INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN

Prof Dr Colonel K Prabhakar Rao ( Retired)

SCENE VIII

(The scene is Bombay. The streets are littered with damaged cars, glass and twisted steel. Gun fire is heard frequently. At many places houses are burning. Many cars are burning too. People are running hither and thither. Police men in uniform are running from one corner to the other corner. A bald man without aany upper garment is seen strolling on the street with a long stick.. He confronts a police man on the road)

Police man, Hey old man! Who are you? Where are you going?

Gandhi. My son! I am Gandhi, The Bapu . Your father of nation

Police man ( Looks puzzled). I am unable to understand. But why are you roaming around? You know terrorists are at war with us. They have spread in entire Bombay.

Bapu. What they can do to me? I am already dead. Nathuram has already shot me. I am happy

Police man. Who is Nathuram? Where does he live? If it is so I have to catch him. If you are dead how are you walking? (Suddenly realizes that he has confronted a ghost) Oh! save me. This is a ghost.. Ye Pandu... ( He leaves his rifle and runs away)

Bapu. (Laughs) haa.. haaa, heeee. heee. What type of police men are here? How can they protect Bombay? He picks up the rifle and walks on the road.

( In the mean time, a police van arrives and they see Gandhi with a rifle. They at once jump from the vehicle and surround Gandhi)

Inspector. Hey hands up. ( points up his revlver at Gandhi) Who are you?

Bapu. (Ignoring them ) What is the problem? Why you have stopped me? Show the pistol to the terrorists. Not to me.

Inspector. Where are you going with a rifle. This is a police rifle. How come it is with you?

Bapu. My son. Just now a constable left it here and ran away. So I am carrying. Please take it.

Inspector. Constables. Take away this gun and catch this guy. Put him in the van

(Promptly ten police men catch Gandhi and push him into the van. They go hardly ten yards away when the vehicle stops in front of some empty drums kept on the road. Some masked men stop the van and open doors)

Masked man. You bloody man. Come out. We are terrorists. Your time is over. Cocks up his AK 47 and aims.

( Inspector tries to pull out his pistol from his holster and it is stuck. He is very fat with large stomach. Another officer in the van searches his revolver and it is kept in the bag. The terrorist immediately opens fire with AK 47. The police Inspectors die on the spot. The constables too die like ducks. The terrorist drags Gandhi out of the vehicle.)

Gandhi. Baba . What have you done? You killed them. For what? Cries eee….ee….eee…(Sings )

Mukhda dekh le prani.. Zara darpana me ho ho.. pap hai kitna punya hai kitna dekh tere zeevan me… dekh le darpan me…. Mukhda..


Terrorist. Come on! shut up . old man, this is not time for singing. You are too old. I am unable to fire on you. Run away from here

Gandhi.. I am not a coward. If you have guts shoot me.

Terrorist, That is fine stupid man ( He opens fire. The bullets strike Gandhi and nothing happens too him)

Gandhi ( laughs spreading hands) Haaa… haaa.. haaaa ( Does some jig )

( In wonder, Terrorist again opens fire in automatic mode and nothing happens to Gandhi)

Terrorist. Yah Allah. Bhooth…Bhooth…Save me from this jin ( Runs away throwing his AK 47)

Gandhi (laughs) Haa. Haaa.Haa. (Picks up the fallen AK 47. Tightens the loin cloth and runs after the terrorist and after going for some time, he realizes that he is holding a gun.)

Gandhi. Yee.. the gun in my hand? ,( Throws the gun.. )

In the mean time, a police Ambassador car comes that way. It is being pushed by some constables. From it, one officer gets down and approaches Gandhi

Officer.. Hey old man . Did you see some one running with a gun on this road?

Gandhi. By no means now. Some time ago some one ran away this way to some other place in some funny way. He left this gun ..

( He shows the AK 47 lying down. The officer gets confused and picks it and drives off after thanking Gandhi.. Gandhi sits under a near by tree… sings)

Dekh tere sansarki haalat kya ho gayi Bhagwan… Kitna badal gayaa insaan…

( From a distance he sees some fire blazing from Tajmahal hotel.. Gandhi gets up and runs to the hotel. There he finds gun fire, big explosions. Commandos are seen running from place to place. Gandhi goes to a commando who is taking a position near a wall )

Gandhi. My son. Can I be of any help to you? Why this trouble? What these guys want from Indians?

Commando. Who are you sir? This is not a safe place. Please go away from here and hide some where

Gandhi. I am Bapu, Great Bapu, Gandhi, The Mahatma Gandhi, Father of India. The great beacon for Indians.

Commando. Oh Gandhiji. Namaste Bapu. I am sorry. I am busy. I am unable to help you. Please run away from here

Gandhi. What did you say? Run away from here? You want me to be a coward. No, by all means

Commando. Your bad luck sir. Do not blame me if you get shot

( In the mean time terrorists shoot from hotel and the bullets fly past Gandhi. One bullet scrapes Gandhis bald head. Gandhi ducks down)

Gandhi. This violence will not work. That too when I am here. I shall go and talk to the terrorists.( He gets up and runs towards the hotel holding his long stick shouting stop… stop)

Commando. Bapu. Come back. come back.. What a funny guy indeed?

( At the hotel, the terrorists who are firing from a window are puzzled. They are Saleem and Ghori. They see a half naked old man holding a stick running towards the hotel. )

Ghori. Bhai, Saleem. Who is this nut running towards us?

Salem. Ghori. I am not sure. He must be some crank. What he will do with a stick? He has no proper clothes and appears famished. Must be running for some food

Ghori. Haa. Haa. Haa.

( Gandhi approaches the hotel and shouts)

Gandhi.. Oh Bhai.. What are you doing? Stop shooting.. It is no use. Listen to me.

Ghori. Who are you? Run away from here or else you are dead

Gandhi. Come on! I am already dead. You can not kill me

Saleem ( Getting confused) Ghori. This guy appears to be a nut. He says he is already dead. Then how is walking and talking? Put a bullet in him

( Ghori takes aim and fires two rounds. Both find mark. One bullet passes through the heart of Gandhi while the second one hits the head).


Gandhi..( Waves hands and Laughs) Haa. Haa. Haa

( Gandhi jumps over compound wall and runs up the stair case . Saleem and Ghori get lost and look at each other)

Ghori. This guy must be putting on some type of bullet proof skin tight jacket. How can he escape our bullets?

Gandhi (Standing in front of them) Haa… haa. Hii….hii No jacket friends. You just can not do any thing to me. I told you. I am already dead. I do not have a physical body that can be destroyed.

Saleem. ( Shivering) Oh no. This guy is a bhooth.

Ghori. Come on Saleem! Be brave. ( He fires many bursts of gun fire into Gandhi and Gandhi stands laughing)

Saleem.. Bhaago ( run ) This guy is a Satan. We can not kill him.

Gandhi. Look boys. I am not Satan. Listen to me. Why are you doing these things? What India has done to you?

Salem. Look old man Bhooth. We hate India. They grabbed Kashmir, Hyderabad Junagarh and destroyed Babri Maszid. We will not rest till we liberate these places and rebuild Babri Maszid

Gandhi. Do not be foolish. You do not know the realities. Junagarh people opted for India. Kashmir also opted for India. Hyderabd’s Nizam 7 and his Razakars committed great atrocities on his subjects, He had to pay. How can Hyderabad join Pakistan? You guys are misled by some thugs

Ghori.. I do not know any thing. What we know is India is our enemy. It was a Muslim ruled land. We want to establish Islamic rule I India

Gandhi. But do you know that in 1947 we gave Pakistan to Muslims. How can you have now whole India?

Saleem. Whole world was created by Allah. It belongs to him. Only Islam should rule

Gandhi. My friends! You are misinformed. Your Quran does not say that

Saleem. We know Quran better than you

Gandhi. If you know then you should not be doing this.

Ghori. Come on old man. Go away from here.

Gandhi. I will not go.. I will do hunger strike till you leave.

Saleem. Your hunger strike has no meaning. You are a bhoot. How can you have hunger?

Gandhi ( Gets puzzled) ( within himself)…True what they say. My hunger strike will not have any effect on them. What should I do now?

Ghori. Old man . You just can not do any thing. It is ok we can not kill you with our weapons. But you also can not do any thing to us.

( Ghori and Saleem pick up Ak 47 and again start firing at the commandos through window… In the mean time some commandos rush in from the staircase and open fire at the terrorists, Saleem and Ghori are hit very badly. They drop guns and fall down gasping for air.)

Commando. You swine…Son of … bi…. take this ( He puts the barrel onto the fore head of Saleem and opens a burst of fire. Saleem shouts… yaa…. And dies. Commando then opens fire at Ghori who is lying in a pool of blood but with life and struggling.. Ghoris life goes out in a second..

Gandhi. Oh God! What a violence indeed. In front of my eyes too? How can I preach non violence. The terrorists are no doubt violent. But our men are no less. ( He goes to the commando)

Gandhi. Dear son! The brave commando! Was it necessary to kill the guys lying in pool of blood? We could have saved their lives by taking them to hospital.

Commando. ( Laughs) Haa. Haaa. What are you talking old man? Why take these guys to hospital? What for? Do you know these guys have killed the hostages in cold blood? They were unarmed too. You want me to show mercy to these ba…( He opens the door of a room and there are many bodies lying on chairs an on the floor. They were killed at point blank range while taking food and while sitting)

Commando. Look old man! See this. Have you understood at least now?

Gandhi ( looks other way) Even then we should forgive them. That could be better and more humane

Commando. You want them to be saved. Given life fresh and feed them in our jails for years without hanging them. Then their friends would hijack our aero plane and demand release of these guys. This happened earlier. Better dispose them off. No courts and no trials. It is summary justice on the spot. Sir! you are living in past ages. These thugs do not deserve any mercy.

Gandhi. Boy. You know forgiveness is the greatest trait of human. Jesus taught it. Buddha taught it. I also copied from their teachings

Commando. Sir you are living in a fools paradise. If we leave these thugs it is like sparing snakes. They shall bite us soon.

( In the mean time a terrorist from a corridor shoots at the commando and Gandhi. There is an automatic burst of machine gun fire. Commando ducks pulling Gandhi also down with him. Another commando who rushes from close by opens burst of fire at the terrorist and there is a commotion. In the mean time the first commando runs to the fallen terrorist and stabs him with a bayonet fixed to the carbine. Blood gushes out as a fountain and the commandos shout with great glee. They shout…. down with Pakistan.. Long live India....... Gandhi is seen hiding under a table )

Commando. Hey old man! where are you? Are you hiding under the table? Why didn’t go to the terrorist and plead to him not to open fire? You have been preaching since long.

Gandhi. I wanted to do. But that guy was in mood. He understands only gun

Commando 1. Now come on! wake up old man atleast now! I understand you are Gandhi the father of India. I could make out when I saw you. Look Bapu! your days are over. You tackled Englishmen before 1948. They were not terrorists. They were more or less gentlemen and had some brains and followed some rule of law. These guys are just thugs. They have no brains.They have no religion although they claim to be Islamic militants.

Commando 2. Bapu. If you were to tackle guys like these those days, you would have been shot long ago along with others, before Godse did it to you.

Bapu. ( Gets upset)Look. Why bring in Godse. Still I maintain my theory. We must pardon them. Love them.


Commando 1…. And kiss them… and hug them

Commando 2…. And get shot then…. How silly the sermons are…. Look Bapu! It has gone for long. Enough of it. We have to rush to other floors to clear these terrorists. Please find some safe place and hide yourself or run away. (They hand over a pistol of terrorist to Gandhi) Please keep this pistol with you and use it when required. It has 20 bullets in it. I have cocked it and put safety catch. We can not take you wherever we go. Please do not follow us. It becomes inconvenient to us.

Gandhi. Me. Take this pistol. Oh no ( He drops the pistol on to the ground)

( In the mean time a terrorist comes that way. Gandhis pistol fires when it drops to ground and the bullet by chance hits the terrorist in the fore head and he drops dead.

Commando. Great shooting sir. Thank you very much

(He rushes out holding his carbine)

( Gandhi with his stick loiters in the corridors and suddenly two terrorists Abdul and Hafeez see him. They rush to him and catch him by hand. They take him hostage
Abdul.. Hafeez. This guy appears familiar. I saw him some where. Where it could be?

Hafeez. (Scratches his head and pulls his beard ) Yeah,, I remember now. He is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. They call him father of nation.

Abdul. What a luck? We got the correct guy. We captured father of nation of India. We can bargain now

Gandhi. It is ok I am Gandhi. But what will you bargain?

Hafeez. Another three Pakistans from India. Release of all terrorists, Release of Afzal Guru. Building Babri Maszid by Pakistan at Ayodhya with international peace keeping force. Hand over Kashmir.

Abdul. I want to take away Kutub minar and Tajmahal too to our Pakistan..

Gandhi. Why not Jama maszid and red fort also.

Abdul. That is good. We forgot about them

Hafeez. Please add Agra Fort and Akbars tomb at Sikandra also.

Abdul. We forgot about Humayuns tomb at Delhi and tomb of Shersha sur at Sasaaram and Beebika makbara at Aurangabad

Hafeez. We shall take Ajmir Sheriff also. How about Fatehpur sikri. It is ours.

Abdul. How about Khwaja banda nawaz dargah at Gulbarga in Karnataka and Haaji ali dargah in Bombay?

Abdul. We have left Kutub shahi tombs in Hyderabad and Gol Gumbaz at Bijapore.
And Tippu Sultans tomb in Mysore. I also want to take Bidar and Gulbarga to Pakistan

Gandhi. You have not spared any thing in India. That means you have to take whole India to Pakistan

Hafeez. Hee…heee.hee, We make India Greater Pakistan… Allah Oh Akbar

( Abdul and Hafeez bring Gandhi to the window and shout in a mike )

Abdul.. Listen.. Listen,, Listen.. Oh foolish Indians .Jokers…spineless lot..sons of Satan.. Dwellers of hell…Kafirs... Particularly police men and army. We have captured your father of nation. We will leave him only when our demands are met. We want every muslim shrine and building constructed by Muslims in India. We want whole India to be merged with Pakistan. We shall give you three hours. Failing which this old guy is dead. We shall not shoot him. We shall cut his throat. Be ware. Haaa. Haaa.. Pakistan faindabad…Allah Ho Akbar..

Hafeez.. Jo Hamse Takraayega .. Wo mittime mil jayega.. Allah ho Akbar..

( The loud message in mike is heard over loud speaker and police officers start running from pillar to post.. They run to army commanders and consult them..)

DIG. ( Speaking to leader of commando unit). Look Colonel saab. Have you heard the demands of the terrorists?

Colonel. Yes. I heard it. It is nonsense. Does not make any sense?

DIG. They may kill Gandhiji if we do not listen to them. Better go slow on them.

Colonel. Their demands are ridiculous. They make no sense. They want everything in India

DIG. We have to buy some time

Colonel. If we slow down, they would gain strength

DIG. Just now I got a message. Our leaders at Delhi are worried about Gandhiji. They feel Gandhiji life is important than any thing in the world.

Colonlel. Dear Mr DIG Saab . Listen Gandhiji was dead long ago. He was killed by Godse on 30 January 1948 at Delhi. You and I were not born at that time. He was cremated and at Rajghat and his Samadhi is there. How can they catch Gandhi? He must be an imposter.

DIG. I saw Gandhiji from window. He is Gandhiji only. There is no doubt. He is bald, putting on round spectacles, has a watch at his waist and is with a long stick.

Colonel.That does not make him a Gandhi. How he can get alive? I see some thing fishy in this.

DIG. Look Colonel saab. I have an idea. If he is real Gandhi he will be much fascinated by Ram dhun. If we play the song of Ram dhun.. Raghupathi Raaghava Raaja.. Raam.. all things will be clear. Gandhi will at once respond to this song leavingf everything in the world.

Colonel. You may try this. But I feel we must press on with hunting of terrorists

( DIG goes out and orders police constables to sing Ram dhun loudly holding a mike .. They sing immediately leaving their bolt action rifles… Gandhiji standing at the window immediately throws his hands up and responds singing Ramdhun and he also claps…..)

DIG. Look Colonel saab. He is Gandhiji. No doubt.. We have to be careful about him

Colonel.( Scratches his head) let us see what we can do.

( In the mean time terrorists shout in mike)

Terrorist2. You Indian guys.. Spineless lot…oh sons of Satan... kafirs.. The time set by us is over. Now see what we will do.

( One terrorist cocksup his carbine and shoots a bullet into Gandhi. It hits him in stomach. Nothing happens.. Gandhi laughs)

Terrorist1. This guy must be putting on some skin type bullet proof jacket. Let us see it and remove it ( They find Gandhi half naked without any shirt or vest. Another terrorist scrapes Gandhis body with a knife and nothing comes out)

Terrorist2. Oh Bhai. This guy is literally naked. ( He opens a burst of fire from his AK 47)

Gandhi. Haaa.haa…haa. You fools . Nothing will happen to me. I am already dead. Your bullets will not hit me

(Seeing this confusion, the Colonel picks up heavy machine gun and opens a long burst of fire at the terrorists and finds the mark. The terrorists fall down screaming.. yaa.. Allah… Margaya. The DIG takes out his semi automatic pistol and tries to fire from distance shouting “you are under arrest ( Normal Hindi movie style)”. It does not fire and gets jammed)


DIG. Oh.. shit…( He puts it back in his holster)

Colonel. It is OK DIG Saab.. Better luck next time. Even if you fire your bullet can not reach them. These attacks keep happening again and again. Next time get a better weapon.


(The commandos in waiting around pounce on the fallen guys and pour rain of bullets into terrorists. They rescue Gandhi)

Gandhi.. ( Shaking himself free) Thank you guys. Good job done by your standard. But you guys must know that these guys can not do any thing to me. I am already dead. I can not die again. I am only a Ghost of Gandhi. You could catch them alive and forgiven later on. The government could hand over them to Pakistan later on. You know King Prithiviraj Chouhan let off Ghori with presents after he was captured.. We must emulate him. That is our culture and legacy…. Sings

Why kill these guys?
Better hug them tight
Give them some sweets
And see they will not fight

Commando. Bapu. You are again here. I wanted you to go away few hours ago. Now do not talk of any Chauhan. He was a noble king. But was not practical guy. The Muslim rule in India happened by his folly.

Gandhi. It appears you know some history. Keep it up. I am not happy with these killings.

Commando. But Bapu, this is life. If we do not kill them, they will kill us.

Gandhi. So what? After some time, there will be change of hearts in terrorists

Commando ( Gets irked up) Bapu. Thanks for these sermons. Please give no more…

Gandhi ( Taken back) ( Within himself)… What a change in this country?

( In the mean time, the Colonel and DIG arrive and say hello to Gandhi)

Gandhi.. Thanks for saving me from them. Unfortunately they could not do any thing to me as no bullet can harm me. They did not know it.

DIG. Even I was not aware of it. Otherwise there would have not been so much of tension and running around.

Gandhi. That means you would have taken it cool

DIG. No.. No.. I don’t mean that way

Gandhi. Ok.. Ok.. Just relax. Hope all terrorists might have been killed by this time.

Colonel. Yeah. These were the last two guys. We have slain them

Gandhi.. With my help of course.................

Colonel. True. Even otherwise, ,we would have killed them. It was the matter of time. Any how thanks for all help by you sir. We shall remember it

Gandhi. But I am not happy. So much of violence. Killings.. Oh! (Holds his head) Weeps…… Meraa Bhaarat… Meraa Bhaarat

( In the mean time the commandos drag the bodies of all terrorists slain out of the hotel and line them up on the ground.. It is a gory seen no doubt… Gandhi looks at them and cries loud….. Mera Bhharat… Meraa Bhaarat

Colonel. Gandhiji. Bapuji. Please control yourself. This was to happen and it happened. Now a day it is part of the game. We must take it in stride.

( In the mean time Bombaywallahs gather and shout anti Pakistan slogans….They shout Pakistan murdabad.. ISI Murdabad.. Long live India… Bharat maata ki Jai.. Seeing Gandhi some also are unhappy... They say go away old man )

Colonel. Bapu! Things are not good here. Please leave quickly. Tempers are rising. It is not safe for you

DIG. I also must go away as people are not happy that police have failed to foresee the attack. They may do some thing to me.( Goes away hurriedly)

Colonel. It is up to you. We have no choice. We have to be every where whenever police fails. That is the tragedy. We will not get operation ribbons also. They ditch us in pay commissions too. Finally some other guy gets PVSM, AVSM and promotions. For all the hard work done by us, We have to suck thumbs

DIG . ( from a distance)We are no way better either.


Gandhi. Ok boys. Thanks for all the help. Take care of things. I am not of much use. Things have changed greatly in India ( He picks up his stick and walks away into distance wiping tears.)

( The commando unit raises national flag on the dome of Taj hotel as a mark of victory and marches off along with the Colonel while Marshal Music is played…... Saare Jahaan se achha… Hindosthan hamaaara……

In the distance song is heard,, Watan ki raah me watan ke naujawa shaheed ho.. Pukaar te hai ye zameen aasmman shaheed ho….


CURTAIN DROPS