INTO PAST WITH PAIN

INTO PAST WITH PAIN
SCENE IV


( Washington and others are seated on Chairs They look tired. In the mean time drinks trolley enters the room along with an orderly. He also brings various snacks and some soft and hard drinks )

Washington. Gentlemen. It is time we have some snacks and few drinks Bearer! please serve to all their favorite drinks.

Orderly.. Sure sir. With pleasure

( He goes first to Gandhi who is very close to the trolley)

Orderly. What do you like to have sir? Some roasted brains of goat and Manhattan

Gandhi. (Gets scared ). What is this? Brains of goat! Thanks, you have not served brains of some men . You know all my life in India I had goats milk and vegetables. I can not imagine even looking art Goat’s brain. I want peeled banana and goats milk if you have


Churchill. Do not trouble him. Leave him alone. He was like this when he came to England for discussions with us and met king too.

Washington. Mr Gandhi. You may like to have some fried ham with pepper and salt..
Gandhi. How can I eat pig’s meat?

Orderly. Sir! why don’t you try beef patties

Gandhi. ( Closes his ears and eyes) Oh God! What a place I have come? Cow meat? Look gentlemen!. Cow is highly revered animal in India. How can I accept killing of cows and eating?. Some thing atrocious indeed. (Looking a the brains of Goat Gandhi gets giddy and falls down. He gets convulsions. Froth comes out of his mouth)

( All rush to Gandhi…Churchill sprinkles water on Gandhi’s face. After few seconds Gandhi gets up, Shakes himself, Yawns and goes to chair… In the mean time a doctor comes and examines Gandhi and declares him fit)

Gandhi. I hope the doctor is good

Washington. Why not? He is top class. Not like one in India who gets a seat by paying plenty of money to a medical College.

Gandhi. I have no answer

Washington. (Says to himself.. What type of charcter this guy is?) Look Mr Gandhi . You are not in India. You are in USA now. Know! There are scores of Indians in USA who eat everything here. Every year scores of students are rushing here rather fleeing your country and they say for education. It is nice. We are getting technical man power at no cost to us. These guys will never go back. In fact you are the technical mills for us.

Churchill. The moment they land in USA they feel liberated from the oppressing restrictions in India, dirty and crowded streets. Insanitary roads, colonies, filthy public toilets, Corrupt technical Institutions, pot bellied corrupt politicians, Challan wielding police men, Oh you touch any thing. It is shit there. Over crowded buses and trains, hundreds of cattle on the roads,…. Oh… horrible indeed

Washington. Of course also from people roaming everywhere in India crowding every place, restaurants, hotels, bus stations, trains, cinema halls, air ports, toilets, offices what else and what not. These guys will take oath at statue of liberty that they will never go back to India to suffer at any cost. They prefer to die here than dying every day there. I learnt that packs of buffaloes roam on Indian streets even in major towns and squat on roads. Some also travel along with buses side by side.

Churchill. Some time camels and elephants also are seen on roads. Occasionally some rides on a horse. I think he takes horse for a marriage procession. It is strange. The guy who can not properly sit on a donkey also wants to sit on horse for that particular instant holding sword and putting on turban.

Gandhi. That is the culture. Probably you will not appreciate. But all Indian students are not like that. I heard some guys went back from USA recently.

Washington. That is because they were finding difficult to manage here.

Gandhi. With Obama coming now I do not know what will happen to Indians here? People say he is against outsourcing.

Washington.. We can not say any thing now. We have to wait and see. In fact some quarters are already questioning us. Why allow so many Indians here? They claim that Indians and others are destroying American native scene and it is no more remaining the same what we had earlier. By the by, you guys, why do you run to America. Why can’t you guys live in your own place? You guys run to us and then cry aloud if something happens.

Churchill. Look Sir, wherever Indians are there they do not adopt local culture, They maintain their identity even if they are given citizenship.

Washington. I heard many Indian parents prefer to bring up their daughters in India rather than in USA for obvious reasons. They are scared these girls get westernized. But they do not want to leave USA and its comforts. What type of people are these?

Churchill ( Laughs haa… haa.. haa ) That is the most Indian like. They want everything American when comes to dollars, style, bobbed hair, hair dyes, blouses, skirts, cars, jeans, T shirts and yanky style of slang,.. saying…. Yeah….. yeah…wow, great, Okhe… Okhe…. But not culture. They do not want to amalgamate in local culture. They run again to get married in India and bring some more here for every ones agony.

Washington. I heard this many times from others too. But they contributed to Americas growth also.

Churchill. That is why they are being tolerated.

Gandhi. With Obama in seat can we expect some thing good for Indians? I am very sad that many Indian students have been done to death in some of the places. Till now no one has been caught

Washington. I feel very sad and disturbed. Such killings have no place in American society.

Gandhi. Why only Indian students are being targeted? Is their any one up against us? Do they want us to go away?

Washington. I can not say. Some time ago there were some organizations such as dot busters in some places who attacked Indians as they were seen as aliens an taking away their jobs.

Gandhi. Yeah. I thought that was over. May be some one is at it again

Washington. Mr Gandhi! please do not worry. We are at it. We will not allow it go out of hand. ( He gets up and draws his sword and raises it high and looks at the sky) ( Sings)

Oh God in heavens!Now you know
No more killings Of Indians in this state
We are getting some how a bad name
Let us now go back to our great fame

I shall catch hold and chew the villains of evil
From this land we shall drive away the followers of devil
Mr Gandhi! stay in peace here for many years
And kindly wipe away your flowing tears

Mr Gandhi! do not teach us your non violence
We have been showing you guys great benevolence
Indians have to mix in American culture
And not earn dollars and run away like vultures

Churchill. Very great sir.. ( Claps)

( Washington cools down and brings down his sword and puts it in its scabbard and then takes his seat)

Gandhi. I hope more will not be killed before such things are stopped

( Sings)

Indian students are after American land
Bitten by the virus to join western band
Some guys in this land are after their blood
While Indian students reach America in flood

(In the mean time John Dulles the former Secretary of State comes into the room )

Dulles. Good morning every one.

(Looks at Washington and bows to him while Washington appreciates by gesture)

Washington. How are you Mr Dulles?

Dulles. Very fine sir by your blessings. Sir what is the matter? Why this assembly?

Churchill. Mr Gandhi from India came here and wants Americans to follow non violence

Dulles. I can see. The craze has not left them. Do you know sir! They started some thing called non alignment movement ( NAM)

Washington. I read about it. But India aligned with Soviets. Bulganin and Krushchev had happy time visiting India. Soviets sold them many tanks and guns etc. In their view all this was non alignment.

Dulles. Sir I called Non alignment was a sin. All the guys were after my blood. I did not care. Why should I?

Washington. ( Looking a bit embarrassed) That was past Mr Dulles. Any how NAM is literally dead. It is lying in coffin to be nailed. Any thing not active. will rot and perish. If your army is idle for long it will rot and become inefficient and useless. At appropriate time when needed, it will be non effective

Gandhi. I sense some thing in this

Washington. India had a nice time after 1971 war with Pakistan. Except Kargil operation there was nothing for them. It was rather idle for long.

Churchill. True. Now army is struggling for higher pay and perks and are at loggerheads with civilian government officials. They are unhappy because they feel they were systematically downgraded.

Washington. No one downgrades another one. Mostly it is self doing. Any how it is their headache. Let them do whatever they want to do. We have enough headaches

Gandhi. When heads are there, aches also will be there

Dulles. Good Joke sir ( Laughs.. Hee… Hee.. Haa.. Haa …Huu..Huu. Hoo)

Churchill. One way to keep army in India active is to take part in Afghanistan along with other troops. I am sure some guys are itching.

Dulles. True. At least for Foreign Service medals. I think they were not given such medal for operation in Lanka

Washington. True, because they lost there. They were hammered black and blue very well there.

Gandhi.. Look friends. Indian army is one of the finest force in world. It has helped Englishmen and Americans in World War II and brought laurels. Till last they remained loyal to the King of England. They are patriotic and very loyal to President of India now

Washington. Even when they feel downgraded by the civilians. How strange the loyalty is?
Gandhi. That is the best part of being an Indian

Dulles. I have reservations sir.

Churchill. So you suffered slavery for centuries and foreign rule. Foreign tribes ruled you. Then Muslims and then Europeans ruled you. What is the use of such loyalty when you loose your freedom and are enslaved?

Gandhi. Non violence is in blood of India. We were taught non violence by Buddha much before Jesus. Asoka practiced it

Dulles. Thus the race became dull. Fighting spirit disappeared. So they preferred Non alignment. Best way to escape. A better word for escapism. Nasser of Egypt, Tito of Yugoslavia and Sukarno of Indonesia beat drums along with Nehru. It was a strange phenomenon in those days.

Washington. Any how all those things are over now. Now Mr Gandhi. Tell me what we must do?

Gandhi. That is better sir. First thing is to stop Iraq war. Call all the guys back. Look after families of those who died in war. Call off Afghan war. Make peace with Al Qaeda and Taliban. Call Mullah Omar, Bin Laden for a dinner at White House. Close down all your military bases worldwide. Disband some of your army units. Sell away your tanks.Dismatle your missiles. Make peace with Iran. Help them build whatever they want to do. If you can not help keep quiet. Do fasting at Iran’s embassies against their nuclear programme. If they slap you take it and show other cheek. Release all prisoners of war and terrorists.

Washington. Do all these things and then thoroughly get screwed by Al Qaeda again.

Dulles. What a fallcy Mr Gandhi? Is it possible now a days. You could not achieve in your own land. Once British protection was over for you, look Mr Gandhi you were shot like a sitting duck by your own man Nathuram Godse. No one could save you. Do you want the Americans get shot like you. I am sorry Mr Gandhi. American Presidents can not allow such Hara-kiri. You see what Mr Bush did to them. That is the correct way of dealing such guys. If you want, go and sing your song in front of them. We want to live and we want our kids to live and prosper. We also want others kids to prosper too. But we do not want to get killed like a coward. Mr Gandhi ! Look Non violence is another word for cowardice and impotence..

Gandhi ( murmurs.. this guy is very strange indeed). (He gets up and picks up his stick.) Hello Mr Washington sir! . Please remember my words. I am your well wisher. Please think it over. Don’t listen to this guy Winston Churchill and John Dulles too. I hope Mr Obama would do something in this direction.

Dulles. That is fine. Remember Mr Gandhi! Obama is American first and then some thing to others. I am sure he will take care of Americans and its place in world. He has already said he would hunt down Al Qaeda leaders and kill or capture Osama bin Laden and that is his first priority. Even if whole American army has to be deployed, he would do.

( Gandhi says bye to all and slowly walks off.. Indian national anthem Janagana mana Adhinayak jaya hey is played)


Dr K Prabhakar Rao