INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN....176

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN…176

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

( Gandhi, Patel and Nehru are seen walking on road near AP secretariat in Hyderabad. They are keenly discussing some issues. They are confronted by some police men at a turning)

Inspector. Look . You can not walk on this road further.

Gnadhi. Why Bhai. We want to go ahead

Inspector. It is all tense now. We have orders not to allow any one on roads.

Patel. Then where we should walk?

Inspector. Better do not walk.

Nehru. Can we go in a car?

Inspector. Even two, three and four wheelers are not allowed

Gandhi. We shall get a circus type one wheel cycle.

Inspector. Are you joking? Are you from circus?

Gandhi. In US, there are some devices that have only one wheel and a seat. It is powered by an electric motor and works on gyroscopic principles. It can be easily driven.

Inspector. Look. No human being is allowed to walk now.

Patel. What is the problem?

Inspector. We are expecting some trouble from Locals guys. Sri Krishna Committee report will be out soon on Telangana.

Patel. Oh I see. Now I understood the problem.

Inspector. Now please do not create any problem. You guys are very old and I do not want to be rough with you.

Gandhi. Thanks for being considerate with us. May god bless you.

Patel. After long time, I saw a reasonable police guy.

Nehru. There are always some good guys too. All are not bad.

Gandhi. Then how do we go back? Are we permitted to walk back?

Inspector. OK That is fine. Please go back

( The trio walks back and after few minutes they are stopped by a police van. An Inspector steps out)

Inspector. I am Hulchal singh. You are not supposed to walk here. How did you come here?

Gandhi. In fact we are returning after we were told to go back by another police man

Inspector. Come on . You just can not walk any where.

Patel. Come on Police Bhai. Have a heart. Where we shall go now?

Inspector. I do not know.

Gandhi. It is simple Patel. We shall go vertically.

Inspector. What are you talking? Are you some helicopter?

Gandhi. Keep looking at us.

Inspector. You guys appear to be nuts. Are you making a mockery of me?

( The trio in the mean time lift off vertically and zoom into sky. They have divine bodies to do that trick.)

Inspector. Shh.. Guys appear to be some terrorists. I lost chance for gallantry award and promotion too. I shall try yet.

( He draws his revolver and fires aiming at Gandhi and Patel two rounds each. Nothing happens . Patel catches bullets )

Patel ( From sky) You idiot. Your bullets are of no use against us.

Gnadhi. Hee..hee..hee

Nehru. Hoo..hoo..hoo

( Patel throws bullets at the police inspector and he catches them)

Inspector. Ohfo. The guys appear to be some devils. Let us leave them here

( He sits in his van and speeds away)

Gandhi. Patel we are at a park now. Let us stay here for some time.

Patel. Fine Bapu

( The trio get down in a park close by. They walk to some benches and sit down and relax. Suddenly few monkeys rush to them. Initially the trio is worried expecting that the monkeys might bite them. But the monkeys come and stop near them. At a distance they see some more monkeys staring at them)

Gadhi. What is this monkey game? Why some monkeys are being chased by another group.

( A old monkey steps out and walks to Gandhi. In human voice it speaks)

Monkey. Sir . You look elderly and I also saw your statue at Secunderabad. You appear to be some respected person. May I say some thing?

Gandhi. Why not? You appear to be a well behaved and disciplined monkey. You are so polite too. Tell me why other monkeys are after you and your friends.

Monkey. Sir We originally belonged to Vijaywada town. We became a great head ache to people there. So they caught us and brought us to the local zoo in Hyderabad. We have been staying there for last few years.

Patel. Then what happened now? You are all monkeys and can have nice time in zoo. There are many trees and ponds. You are given food. Where us the problem?

Monkey. Recently they started calling us Andhra monkeys.

Gandhi. Is it true? How does it bother?

Andhra Monkey. Sir, Some times they address us in slang too. We get hurt.

Patel. So sorry dear. But they are giving food to you.

Andhra Monkey. All was well till the Telangana stir came up. From then onwards Zoo personnel have been calling us as Andhra monkeys and while giving food also they discriminated us. Rotten fruits are given to us. At times they throw stones at us shouting .. You bloody Andhra monkey.. Go.. shih.

Patel. That is surely bad.

Gandhi. Now what is the problem.

Andhra Monkey. In the morning zoo personnel were transporting us to some place. I do not know where they were taking us.In fact there are many monkeys in zoo. They wanted to get rid off us.There were some Telangana monkeys too with us. Initially they were ok when we statrted. When we came to secretariat road there was a commotion.

Patel. What was it?

Andhra Monkey. Some people were shouting Jai Telangana.. Jai jai Telangana.. down with Andhras. The Telangana monkeys heard the shouts.

Patel. Then what happened?

Andhra Monkey. The Telangana monkeys started looking angrily at us. Suddenly one heavy Telangana monkey pulled tail of a small monkey from our group and bit it too. Poor small monkey cried. Seeing this a heavy Andhra monkey jumped on the Telangana monkey and cut its ears with teeth.

Patel. Then what happened?

Andhra Monkey. Soon it was free for all. There was great commotion and suddenly one door got opened as it was not locked properly. All monkeys jumped out happily. Soon the Telangana monkeys started chasing us. They were few but very strong. All these days they were fed well at zoo. Most of us went hungry in the day.We came running into this park.

Gandhi. I see you. This is bad.

Andhra Monkey. Sir. Plesae do some trhing. The Telangana monkeys are still waiting at coorner. They will attack us if we go out

Gandhi. Plesae do not worry. I shall see that you are not put to harm.

Patel. Very soon Krishna committee is going to submit its report.

Andhra monkey. What it will do?

Patel. It will give suggestions how to screw this state.

Gandhi. Why screwing the state?

Patel. Whichever way they do there will be unhappiness and trouble. This is a very tricky situation.

Nehru. I think if they declare Andhra and Royalaseema combined as another country , I think they will accept. If they makea separate state thee will be problem.

Gandhi. I think it is a good idea.

Patel. It sia ll nuts. Are you crazy. How can you crate another country altogether.

Gandhi. What is wrong in it? Some day it is going to happen. Some time ago Tamilnadu wanted to become another country. That was during Ramaswamis time. From then onwards central leaders a re shit scared of Tamilians. They do not go near them.

Patel. Hee..hee.. Now we have clueless guys in centre.

Gandhi. They were always like that

Nehru. Bapu. You mean was I also a clueless guy.

Gandhi. Then what? Do you think you were some thing great?

Nehru. Bapu. I am sorry you have such opinion about me. You only made me the PM

Patel. By overlooking me, Say that

Nehru. Every one knows it.

Gandhi. I made a mistake

Patel. But you did not live to correct your mistake

Gandhi. That is not my fault. Godse did it. He gave me no chance to live. He did not miss me. It was at point blank range.He ensured I died. Hee..hee. haa… a Raaa…mm. the wounds are paining even now. What a shooting indeed!

Patel. Bapu. Now what should we do with this monkey

Gandhi. What we can do? I think we shall take a delegation to CMs office with these monkeys and submit a memorandum about their problems.

Patel. Do you think Mr Reddy the CM has some time. He has no clue what is happening in state. He is worried about his MsLA running to Jagan. I think he can not sleep well.

Gandhi. poor guy. We shall feel sorry for him

Monkey. Sir We shall stay here with you.

( In the mean time some hostile monkeys come closer grinning the teeth)

Patel. Sshh.. shs.. go.. You swine..

Gandhi. Patel. Plesae drive them away.

( Patel picks up some stones and hurls at Telangana monkeys and they soon run away from there. In the mean time the zoo guys arrive and catch all Telangana monkeys and take them away. They do not see Andhra Monkeys.)

Gandhi. look Patel. Let us go to secunderabad station now. The train going to Vijayawada starts in the evening at 5 pm. We shall see that these monkeys climb on to Bogeys and travel to Andhra area. Or else these will be killed by some mad monkey.

Nehru. It is good idea. There will not be any ticket too.

Patel. OK Bapu. As you say we shall do. Let us go

Gnadhi. Oh Monkeys. Plesae follow us. We shall send you to Vijaywada. I shall tell the ticket collector.

Monkey. Thanks sir

( All Andhra Monkeys gather and dance around Gandhi, Patel and Nehru holding hands and grinning)

CURTAIN FALLS