INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..LXXVIII

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN….. LXXVIII


Dr K Prabhakar Rao

(It is Osmania university campus in Hyderabad and it is looking like a fortress. It is surrounded by Police forces. They are armed to hilt. Only thing is that they do not have armored cars. Students are inside the campus and they are seen shouting slogans and abusing police personnel. Suddenly Gandhi, Nehru and Pastel are at the scene. They try to enter the gates and are stopped by a fat police Inspector.)

Gandhi. Oh Bhai. Kindly allow me to go inside.

Inspector. You can not. The campus is under seize. Although students are inside there are some unsocial elements are also inside.( Sings)

I shall see these guys
Will also hammer them black and blue
No one can challenge on this earth
What I say is always true

Patel. Look .You appear to be super motivated cop.But we are harmless old guys. Can’t you see?

Inspector. Even students appeared harmless initially.

Patel. Please do not compare us to students

Inspector. What will you do there?

Gandhi. We shall try to pacify them. They are agitated.

Inspector. It is waste of time. They will not listen. I am sure they are being used by the politicians for the agitation. Students are there to study. Why should they indulge in these activities

Patel. Students are our strength. They also form part of society.

Gandhi. During independence struggle even students took part. Many left colleges and joined the agitation

Inspector. But now we are free. Why all this ?

Patel. Now the students want to be free from Andhra dominance

Inspector. What dominance you are speaking. I am from Vishakha patnam and my name is Avatharam.I am doing my duty in police. Is this dominance

Patel. Which Avataram you are.( May be Narasimhavataram.. he utters slowly within himself).The students see that Andhra Police personnel are being used against them

Inspector. heee..hee Nonsense talk .

Gandhi. (Sings and does jig holding stick)

Oh Inspector! Please allow us in
Can’t you see we are very sick and thin?
We shall meet the guys inside
Plesae look at our shrivelled hide

Inspector. Look old man. Are you from any drama troop? You are singing and dancing too.

Patel . No Inspector. He is MK Gandhi, We are Nehru and Patel ( sings)

Look . He is Nehru and I am Patel
Just now we had tea in a small hotel
We are also feeling tired and hungry
And do not make us weep and cry

Inspector. Any amount of crying will not help. I can not allow you inside.

( In the mean time some students throw stones at police personnel. Police also pick up stones and throw at the students. This goes on for some time and students are happy with this game. In the confusion the trio slip into university campus and go to students . Some students Ashish, Yadav, Rakesh and Krishna form a group and throw stones. Girl studets collect stones thrown by police and hand over these to the boys. Gandhi goes near them_

Gandhi, Hello. Guys. Plesae stop this.This is bad

Ashish. Sir Who are you. Plesae go away from here. You may get hurt

Patel. Do not worry. Nothing will happen to us.

Gandhi. Please stop throwing stones. This will not help your cause

Krishna. Polie Is not allowed to enter campus. They have to take permission of VC

Gandhi. What is this VC. Is it very cool?

Rakesh. It is short form for Vice Chancellor.

Patel. He appears to be a very cool guy. Here Police is playing war while he is very cool

Krishna. Sir . That isi our bad luck that such guys are holding posts

Gandhi. That is too bad.

Krishna. Sir . Two days ago we were dragged out of our hostels and hammered with lathis, shoes and batons. I thought they would kill us.

Patel. Is it so? Yeah. I saw on the TV screen. But police is meant for this work only. It was like that earlier also.

Nehru. Do you think police will love, kiss you and pamper you. They have clear orders to maintain law and order at all costs

Gandhi. But the way they beat students is something too much. Is police fighting war? Are the students are from foreign lands?

Patel. Bapu. Students are sent by parents to study and stay in hostels for that. Not for playing politics

Gandhi. But youth power can not be put down. Today’s students are tomorrows leaders. Any how students are usually exploited by political leaders. Look Usually in all agitations students are roped in. Office going people can not usually take part in these drams. They have to earn bread for families.Those working in private agencies may loose jobs too. So they take part in silent strikes and protests, pen down activities.
Patel. Students get on to roads and anti social elements usually join the crowds and they burn buses and stone shops etc.

Patel. Bapu. Do you think students do not burn buses.

Gandhi. Some times they do in frenzy. Mostly urchins are involved in these activities. They mix up with students. Can not be identified easily.

Patel. Poor RTC is at loss. When do the people realize that burning buses is not the solution? It is national loss. I am vexed up.

Gandhi. ( sings and does jig holding stick)

Do not get worked up dear
Life is like that and stop shedding tears
India is handed out to crooks
They are ruling at all nooks

Burning buses is part of the game
No one should feel bad and rise to fame
This is a path to become leader in politics
Never bother for these usual antics

Stoning is also very good
It is sure to strengthen ones muscles
They may improve by using larger stones
In all the police and student tussles

Patel. Hee…hee.. What a poem Bapu! You are great

Gandhi. I was always great

Nehru. Bapu is great..Clap .clap.clap

Rakesh. Enough of these poems old man. You look like Gandhi

Krishna. Who is this Gandhi?

Rakesh. He is Indira Gandhis father

Patel.Bapu. Plesae take a stone and hammer my head. I can not hear such answers ( Sings). These guys do not know who we are. Hello son Do you know me atlesat. I am known as Patel

Rakesh. I think you are Jasu Patel the Spinner who defeated Australia at Kanpur in 1960.

Patel Chee..cheee… Shame in deed

Nehru. Do you atleast me?

Rakesh. You appear to be familiar. Your statue is in Abids. You are called Pandit ehru.

Nehru. Thanks .

Rakesh. I do not know why you are called Pandit.

Nehru. ( gets upset). That is a title honoring my wisdom

Rakesh. Is it for bungling Kashmir or getting screwed by Chinese in 1962

Gandhi. Come on guys. We are deviating from our mission.Look. How long you will continue agitation

Rakesh. Till we get Telangana.
Gandhi. What happens to your studies>

Rakesh. That university will take care.

Krishna. Where is the problem. We can pass even if we write some thing whatever we know.

Rakesh. May not be same subject. Evaluators see the weight of answer books now a days

Gandhi. Chee..chee..What is the use of such degrees

Krishna. Who cares? Once we get in to politics no qualification is required. We must be good in shouting, abusing..If we go to jail nothing like that. We can always get into assembly

Patel ( Holds head) Oh fo.. Bapu. I am feeling giddy

Gandhi. Take care Patel You are steel man of India. You can not say this.

Patel. So do you feel that some of you become leaders soon to get into assembly

Krishna. Why not? The present old leaders were also like us earlier. They took part in Telangana agitation in 1969.

Gandhi. I was told Chenna Reddy ditched Telangana movement. He became CM.

Krishna. True.

Patel. What is the guarantee that same thing will not happen now

Rakesh. No. KCR is strong

Patel. Time only will tell.

( In the mean time police personnel rush in doing lathi charge . Someof them rush to the trio and hammer the students and they flee shouting Jai Telangana)

Inspector. You old guys run from here. Don’t you feel ashamed to be in this agitation?

Gandhi. What is there to feel ashamed? In fact you must feel so

Inspector. You.. swine.. son of a ; bi… How dare you challenge Andhra Police? I am grown with Idli Samabar. I shall make sambar flow down from you.. Take this.

( He swings lathi at Gandhi while Patel and Gandhi laugh)

Patel. Haa…haaa..hee ( Does fast jig and sings)

You can not do any thing to us
Run away from here without any fuss
Eternally that we live
You clown run into your beehive

Although we are dead we live still
I shall tear you like Narsimha sitting on the sill
Get lost oh Police guy
Go and ask your boss how and why

Inspector. I shall see you.

( He swings his lathi again and twenty police men surrounf the trio and rush at them wilding lathis. They can not feel them. The lathis strike each other and all of them fall down with bleeding injuries)

Inspector. Run.. Bhoot .. Bhoot

( He runs away)

Gandhi. That si good. Let us go. We have dome our job

( The trio holds hands and sing Ramdhun and walk off)

CURTAIN FALLS