INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN...165

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN…165

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

( It is Ajodhya near Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh state and at outskirts there is a dilapidated house and a worn out park is around. On a large stone, an old man is seen sitting and in his hand a Tanpura is held. A kanjeera is also next to him. He is dressed in a loin cloth with a shawl on his chest and around shoulders. He is singing a song.)

Doosro ka dukhda door karne waale
Tere dukh dhoor karenge Raam
Kiye ja tu jagme bhaalayi ka kaam
Tere dukh dhoor karenge ram
Sat ka hai marag..sambhal sambhal kar chalna prani
Iss ka hisab kare ga wo Ishwar too kyo phikr karere prani
Too bas apna kam kiye jaa
Tera bhandar bharenge ram.
Doosroka….. ( Song by Kavi Pardeep)

( Gandhi, Patel and Nehru happen to pass through the area and hear the song)

Gandhi. Look Patel. There is some one singing there in this old building.

Nehru. Like this there will be many characters. We have to go.

Patel. Bapu. I can hear. What is the plan?

Gandhi. It is a nice song. I want to see him.

Patel. As you wish mere Bapu. We are at your disposal.

Nehru. What can we do?

Gandhi. If you do not want please do not come.

Nehru. What I will do here? I shall come. ( Nehru beats his fore head when Gandhi looks other way)

( The trio go inside the park) and they find the old man. They go to him and sit close without disturbing him. The old man continues to sing. After some time the song is over and the old man blinks and looks at Gandhi. They look surprised)

Gandhi. Good morning sir. Namste ji. Who are you sir? You look so pious. I am very much relieved after hearing your song)

Old man. Thanks dear. Who are you here at this odd hour? No one visits this place. This is haunted place.

Patel, Sir. We are not scared. He is Mahatma Gandhi. I am Patel and the other one is Nehru.

Old man. What big you have done that you run around being called Mahatma?

Gandhi. Sir I have not done any thing great. People call me like that.

Patel. Sir . He is modest. He does not know his greatness. He is like Hanuman.

( Suddenly there is a flash and the old man turns into Hanuman. He is holding a large mace in his hand and his face is ferocious)

Patel. Oh. Who are you sir here?

Gandhi. From where you have come? I am scared too.

( Nehru closes his eyes out of fear)

Hanuman. Look guys. I am Hanuman. Bajranagbali, Vayu putra. Maruthi, Kesari nandan, Anjani Putra, Hanumantha , , Anjaneya…servant of Sri Rama the lord of universe. Any thing more?

Gandhi. Namaste sir. We thought some old man was singing here and came here. Please pardon us if we disturbed you.

Hanuman. OK. ( Referring to Patel) This man said you are like Hanuman not knowing your own strength.

Gandhi. Please excuse him. He is innocent. I am no equal to you.

Hanuman. When I am around, there can not be another Hanuman. Understand. Better behave. Please do not over glorify yourself. Learn to be modest.When I am here you will be called only MK Gandhi.. No more Mahatma. Only Lord Rama is Mahatma in this universe.

Gandhi. Sorry sir. Please forgive us.

Hanuman. Why you guys are around here? What work you have here?

Gandhi. In fact we have no work, We are workless. We go around and see whether we are of any help to any one around.

Hanuman. Could you be of any help to any one?

Patel. We have been trying hard. But it appears that no one is really interested. Mostly people are arrogant and least bothered for others.

Hanuman. Usually life is like that. OK. You may go now. It is time for me to pray to Lord Rama.

( Gandhi gets sentimental and starts singing Raghupathi Paaavana raja ram… Patheetha pavan seetha Ram. Patel and Nehru join chorus.. Hanuman too gets sentimental when he heras the name of Sri Ram and joins them. They sing the song with great devotion. Suddenly a police van arrives and stops. From it many police men mostly armed jump out along with Inspector and few sub inspectors. They rush towards Gandhi and others.)

Inspector. Hey What is happening here? You guys look like members of Saffron brigade.

Gandhi. Brother. We belong to no brigade. We are simple civilians doing Ram Bhajan.


Inspector. But you are singing Ram Bhajan. That is enough.

Patel. Should we not sing Ram Bhajan?

Inspector. I do not know. But all the guys who are after Ram belong to saffron brigade.

Hanuman. What is this inspector? Why are you after these men?

Inspector. Who are you? You are well dressed like a big monkey.

Hanuman. Behave properly. You do not know what I am?

Inspector. Are you a god? Behave.

Hanuman. I think I have killed all the demons in Lanka along with my Lord Ram and Lakshaman and Sugreeva. I think some guys are still left out.

Inspector. What are you talking? I can not follow. What is this Lanka? What are these demons?Who killed whom? When and where? Eee…ee…. I can not follow any thing.

Patel. How bad it is !. You are an Indian and that too a Hindu and you do not know Ramayan.

Gandhi. This man is Hanuman the great follower of Sri Ram. Better learn to pay respect to elders… Raghupathi Raaghava Raja ram..

Patel. Patheetha Pavana seetha Ram

Nehru. Bolo. Jai raghu nanadana jai siya Raam…

Inspector. Again you are at it. You are surely from Saffron brigade. Now I can not leave you guys. It is time to act.

Patel. What will you do?

Inspector. I shall show soon.

Patel. What is there to show? We are seeing everything.. hee..heee.

Inspector. You are very arrogant. First I shall tackle this monkey. He instigated you. He thinks he is great with this plastic mace

Hanuman. This is not plastic mace. It is made of solid steel. Look at it. This is not hollow like maces of drama companies and cinemas

Inspector. Are you fooling me? If it is made of steel how can you lift it? I have seen many drama company maces. Many are made of molded paper.

Hanuman. You appear to be a fool. You shall soon realize. Tell me why are you after Ram bhakts? Are they your enemies?

Inspector. Then what? They have been against the establishment. As it is we have lot of problems in this country.

Hanuman, How they are to be blamed?

Inspector. We have to blame some one. We are after them haa..haa..haaa

Hanuman, Better behave and leave this place. Ram bhakts are no trouble makers. We can not be dubbed as saffron gangs. Once we wake up no one can stop us. Better understand.

Inspector. In that case I have to arrest you ( Looks at constables). Constables catch these guys and hand cuff them

( The constables rush at Gandhi, Nehru , Patel and Hanuman with great vogor. Hanuman just loosens his grip on his mace and it rolls towards the police guys. Slowly it picks up momentum, The mace runs over them and unable to even touch it the constables run pell mell. Many are run over by the mace and are incapacitated. TRhey shout Bacho.. Bacho.. Mar gaya.. haaye,… Haaye… )

Hanuman. Have you seen what happened to your guys? Better run from here. Go and catch the real terrorists if you can.

( The police guys look helplessly while Gandhi, Patel and Nehru Thank Hanuman and walk away. Hanuman disappears with a great flash)

CURTAIN FALLS