have a loud clear voice. My sound recordist is sure happy ( In other words telling me how loud I was. Well..he was right....I have like a loud loud voice)
Well....what do you do Shobha? Tell me something about yourself!
Me: I am in my 10th std. I just gave my boards.
NC: Oh cool! All the best for your results!
ME: Thank you! :)
NC: Do you know Shobha, This is my last show as a VJ.....
Me: WHAT???????
NC: Well yea, you heard me right! I am getting married and I am moving to US of A
Me: Oh no! I will miss you. You my favourite VJ! Please don't leave....
NC: Well Sharon McIntyre, my fiance works with the UN. So after marriage I am moving out of India. She's a wonderful girl! Anyways,Thank you so much! What's your request?
Me: (heartbroken) Well....play Dulhan Hum le Jayenge! (Now....before u guys jump to conclusions about my pathetic music taste...Let me tell you what happened.I asked for many songs. But they weren't apparently available. This was the only song that was left to play. So I had no choice...and I was wondering this is SELECT!! wherein we get to hear the songs we want.......dhuhhhhhhhh)
NC: ok, Shobha.....we will play your request. Any dedication?
Me: To my friends, family and U....I ill miss you though!
NC: Thanks a lot Shobha, byeee!!!

Anon: Shobha this episode will be telecasted on March 31st. Check it out then, Byeee!!!
Me: Okies, bye
I hung up the phone!!

First I started screaming. "Amma.......I spoke to Nikhil Chinappa! yayyyyy!" Amma just nodded her head and she went off. Least bit interested. Huh! All she said was "Don't scream, neighbours will think something's wrong with u!" As if I cared! I was very happy. :D :D

That night I kept wondering, What would the show be without Nikhil Chinappa. Dhuh.....I thought he was extremely dumb to leave the channel like this. "Shit, I wud miss him...." These were the thoughts reverberating in my head.

Suddenly flicker flicker *bulb*....*tubelight*.......
Well..if Nikhil Chinappa is quitting the channel, how come its all hush-hush. I mean it would have been all over the papers. (I used to read Bombay Times regularly....not even missing one single day) How could that be possible????? A few days later I read an article/interview on Nikhil Chinappa. But the reporter never asked this question. I was throughly puzzled.

After somedays.......again...flicker..flicker......bulb..tubelight!!!!
I suddenly realised that all these shows are pre-recorded shows. Oh no.....this must be a show for APRIL FOOL's day. Shessssshhhhhhhhhhhh! he made a fool outta me! hell! I hated him then.......I was convinced, that this was a prank. I desperately hoped that it wasn't a prank. My friend would tease me to death otherwise!

27th March was a Monday. I sat down to watch MTV Select! Nikhil Chinappa was in his usual self. Then came the first caller and as Nikhil began chatting with him, he told him how this is his last show and all crap!!! I was all puzzled again!!! But he was talking about it to all the callers. Then I thought, well it might be true after all. Everybody wished him all luck and stuff. I watched the next day too........Again he kept talking about it to all the callers. He became sentimental and taked about how he would miss doing this show which was a part of his life for the 2-3 years and all. I slowly got the feeling that, well....it would not be a prank after all.

Then came the 31st (Friday). I saw the show. heard myself speaking on TV....heheheee! I was all excited. Incidentally, I was the last caller he spoke to. and then there were final sayonaaras, good byes etc. Both me and my friend were very excited. She was even more hapier than me and even jealous coz we were both crazy fans of Nikhil Chinappa!

That night I slept peacefully. I was like how lucky I am! gotta finally talk to him before he's left the channel.

3rd March, Monday: I again tuned into MTV to see who the new anchor would be.....I was all curious... The show started at 4 in the evening and bang.......Who do I see on the screen.............well...None other than NIKHIL CHINAPPA!
NC: well, surprised to see me back? Hmmmm......That was an April fool's prank on all u guys! Happy April fool's day!
I was like shit.........he fooled me!!!, Damn I was an april fool victim again!
My friend had a laughter fit. I wanted to slap her hard, but she continued laughing. Amma laughed the hardest. Dhuhhh.........watta an april fool I was!!!

On second thoughts, y is that people talk about their marriages whenever they wanna play an april fool prank on someone???? Watsay Toro??????? :P :P