INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..LXII

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..LXII

Prof Dr Colonel Prabhakar Rao ( Retired)

Gandhi , Nehru and Patel are seen at a street corner sipping tea at a road side hotel in Hyderabad. They are in their usual dress. Next to Gandhi a guy is seen smoking a cigarette and is blowing smoke like a railway engine. Gandhi gets irked up)

Gandhi. Bhai. Zara doosronka bho Khyal karo ( kindly bother for others too). Your smoke is of concern to us. I know that you will have soon problems in chest. But why should we suffer?

Bystander. Look old man. My name is Wajid. I am not your Bhai. I was not born to your mother. I have my own.

Patel. Hee…heee…Hee

Nehru. What is there to laugh? He is so rude to Bapu, our Bapu, Dear Bapu, the father of nation.

Patel. That is the tragedy.( looking at the Wajid) Do you know smoking in public places is a crime?

Wajid. From when? It is news to me. I shall see who will stop me. Uska khoon peejawunga( I shall drink his blood)

Gandhi. There is no need. We shall go from here.

(The trio move few steps from Wajid. In the mean time a procession arrives with placards)

Gandhi. What is this tamasha now? Where all these guys are going?

Patel. Look at placard and banner held by some guys. It reads Padayatra ( Marching on foot) to demand CM post to Jagan

Gandhi. I think Jagan is the son of late YSR who died in chopper crash few days ago

Nehru. True. YSR was popular and his son also appears to be

Gandhi. Look Jawaharlal. Does India practice democracy?

Nehru. Why not? It is surly practicing it. I made it sure during my rule.

Patel. What is the word… I ruled? Were you a king?

Gandhi. Come on Patel. It, means during his tenure as PM of India

Nehru. True. I meant that only.

Gandhi. But it does not look so. These guys are demanding son of YSR to succeed him. Is this a democracy?

Patel. This is called dynastic democracy. Why don’t you read the article.. Dynastic
democracy by Dr K Prabhakar Rao, a much revealing one?

Gandhi. Do you have a copy of it?

Patel. I shall get you one.

Gandhi. Why they want Jagan? Is there no senior leader in state who can lead the team”

Patel. There are. But the YSR group wants to maintain their hold in state politics of congress party. They claim dreams of YSR can be fulfilled only by Jagan.

Gandhi. Strange indeed. But he has no experience.

Patel. In fact why experience is required? A very senior congress leader GV Swamy said.” Where is the requirement of experience? He shall learn. Was Rajiv Gandhi experienced when he became PM?

Gandhi. So the chair is more important that has to be passed to a family member..

Patel. Hee…heee..Hoo..hooo.. There are other guys who are opposing Jagan too. They do not want to compare Jagan to Rajiv. After all Rajiv was from Nehru family.

Nehru. Come on Patel. Do not be sarcastic. Being from my family is not crime.

Patel. I never said it is a crime. Why are you getting upset?

( In the mean time some protesters shout .. We want Jagan… We want Jagan.. Without Jagan there is no state. A guy loudly sings

YSR the great died victim of cruel fate
Now Jagan has to be given this state in a silver plate
Whole action needs to done without getting late
And all those nuts who oppose we surely condemn and hate

( He does break dance while singing)

Gandhi. Ohfo. What a guy?

Patel. Bapu . You never did these tricks during your time. You did very coolly whatever you wanted to do. That was great

Gandhi. That is why I am called Mahatma. Meaning great soul. I am sure you are not sarcastic

Patel. Come on bapu. Why I should be?

( In the mean time a protestor hysterically shouts.. We want Jagan.. we want Jagan. We are prepared for any sacrifice for him. He suddenly takes out a Razor bade and cuts his hand and blood gushes out like a fountain. All the protestors gather around him)

Gandhi. What happened? Why this commotion?

Nehru. Some guy cut his hand and his vein is cut and is profusely bleeding. This is in protest because Sonia Gandhi did not respond.

Patel. They have failed to see writing on wall. Poor and crazy guy. Why should he cut his hand? It a loss for him and to his family if he dies.

Nehru. If he dies some compensation has to be paid by the interested party.

Gandhi,. True. True

( In the mean time an ambulance is seen arriving and the crazy guy is shifted to hospital and in the mean time a police van also arrives hearing the commotion. From the police van a fat inspector and some constables get down and approach the crowd)

Inspector. What happened? Who died?

Gandhi. No one died till now. A guy is likely to die if spilling of blood is not stopped. He has gone to hospital.

Inspector. Who are you? Are you with these guys? To which hospital the guy has been taken. Why are you dressed like Gandhi. Are you a beggar?

Gandhi. .( gets upset). I do not know. The ambulance has a name Rajiv arogya Pathakam. By all means I am real Gandhi and nota beggar

Inspector. Looks at Gandhi and Laughs loudly )….Heee…Huu…huu( looks at crowd) Come on guys . Get going from here

On looker. What does that mean?

Patel. It means they should continue with the protest match.

Inspector. No... No. I did not mean that. Please do not confuse. Disperse now immediately. No more a march.

Patel. Inspector sahib. Can you really stop them? They are from the party of Jagan. They enjoy lot of support everywhere. They want to make Jagan CM after YSR. Don’t you want to continue in Hyderabad?

Inspector. How I am bothered? I do not want any law and order problem.

Patel. Poor guy, Looks to be a straightforward guy. Can not last long

Gandhi. Yes

( In the mean time the constables approach the assembly and persuade them to disperse and the people slowly go away)

Patel. Bapu. Thank God the guys have gone away

Nehru. Bit tomorrow they will again do this tamasha.

Gandhi. It is up to them. ( sings)

Indians are big nuts and only nuts
They run after dynastic rule
The upper stories appear to be blank
The world thinks we to be a fool

Patel. Haa..haa..hhaa.. heee…Huu.Huu

( Gandhi. Come on guys. Let us go. We have much to watch soon . They walk off singing Ramdhun)