Students from the Indian Institute of Techn-ology-Bombay (IIT-B) fell prey to what could be termed as one of the most successful mass pranks played on April Fool's Day, this year.
At midnight on March 31, the students received an e-mail stating that the institute had 50 free
tickets for the ICC World Cup final match to be played at Wankhede Stadium on April 2. The mail solicited applications asking students to write a 250-word essay on why they deserved the prized tickets.
In less than an hour, 675 of the country's brightest youngsters sent in detailed requests. "I have secured All India Rank 30 in IIT-JEE and state rank 1 in MP-PET. My Cumulative Point Index is 9.36," said an applicant's essay.
The techies weren't shy to boast. "I have designed three add-ons for the Mozilla Firefox, which has had over 60,000 downloads so far," said an essay.
The prank, executed by a self-appointed anonymous 'General Secretary Aprilfool Affairs', promises more fun. A list of fools has been posted on a blog with excerpts from their essays.
The prank seemed so genuine that students queued up outside the administrator's office for tickets.
The authorities had to send out an email telling students that it was a prank. "The prankster covered his tracks well. We could not trace the origin of the mail, but it was super fun," said a student.