INTO THE PAST WTH PAIN..LXXXV

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN.LXXXV

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

( Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are seen walking on a Road near Karimnagar town and they suddenly stop. There is a large crowd on the road. Gandhi gets curious)

Gandhi. Patel, Why so much crowd on the road? Please find out.

Patel. Sure Bapu as you wish ( sings)

Ok Bapu I am your obedient servant
Although for post of PM you kept me away
I shall always listen to you
Whatever the people in India say

Gandhi. ( Holds his head) Ohfo. You have not still forgotten old things even after 62 years have passed after India was declared independent.

( In the mean time Patel goes to the crowd to enquire)

Patel. Bhai. What are you up to?

Narsimha. My name is Narsimha. Can’t you see? You have two large eye too. We are cooking.

Patel. Why you are cooking on the road?

Narsimha. This is a protest. A novel protest for Telangana

Patel. Oh I see. So this is for Telangana….hee..heee

( Patel goes to Gandhi quickly)

Patel. Bapu ( sings and does fast jig)

Bapu. Oh Bapu, Mere Bapu
These guys are cooking on the road
They want to achieve Telangana State
By doing this trick in this mode

Bapu. So that is the problem. Let me talk to them. Jawaharlal let us go to them.

Nehru. Sure Mere Bapu. Let us go.

( The trio goes to the crowd where Narsimha is seated on a stone)

Bapu. Good morning brother. I am Bapu, MK Gandhi, Father of Nation of India

Narsimha. What is this father of nation?. That means you gave birth to India. How? Humans give birth to humans only. It is strange.

Patel. Look Mr Narsimha. Bapu spearheaded Indian freedom struggle and so he is called father of nation.

Narsimha. Why Gandhi only? Subhas also did a lot for the nation.

Patel. But that person died after World war II. More over, his path was different. Bapus path was different. Both paths do not match. He sided with Nazis.

Gandhi. Patel. Why all this? Listen to what he says. Bhai Narsimha answer my question

Narsimha. By all means sir

Gandhi. You guys are cooking on the main road and the whole traffic is blocked. Do you think you get Telangana state by these shows?

Narsimha. I am not sure. Our leaders decide to organize these shows.

Gandhi. Hee..heee..hee What a fallacy? How innocent you are ?

Narsimha. What to do? Some thing we have to do. No one really wants to sit on hunger strike up to death. You know people can not withstand hunger. So people sit for relay hunger strike. The guys eat full in the morning and sit for the hunger strike. Evening they are relieved by a second batch who fast for the night

Patel. I am sure this batch eats fully before they sit for the hunger strike in the evening

Narsimha. You are correct sir.

Patel. That is very good.

Gandhi. The relay hunger strikes have no meaning at all. I used go on hunger strike and there used to be impact. My level was different. I was an Indian of great importance. I was old also and frail. Whenever I used to go on fast, government used to get jittery. They thought my health would fail and might even become serious and die there by inviting great disturbances in India. I do not think any English man valued my life. In fact they became dizzy when I went on hunger strike. There were more worked up due to possible law and order problems.

Nehrl. Bapu. How correctly you said?

Gandhi. I am always correct.

Patel. I beg to differ with you on this sir.

Gandhi. Why?

Patel. You always had a policy of appeasement towards Muslims. Even after voting for Muslim league by everyone, you allowed them to stay in India and have dual loyalties.
Was it appropriate? See. How the country suffers? (Sings and does break dance)

You screwed India so well
And pushed it down a deep well
What can I stay still about you?
Every swine in India suffers from great swine flu

Gandhi. Better I keep quiet. Hello Narsimha, There is no use by these half hearted hunger strikes and fasts. Every one knows that you have already had your full up to your throats before you sit on the fast in a tent with a garland ( Why). Why this tamasha? Even government knows that relay hunger strikes have no meaning and laughs off at them. Now every one is sitting on a fast on slightest pretext. Unless the fast is a real one with a threat to life by a well known leader of repute government or any one does not get worried. So dear these fasts can not get you Telangana.

Narsimha. (Cries)ee..ee.. All our days and efforts are wasted

Patel. Look Narsimha. Why these tamasha of cooking food on roads and then eating to full. Why these Batkamma dances by ladies every where. What it can do? Will Telangana materialize? No.. No.. wake up guys. You are all on a wrong track.the center is fooling you buying time and doing nothing. You are al like lame ducks and blind sheep.You will say. ( sings and does jig))

Center will ask you........

Baa..baaa. Black sheep
Have you any wool?

And you will say....

Yes sir Yes sir three bags full


The center will ask for whom..

And you will say....

One for my master
One for the dame
One for the littele child
Who cries in the lane

Nehru. Patel What is this Batkamma?

Patel. It is a native Telangana festival. Women dance around flower decked idols and these idols are left afloat in a lake or river. Like this they do (Patel goes around in a circle clapping and dancing and also singing Batkamma Batkamma uyyalo...Uyyalo..)

Gandhi. Well done Patel. That was a nice one

Nehru. Hee..hee..heee

( In the mean time a police lorry arrives with many police men wielding lathis in their hands. They get down from the vehicle and a fat police inspector yawns with wide open mouth like a Hippo)

Inspector (Holding a mike) Listen you guys. Better stop this nonsense on road and leave the road. Clear off.

Narsimha. You go out. Police go back. Police zulum down down.

(Inspector again announces on mike and the crowd shouts Jai Telangana.. Jai..jai Telangana. There is no response and suddenly the police men nearly a hundred attack the crowd consisting of women, children, old people and some lame and blind wielding lathis. There is a big commotion. Some women police are also there. The women victims are dragged on the road mercilessly holding the hair. A blind man is brutally attacked. A lame guy is trampled in the melee. The scene is like a battle ground. Gandhi, Patel and Nehru run to a near by tree. Some police men are after them. )

Police man. You guys, who are you? You are so old. Why you want Telangana?

Patel. We are only on lookers.

Nehru. Police Bhai. We have nothing to do with this. We were watching the scene.

Police man, what is there to watch?
Now watch our action. ( He throws a lathi at Nehru)

Patel. How dare you devil?

( He catches the lathi and breaks it into two and the police men become furious. Inspector rushes to the place. )

Inspector. ( sings and does fast jig)

I am the zalim singh the Thanedar
Every one knows how cruel I am
I shall chew you to a bundle of pulp
And down the throat I am sure to quickly gulp

You guys have not seen me till now
Run off from here fast somehow
Or else I am sure to screw you hard
My exploits would be soon sung by a divine bard

Patel . Bapre ( exclamation) ( sings doing break dance)

Look oh the gibbon looking cop with a ponch
Be ware or else you will sit on your haunch
You guy surely do not know me
Get lost I do not care who are you and also he

I have fixed the Nizam the Hyderabad king
The bells in his palace stopped to ring
His Razakars have been rubbed by me in to mere dust
Although many of them were cruel and robust

Inspector. ( gets greatly annoyed) You swine. How dare you are mocking at me and doing dance. I shall see you. You will not have bones to stand erect. He takes out his pistol and tries to fire on Patel. The pistol gets jammed.

(He becomes panicky as Patel takes a step towards him )

Patel. Look Inspector. These weapons do not fire at us. We are divine men and already dead

Inspector. How you are already dead? I do not understand this.eeee..Eee. These are devils

Gandhi. Yes . We are devils but lesser than you. Get lost

( Inspector runs away with police men)

Gandhi. Look Patel. We have done our job today. Let us go

Nehru. Sure ( sings)

All has gone well for us
And let us run and catch a bus
Let these guys fast and feast
I am not bothered and worried least

Gandhi. Jawaharlal. well sung. Good poetry. Let us go

( The trio sings Ramdhun and slowly walk away)