INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..LXIX

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..LXIX

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

(Gandhi is seen sitting in a park in heavens and singing Ramdhun clapping hands. A lean and famished man is seen approaching him. He is clad in full European suit and sporting Hollywood hat. He has pipe in his mouth. He is Jinnah the father of Pakistan)

Jinnah. Hello. Adab, Mr Gandhi

Gandhi. Salam wallekum Jinnah bhai. How are you?

Jinnah. Walekum salaam, Fine. I have not seen you since long.

Bapu. It is nice you have come. Please sit down ( shows a place on the bench).

( Jinnah sits down)

Jinnah. Mr Gandhi, I heard there is lot of talk about me in India of late.

Gandhi. I also heard. Patel knows it better.

( In the mean time, Patel arrives strolling and he sees Jinnah and Gandhi and he tries to go away)

Gandhi. Hello Patel. Please come here. Good evening. How are you?

Patel. I am fine.

Gandhi. Is there a great talk of Jinnah in India now?

Patel. Indians have forgotten about this man long ago. But of late his name is being revived.

Gandhi. Please state clearly.

Patel. There is a guy named Jaswat singh in BJP and he is there in the party for nearly 30 years. He was the former Defense Minister too.

Gandhi. I heard he was an ex army officer.

Patel. True. He resigned from Army when he was a captain stating that he wanted to join politics. He was relieved from army.

Gandhi. Good . Then what happened?

Patel. This guy slowly came up in the party and became an important person too.

Gandhi. How he became lover of Jinnah sahib now? That too after so many years.

Patel. He wrote a book in which he defended Jinnah sahib and argued that Jinnah was not in fact the villain. It was congress inability to adjust to him that cost us and resulted in partition.

Gandhi.( Looks this way and that way and feels uncomfortable)

Jinnah. Yeah… At last some guy has the courage to tell the truth.

Patel. He also commented severely on me too. A funny guy indeed. What he knows about us?He was just a kid when partition took place. ( sings)

Look Guys I know what I am
I never was in any scam
Look at the nuts in the nation to day
All are busy with an European mom.

Jinnah. I am happy that some one tried to defend me

Gandhi. Jinnah sahib. You know what you are and I know what I am ( sings).

I know what you were
And you know what am I
We both have screwed the nations
God only knows how well and why

Jinnah. Hee..heee

Gandhi. Patel. What happened after that?

Patel. What will happen ? RSS became very angry. The book is against the RSS policy on Jinnah

Gandhi. Policy? What is that?

Patel. Jinnah is to be condemned for all the times. There is no let up. But this Singh has tried to fish in a shit pot. Bapu. In shit pot also fish survive.

Gandhi. Ram.. Ram. Kya Ho gaya is mulk ko?.. ( What happened to this country?) I used to preach.. Ram nam Japna..

Jinnah. Paraya maal apna… Ho paraya mal apna ( Others property is ours)

Patel. Very well sung Jinnah sahib. True. Very true. You took away Pakistan that does not belong to you guys. It is our land… Hindustan.

Gandhi. Relax. What happened after that?

Patel. BJP has kicked out Jaswant Singh out from the party.

Gandhi. What is he doing?

Patel. He is happy selling books in Pakistan where he has become a great hero

Gandhi. Where was the necessity of writing such things now after so many years?

Patel. He wanted to do some thing. Earlier he wrote a book on his experiences in army while he served. That too created some unpleasantness in army

Gandhi. Many time realities will not be liked. Army guys do not like them to be exposed. They follow British traditions of getting screwed and then remaining silent happily. I was told.

Patel. Better we keep quiet. There was lot of discussion on a site called Pragmatic Euphony on these subjects. Writers are many serving military officers with pseudo names while many are tired and retired.

Gandhi. What is this tired and retired? Look strange.

Patel. Tired are the military officers who leave service after superannuation or voluntary retirement. Re tired are those who take extension and reemployment in service after superannuation and hang on for some more years screwing and sucking out the government blood for some more years. They put on the last rank, but work at one step down post.

Gandhi. Is it not a shame?

Patel They do not feel so. They are happy to get salaries for some more years, They are called re.. tired officers

Jinnah. Hee…hee. Why get into army guys ? Better leave them where they are. Patel Sahib. What you think of me? You are the steel man of India.

Patel. You exploited Muslim sentiments and unleashed violence, killings and all types of things. Your hand was behind everything.

Jinnah. Am I the only villain?

Patel. Not you alone. Syed Ahmed Khan and Poet Iqbal are also the villains. You took clue from them.

Jinnah. But you guys are not condemning them. Why only me?

Patel. That is because you were alive when partition took place and you engineered it. They died long ago.

Jinnah. I see. It is up to you. You can not undo what happened.

( Suddenly Bhagat Singh appears along with Chandra Sekhar Azad and Shaheed Uddham Singh.. They shout Bharat Matha ki Jai.. Akhand Bharat ki Jai..)

Bhagat singh. Namste Bapu. What is this Jinnah doing with you? How come he is here?

Jinah. Oh Bhai. This is not India. We are in heavens. All our enmity and passions have gone with our death.

Bhagat singh. But our souls are not having peace. We can rest only when we regain our partitioned land.

Jinnah. That you can never do.

Azad. Dekhterahna Jinnah sahib ( Keep looking ) We shall do it.

Gandhi. Please Mr Azad. Do not create scene here. If you can not contribute please go away.

Azad. Bapu. Here also you are playing same game. We shall not allow it.

Gandhi. What will you do? In India you could not do any thing. You know you shot yourselves dead in Kanpur park when Britsih police surrounded you. Bhagat singh was hanged.

Bhagat singh. True. We paid by our blood. We did not partition India. It is better to die than do that and live in glory with titles. Hame fakr hai hamare kaam par..

Gandhi. Jinnah sahib. Better we leave from here before things take ugly turn

Jinnah. True. Things do not appear good and healthy

Gandhi. Ok Friends, Tanks for coming.. Ok Bye.. See you

( Gandhi and Jinnah hold hands and leave while Bhagat singh and Azad and Uddham singh shout.. Akhand Bharat ki Jai.. Jinnah go back Jinnah go back.. Patel alos vanishes from the scene )

CURTAIN FALLS