INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN....141

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN…141

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

(Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are seen in a University campus. They are strolling on the roads. Every where there is greenery and lot of students is roaming around. There are magnificent buildings everywhere.)


Gandhi. What a good place this is! Everything is grand here.

Patel. True Bapu, this is a very nice place. But indiscipline is also grand here.

Nehru. Bapu. I agree. This is very good place to spend time. But this is very poor in discipline.

Gandhi. You said this is a nice place to spend time. Is it not for studies?

Nehru. That is what I mean. Less of study goes on here and more of troubles here.

Patel. Hee.heee hhhaaa haaaa…heee..hi.hi

Gandhi. What is there to laugh?

Patel.. What is there not to laugh.. haa…haaa..haa

Gandhi. You mean no studies go on here.

Patel. You are correct Bapu. Where is time for study? Politics start from here.

( In the mean time, they come across a large group of students who gather at a place. They are carrying placards and shouting too. )

Gandhi. Ohfo. There appears to be no peace here. Why these guys are so much disturbed? It is the time for studies.

Patel. Bapu. life is like that here. Who wants to study now?

Gandhi. Then what for the universities are there?

Patel. Bapu. They are there because they have to there. It is as simple as that. They can not be closed. Where all these professors would go? Who will feed them. How some can become vice chancellors? How can any one become registrar without a university?

Gandhi. That means no teaching goes on here.

Patel. You can judge yourself.

Gandhi. How they will pass?

Patel. Where is the difficulty? Passing is simple. Just look at few old question papers. Read some from all in one guides. You shall get 70 % marks.

Gandhi. Is it so bad?

(They see a student with a notebook of 40 pages. He holds it between thumb and finger and is seen swinging to and fro. . He walks very carelessly booting stones on the way. One stone hits Gandhi on the face. Gandhi cries)

Gandhi. eee..eeeee..aaa.. Margaya re mujhe maar diya ( I am killed. I have died)

Patel.( Goes to the student) Stop oh Mr. Is this way you walk on the road? Look, the stone has hit the old man. He is bleeding. Don’t you feel sorry?

Student. Then what happened? I have not hit him. The stone hit him.

Patel. Is this way you walk on road?

Student. That is my wish. I walk the way I like. This is university. Our place. You guys are not supposed to be here. Are you a student? You are so old.

Patel. Look friend. I am not a student. But I was a student once at some place. I was not like you.

Student. Better go away. Or else you are done. I am Satish you know. I am a leader here.

Patel. Better to learn to respect elders. If you do not learn it will be your funeral.

(Patel goes to Gandhi and sees Nehru comforting Gandhi. Now Gandhi is cool)

Gandhi. Better leave that boy. Forgive him.

Patel. I have done that

Gandhi. We were discussing the studies at this place when the stone hitme eee..eeee. It si paining.

Patel. Bapu, for most of the subjects, the examiners would carry digital balances and keep with them. They weigh the answer books and as per weight they give marks. Haa..haa..haa…heee..heeee

( He rolls on ground laughing and scratching his belly. After some time gets up)
Patel.. Guys just fill up all trash in some subjects of theory and examiners do not know what the guy has written and students also do not know what he has written. All goes in game. Hee..heee….heee

Nehru. So all is fun here.

( They come to a building that is cordoned off by Police. There are big posters everywhere.)

Gandhi. Patel. Plesae read these posters. What are their demands? Some Satyagraha is going on here. I am happy, they are following my ideals.

Patel. ( he goes to some posters and reads)

We the students demand following:-

A. Answer books from our province should be evaluated by teachers of our province only.
B. Answer books of students must be categorized as BC A, BCB, BCC, BCD, OC, OC ( economically weak), Minorities, Handicapped, Sports, ex-servicemen, Management quota, for Boys and girls separately
C. For each type of category as stated above, examiner should be earmarked from that category only.

Gandhi. This is funny. How these can be met?

Patel. They know it better

Gandhi. For handicapped category how they can get one for so many categories, girls and boys separately.

Patel. Probably they would recruit as per these norms.

Gandhi. How about exservice men type?

Nehru. They can request local sub area to depute some officers

Patel. Hee..heee..haaa…haaa

( In the mean time some students come to Gandhi. They wish Gandhi. They are Satish, Ramu and Govind)

Ramu. Hoi old man. You are well dressed as Gandhi. Others are also good as Nehru and Patel

Patel. We are not dressed. We are they in fact.
Gandhi. I am Gandhi, Mohan das Karamchand Gandhi, The father of nation.

Gobind. That is fine (looking at Ramu) Poor guys, appear to be mentally disturbed. They think they are real national leaders. See how they are dressed?

Satish. Just too bad guys. Leave them. I have seen them earlier. One of the guys is very funny.

Patel. Look. Friends. We are not fake. Believe. We are real as said. We are they and they are we. They and we are same and one. We and what you are not thinking are same.

Ramu. Eee..eeeee… Strange words in fact.

Patel. Yeah. What you thought we are not that, but we are they and they are we. We are surely they ought to be, you must accept that we are they and not what you think.

(Satish looks at Patel and shrieks loudly and falls down .Froth comes out of his mouth . he violently shakes hands)All students gather around him)

Ramu. What happened? This guy was perfect just now.

Gobind. Yes. He was fine. He heard this old mans words and collapsed.

Ramu. Where are those guys? They were just here.

(They look around and the trio is not seen)

Ramu. It is very strange. A second ago they were here. They can not suddenly vanish.

Gobind. Look funny too. But their words were also strange. I am sure they were ghosts. They are not normal guys.

Ramu. Do not talk rubbish. How can there be ghosts around? They looked real but mentally derailed guys.. Any how let us take this guy to hospital.

Gobind. Yeah. Do it fast.

( Satish is lifted and put in car and is driven to hospital)

Patel. Bapu. Have you seen what happened? The guy became sick suddenly.

Nehru. The guy appears to be not stable and weak minded. He looked at Patel’s face and collapsed. He got scared looking at skull face of Patel. I am sure he will recover Bapu. Let us go from here.


Gandhi. Patel. Why you have displayed ghost face? The guy got shit scared. Yeah. Let us go.

( The trio vanish singing Ram dhun)

CURTAIN FALLS