INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..144

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN…..144

Dr k Prabhakar Rao

(Gandhi, Nehru an patel are seen on the road at High court of Andhra Pradesh. They are strolling on the road as if they are in a park. They are confronted by a police patrol van. They are stopped by the Police)

Inspector. Stop guys. Who are you?. Where are you going?
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Patel. We are just walking on the road to see things. It is just time pass.

Inspector. There are better places for such things

Patel. Look Ameen sahib . Can’t we walk also in free India.

Inspector. Who said it is free India? This is police raj. We are Rakshaks ( Protectors)

Gandhi . ( Looks at Nehru) when this happened? I thought India is free. What did he say ? I think he said Bhakshak( the one who eats)

Inspector Look guys. Enough of your discussions. Better behave. We are Rakshaks. If you do not behave we shall become Bhakshaks. Get lost. You can not walk on this road. You can not go ahead.We have orders to stop you.

Nehru. Daroga ( Inspector) Sahib. Why? What mistakes we have one? Ye kaisa zulm hai?Itna Zaalim matbano ( What is this atrocity? Do not become a tyrant)

Inspector. To live itself is a mistake in India.

Nehru. It is a good Joke. Heee..Heee

Inspector. Stop laughing. Is this way you speak to police?

Pate. Aur kaisa baaat kare bhai. (Which way we should talk?)

Gandhi. OK Bhai. Hame Maaf Kardo ( Please forgive us). Now what should we do?

Inspector. You just vanish from here.

Patel.Look Inspector. We want to see High court. People say it is great building built by Nizam 7 who was overthrown after Police action.

Nehru. It is no greater. It caught fire recently. People say it is not fit to stay put. Even then we want to see it.

Inspector. No. That you can not do. You guys will not listen like this. I shall show.

Patel. This is too much. You can not stop us. What you can show us? We are seeing everything. We have all the right to see the court. Are you a govt servant or a devil? Who are you to stop us? Who gave you this uniform? It is shame.

(Inspector gets down from the vehicle much enraged along with some police men. Driver also gets down. Inspector orders the constables to catch the trio, The trio suddenly start running and they are chased by the police men They go far off and suddenly the trio vanish out of sight and police men are lost in surprise. The trio now emerge near police van and sit in the empty vehicle. Patel starts the vehicle and drives towards High court. From a distance police men see this and start yelling and throwing choicest abuses)

Inspector. You scoundrels. You can not run away like this. I shall skin you guys. You son of ….B…. What do you think? Can you fool us like this? Haraam kor kainka Sab ko bhoonke rakhdoonga kuttonki tarah ( You scoundrels. I shall shoot every one like street dogs..You…)..yaa,,,ya,,

(Patel stops the vehicle at the gate of High court. There is a large crowd at the gate. There are scores of police men. Atmosphere is tense. There are hundreds of advocates at the gate. The trio stops the vehicle at a distance and quickly walk to the place. Gandhi goes to a lawyer)

Gandhi. Lawyer bhai What happened here? Why there is so much tension?

Lawyer. My name is Narsingh. These are my friends, Ramnarayan, Sateesh, Narender, Sudhakar, Pradeep, Govinrao, Raj mouli, Abdul Khadar, mohammed Rasool, Yakub, Ibrahim, Ziauddin. These are al advocates. The coats of most of the advocates are torn and faces are shriveled. We have some grievances here. No one is listening.We are Telanganites. We need some reservations. No one is listening to us. So we are agitating

Gandhi. But you are all advocates. Will you agitate like this?

Lawyer. What to do? Otherwise no one listens.( Shouts) Andhra Lawyers down.. down..
Patel. Look. We were also advocates. Should we stoop low like this?

Nehru. What respect you will have in society?

Pradeep. What is this respect? The police guys are treating us like common criminals.

Gandhi. Look friends. You are up holders of law and order in society. Should you behave like this?

Khadar. Look old man sir. We heard enough of lectures. We are tired. We have no patience ( He takes up a law book and throws into court room)

( Suddenly all lawyers make a strong push and barge into the court hall. The Justice is still on the bench. Photo of MK Gandhi is hung on the wall)

Sudhakar. Down. Down… Ho.Ho.. Telangana Zindabad Andhra guys Murdabad

Judge. Order..Order.. Better behave guys this is courtKnow that

Pradeep. Take this. ( He throws a book at the judge and it is stopped by a attender)

Sudhakar. Now take this from me ( He throws the book of Indian penal code at the bench)

Ramnarayan. Ho… Jai Telangana. Jai Jai Telagana

Sateesh.. Krishna committee down down.. Hoooo… Hoooo

Judge. What is this hooliganism? Are you not lawyers? Is this the way you conduct yourselves in court?

Sateesh. This is the best way sir.

( There is great commotion in the court hall and the judge adjourns the court an walks away into chamber disgusted very much. Suddenly large number of police men barge into the hall and confront the lawyers)

Inspector. You guys. You must get out from here and behave.

Narsing. Otherwise what will you do?

Inspector. You shall know that soon.

Narsing. We have seen many.

( He notices Gandhi and others)

Narsing. Are you MK Gandhi? Why are you here? You died long ago.

Gandhi. That is true I died long ago. Now We have come to see the Tamasha here.

Narsing. Does this look like a tamasha?

Patel. Then what else? Have we brought freedom to see this drama at the highest court of state?

Sateesh. We are not sure why you brought freedom.


Ramnarayan. I think you guys brought freedom for Nehru family to rule. See how many years they are ruling one after the other.You have established a dynasty after Muhals.
Gandhi.You are mistaken. You can also become a PM and even President.

Sateesh. Heee..heeee… haaaa. Who will make me? I do not have a Gandhi Tag

Narsing. In which way this freedom is useful to us? We are slaves in our own land?
Andhras are ruling us. They are taking away everything from us.The land was vry cheap here. The prices shot up only after their arrival.

Gandhi. You guys are all Telugu people. Why are you fighting?

Narsing. Ok We are all Telugus. Now tell me. There are many states with Hindi language. Why they were made?

Patel. Heee…heee.. Better ask Nehru. He is very much here.

Nehru. There is nothing to say. It was like that then. So it was made like that. They will remain as they were made.

Gandhi. I feel you must peacefully disperse from here as you are law abiding citizens.

Sateesh. But the government understands only violence and agitations.

( Gandhi suddenly picks up a stone)

Sateesh. That is it.Now you are in gear. Now throw it into court.

( Gandhi hammers his own head shouting Kil me .. Kill me Now .. Just now.. Kill me.. Maro Mujhe.. Mardo mujhe.. Blood flows from his forehead. Patel rushes to him and pulls away the stone)

Patel. Bapu. What are you doing? Please control yourself. This is a changed world. Whether they ae lawyers,Engineers, Doctors, students, nurses, Govt servants, All are same. Only army guys have not gone on strike in this country. Even police guys went on strike. That is the last bastion in this country

Gandhi. Hope God will save them .

Inspector. You guys. We have been watching since long. You are discussing too much. Now get lost. Or I have to order Lathi charge.

( In the melee Gandhi, Nehru and patel vanish and stay out at the gate. They are not seen by Police. Finally police guys arrest scores of guys and take them away in vans. Injured are sent to hospitals. The area is like battle field.The trio are aghast at the happenings)


( All lawyers gather and start throwing stones at Police men Luckily there is plenty of stones that were kept for some construction purpose. These are well utilized. Police make a spirited lathi charge on them.

Sateesh. Pheko pathhar. Maro Jor se.aaz sabak sikhayenge. Aisee ki taisee.

Narsing.Pheko Pathhar Mazza aayega. Jo hamse takrayega Wo mitte mein miljayega( Who confronts us will be ground to dust)

( There is utter chaos as police men beat up lawyers mercilessly. Many limbs are broken. Hedas of some are also broken. Police drag them by hair and clothes are torn. Police are happy todo lathi charge.)

Inspector. Show these guys what is police. Are they lawyers? Behaving like ordinary guys. ( looks at a constable)Some time ago we saw three old guys. One was putting cap. Other two were bald. Those guys are missing. We must catch them. They could be terrorists.
Constable. They must have vanished from here.
(Suddenly he sees them sitting on the banks of the road facing Musi river opposite to High court gate.)
Constable. Look Sahib. They are there, sitting and gossiping.
Inspector. Let us go and fall on them suddenly. They can not rescape. They are big cheats.
(Inspector and many constables rush at full speed at the trio who just vanish and al the police men fall into the dirty music river twenty feet below. They are badly injured and are seen yelling loudly)
Gandhi. Look Patel. These guys are now in proper place that is Musi. They want to catch us. Now we have seen the building fully. I am satisfied. But what a state of affairs here!. Lawyers or no lawyers, all are on streets. Police is also having nice time beating every one.
Patel. What they can do? They are doing their job. They are much hard pressed with Telangana agitation.
Nehru. Yes, we must pity them. They do a thankless job. Bapu. It is getting late. Let us go. Enough for today.
Gandhi. OK.
( The three walk away rapidly from the place and vanish into distance_)

CURTAIN FALLS
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