INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN.145

INTO HE PAST WITH PAIN…..145

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

(Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are seen sitting in a park at Delhi. Patel has a news paper in his hand. He is keenly reading the paper. He suddenly gets excited. He shouts . aa.. Hip.. hip Hurray)

Gandhi. What is the matter Patel? You appear to be excited.

Patel. Nothing special Bapu. My Bapu. I am going through advertisements.Whosays there are no opportunities for youth in Kashmir? Look there are many advertisements for recruitment.

Nehru. Let me see.

( He takes the news paper from the hands of patel and peeps into the news)

Nehru. What patel said is very true.

Patel. I am happy that atlesat in lifetime once you accepted my word

Nehru. What does it mean Patel?

Patel. I don’t mean any thing. I say facts.

Gandhi. Come on guys. Please don’t start the day with bickering and fights. When will you learn? Are you kids?

Nehru. Sorry Bapu. Please excuse me.

Gandhi. That is fine. Relax. By the by, let us go to Srinagar. I am itching to go there. See how I am scratching my hand?

Patel. Bapu. Now it is in great turmoil. Entire valley is burning. The agitations are serious. Police fire almost every day killing people.

Gandhi. Is it so?

Nehru. It has become a permanent headache for India.

Patel. It is your blessing only Jawaharlal. You goofed up Kashmir issue completely when you were the PM. You mortgaged Indian interests for your personal glory. What type of visionary are you? You could not foresee the perils for India. Kashmir rather India is burning like an eternal funeral pyre where Pakistan is stoking the fire every minute.

Nehru. Bapu. Look. Patel is after me..eeee….eeee…..eee

Gandhi. What is wrong in his saying? Is it not you who took Kashmir to Security council? Who asked you to do so? How did you expect that security council would solve our problem?

Nehru. Bapu. It was world body. If we do not trust it who will trust it?

Pate. That is fine. Enough of goofing up. Should we go there now?

Gandhi. Why not? We must go. ( sings)

I am Gandhi itching to go there
May be on my feet that are bare
I must see Srinagar at once
And I hate to see future tense

Patel. Hee..heee. Well sung Bapu. Day by day you are improving in your poetical skills

Gandhi. That is why I am Bapu, the father of nation.

Nehru. How this is connected to father of nation

Patel. It is simple. Whatever is done by father of nation has to be the best. Even simple rhymes are glorified as poetry as good as that of Tennyson, Keats or Wordsworth. Was it not done for some writer of poems in past during freedom struggle.

Gandhi. Hope you guys are not making fun of me?

Patel. How could we like that Bapu? Are we so bad? Do we look like that?

Gandhi. You know it better. Leave this now. Let us go to Srinagar.

( The trio lands up at Lal Chowk in Srinagar)

Bapu. Look. There are many advertisements in this street in the form of big hoardings for job fair and walk in interviews.

Gandhi. That is very fine. Kashmir has made great progress. Has soft ware opportunities entered Kashmir.

Patel. Let us enquire from some one.

( They enter an office that displays the hoarding. A burly lookingMuslm sees them and asks them to sit down. His name is Syed Mirza Musharraf)

Musharraf. Please tell me what you want.

Patel. We came to enquire for the jobs

Musharraf. You are too old. We need youngsters who need jobs.

Gandhi. That is fine. We can recommend some people to you if we know the nature of the job .

Musharraf. That is fine. We are looking for youth who are good in physique and they are appointed as throwers.

Patel. Why called throwers. What will they throw? Will they throw filth collected at road side. Better call them cleaning personnel Or Safai Karmachari as we call them in Municipalities in other parts of the country.

Musharraf. Sir You are mistaken. They are required to throw stones with good force.

Gandhi . Stones? Why? Against whom they will throw..

Musharraf. You must have learnt that now a days lot of trouble is going on in Kashmir valley. There is a fight going on against administration. The separatists are organizing protests arson and trouble. Those we appoint and supply to the organizations are required to throw stones at police and army personnel.

Patel. I see

Gandhi. What you see Patel. I am not able to see anything.

Patel. Do not get worried Bapu. I am also not seeing anything

Nehru. In news papers every day we see photographs of people throwing stones at security forces. We never thought that they were professional throwers. We thought they were students and some useless youth who have no work.

Musharraf. Throwing stones is their work.

Patel. How much you pay them.

Musharraf. We pay them on daily basis as casual labor. It is about 250 rupees per day of eight hour work.

Gandhi. What a nice idea to keep youth active!

Musharraf. Yeah. After all we are Kashmiris.

Patel If some guys get shot by police what will happen.

Musharraf. Nothing will happen to us. There is no record. Most of the guys who die at the hands of police get compensation from Government. Local political parties also pay them. Then across the border too some money is given.After all we do al these things at the guidance from big brothers at Rawalpindi.

Patel What shameful acts you are doing!

Musharaf. Look brother This is Jihad against Indians. Everything is fair in Jihad. Indians have occupied our land .So we are waging jihad. It is written in scripture too that we should wage Jihad against such people.

Gandhi. Look . Bhai Musharraf, In this effort if you die everything goes waste.

Musharraf. Who said that? The martyrs go to heavens and enjoy company of 72 virgins. They will have all pleasures at the heavens. If we win Kashmir will be ours.

Patel Look Mr Musharraf, Keep dreaming. You shall never win. Remember my word.

Musharraf. How can you say that?Who are you?

Pate. Iam Sardar Patel, the first deputy PM of India.

Musharraf. Oh I see. Other guy with cap is Nehru who was kind enough to take Kashmir problem to Security council.

Patel. Yeah. You are correct. See, How he is looking this way and that way as if he has not heard.

Gandhi. Look Musharraf. This is very bad that you are misguiding the students and youth.

Musharraf. That is none of your headache.

( In the mean time some armed Jihadis arrive there ad they see the trio. The Jihadis are Abdul Fayaz, Rahim Khooni khan and Moinuddin Khan Zalim )

Zaalim. Musharraf. Whoa re these guys. What they want?

Musharraf. They say they are Gandhi, Nehru and Patel from India

Fayaz. What they want. But they must have died long ago

Musharraf. I am also worried. They could be some agents from India

Zaalim. You are correct. Better catch them and bargain release of our jihadi friends.

Rahim. True Fall on them. Catch them. Pakdo kafironko bhaagna paye ( Catch the kafirs and let them not escape)

( Musharraf and jihadis fall on the trio, but struggle in air and it looks as if they appear to catch flying mosquitoes. Gandhi and patel, laugh weirdly unseen to them)

Patel. Bewakoofo. Itna bhee bhi akal nahee tumlogon ko ki hame pakad sake ( Idiots. Don’t you have even this much intelligence that you can not catch us) Koyee murdo ko pakad saktha hai? ( Can any one catch dead men?) badmaasho.Tumko Kashmir chahiye? ( Rascals do you wantKashmir?)Fauran tum sab Pakistan mein shaamil honge ( Al of you will immediately join Pakistan) Wahaa kya pahaad khodoge ( Will you dig mountain there?_Kutte ka maut maroge ( There you will die dogs death) Dekho Pakistan mein kya ho raha hai ( Look. What is happening in Pakistan)Mar rahe hain Taliban ke hatho. Taliban chun chun kar maaar rahe hai. Tumhaara bhee yahee haal hoga. Suno tum Hazaar saalbhee lado, Kuch naheen hoga. Sab yahee raho ge. Pakistan jaana hai tho jao nange pawo. Bhaago Lekin Kashmir Hindustan ka hai. Rahega bhee. Behatar yahee hai ki tum log Akalka sahee istemaal kare aur aaraamse rahe. Nahee tho mit jawo ge.

Gandhi. Ab chalo. Badaa maza aaya. Khoob mouz udaali hai.

( In the distance KL Saigal is heard singing

Piye jaaa. Aur piye jaa
Zindagee ka gam tha
Owr piye jaa
Soch tha hai kya
Our piye jaa
Zindagee ka yahi hai mudda
Our piye jaa

( The trio vanishes)

CURTAIN FALLS