INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN...182

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN….182

Dr K Prabhakar Rao


( Gandhi, Patel and Nehru are seen travelling in a bus enroute to Nagarjunasagr that is about 140 Km from Hyderabad city. It is at the border of Nalgonda district with Guntur district. They are in great spirits.)

Gandhi. I am seeing this project for the first time.

Patel. Same is the case with me

Nehru. In fact I inaugurated this project if I remember correctly in 1956.

Gandhi. That is good. You were the PM of free India.

Nehru. Bapu. Your words are strange. What do you mean by free India. Even now India is free.

Gandhi. I never meant that Britshers are ruling us even now. We gained freedom from the English crown. But…butt….but..

Nehru. Why are you hesitating Bapu. Plesae be frank.

Patel. Bapu wants to state that India has been enslaved by corrupt politicians who have hijacked democracy in India. These politicians are leaving no stone unturned to make money out of governing and the rulers are scared to call a spade a spade. Look at the latest spectrum scam that has duped nation of 176000 crores rupees. The only thing is that Raja the former telecom minister resigned and going around free making mockery of justice in this country. CBI is doing a camel walk in its investigation. Raja is not behind bars and is free man. God only knows when he will be punished if at all brought to justice

Nehru. Bapu. I think we are going for a picnic.

Gandhi. True

Nehru. Let us talk something different from the usual politics and corruption.

Gandhi. That is nice too.

Patel. Do you know history of Nagarjuna sagar

Nehru. What can be there. This project has been named after Acharya Nagarjuna who was a Buddhist monk and a medical man too. It is believed that he knew how to make gold out of other metals. That is called Rasa siddhi in ancient language.

Patel. It looks you have done a bit of home work

Nehru. You know that I wrote discovery of India.

Patel. I am aware of it and its contents too.

Gnadhi. Did Nagarjuna stay at the project site?

Patel. He was not there when the project was being built. He died centuries ago. It is learnt that he cut off his head with a blade of grass.There is a place called Nagarjuna konda. Konda in Telugu means hill. There are Buddhist sculptures at the site. It was Buddhist center in ancient days.

Nehru. Patel. You also know something of history.

Patel. Thanks. But it is strange that this project was not named after Rajiv Gandhi. Some how it escaped.

Gandhi. Why do you remind the guys in ruling party. Soon they will wake up and name it Rajiv Nagarjunasagr sagar. Hee..hee..

Nehru. Bapu. Are you making fun of Rajiv?

Patel. Why should he do? He is telling that because the AP guys in particular shamelessly are renaming every things after Rajiv Gandhi or Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Disgusting indeed..

Gandhi. Otherwise there is no existence for them. They will be sacked once for all.

Nehru. Iam sure you guys are highly biased.

Patel. We are not biased. We are telling truth and reality. You are unable tom digest facts. Are you not happy that many projects, Institutions, Roads etc are named after you?

Nehru. I never asked them to do that.

Patel. But you never prevented too.No one tells after death. This is the best example of hero worshipping and bootlicking in other words .

( The bus stops at a way side hotel and most of the passengers get down to have tea.. Gandhi looks at the price list that is displayed on a board. He reads it loudly to Patel and Nehru)

Gandhi. Cost of Tea is:

Full standard cup.. Rs 6
Plastic use and throw cup full.. Rs 4
Plastic use and throw small cup. Rs 3
Mini plastic cup use and throw.. Rs 2
TwoTable spoon tea ..Rs 1
One Table sppon tea ..Rs 0.5
One tea spoon tea Rs 0.25

Eee..eee.. what is this nonsense. Does any one take tablespoon tea

Patel. Probably some take

( Some passengers are seen sitting on a bench in a line and tea vendor pours two teaspoons full tea in their mouths. They feel happy and satisfied. Gandho orders three full cups of tea . The vendor brings tea and the trio sip happily. The bus driver honks the Horn and all run to the bus jolting and pushing. In the melee Gandhi falls down and many walk over him. Gandhi cries loudly)

Patel. What is this happening? Is the bus running away. There is no discipline at all among people.

Gandhi. Is this new Patel. This is an undisciplined nation to the core. It starts from top right to the lowest level.

( The trio slowly gets into bus and sit in their seats. They see the driver smoking in his seat. Patel goes to him)

Patel. Namste Bhai. Will you put off the cigarette please

Driver. Are you telling me? Don’t you want to travel in the bus?

Patel. Why ? I want to travel. But what is that to do with your smoking.

Driver. I shall not take you if you insist on my cigarette.

Patel. Come on Mr Driver. Smoking is prohibited in bus

Driver. Look The warning is written in passenger area in bus and not to driver

Gandhi. Bhai. It is for all. This is a public place. Know that.

Driver. So you are adamant. Now look.

(He stops bus suddenly and gets down and keeps smoking. The passengers start fighting with Gandhi and Patel for arguing with driver)

Passenger. Look friends. We have to reach Sagar in time. Why you guys are picking up quarrel with him? Can you reform the nation?

Nehru. Look friends. We can not reform nation. But we must make efforts

Passenger. Please do not be idealistic. I have seen many guys like you

Gandhi. What you have seen in them.

Passenger. They want some attention.

Patel. You are mistaken bhai. Better keep quiet.

Passenger. Whoa re you to tell me shut up.

Gandhi. Bhai. Please do not get angry.

( In the mean time the driver cools down and gets into his seat and starts the bus. All feel relieved. The driver still appears annoyed and is seen driving the bus at breakneck speed. He suddenly stops the bus as goat crosses the road. The jolt is so high that many passengers fall off from their seats and land on others. Some are injured. Some ones lip is cut. Some have bruised arms, knees and feet. They start shouting at the driver. Driver appears least bothered. He continues to dive faster.)

Patel ( shouts from his seat) Bhai driver sahib. Plesae drive carefully and slowly. We are not in hurry.

(The bus running at very high speed takes a rapid right turn and all the passengers fall over others and are injured. A lady losses some of her teeth. Some vomit. Conductor too is injured as he develops bruised fingers)

Passenger. We must report against the driver once we reach Sagar.

Nehru. If we reach safely

( Patel goes to the driver and asks him to stop bus immediately and driver does not respond. The bus is stopped only when Patel pulls the driver by hair. He pulls up the driver from the seat and drags him out. All the passengers gather around him and the driver is thoroughly beaten black and blue. Some hit him with shoes and chappals ( Slippers)

Passenger. Now how we go to Sagar?

Patel. Just relax. We shall contact RTC guys. They would send relief bus

Gandhi. Are they so efficient?

Nehru. They may even book a case for beating govt servant on duty.

Gandhi. What you are talking? If a govt servant keeps doing as he feels like will the people keep quiet.

Nehru. What they can do. They must complain. But they should not take law into their hands

Gandhi. That is OK. By the time guys would die with a driver like this joker.

Patel. Will I get into trouble now. I could not care less

( In the mean time a police van arrives with loads of constables. Some RTC officials too accompany them. They see the passengers)

Inspector. It seems some of you have beat this driver. Whoa re they. Own up or you had it.

RTC official.. Iam chamcha Ram. Why you have interfered with duty of driver

Passenger Laxman. This driver was driving very rash. He was about to meet accidents after every tow minutes. Thrice he almost went off the road and aws about to fall into a roadside valley.

Passenger Narsamma. Look. This driver appears to be drunk too. He was also abusing us when we asked him to drive safely

RTC Official. You can not interfere. He is an experienced one. He has about 20 years service.

Passenger Laxman. But he appears to be a clown. We would have surely died if we continued to sit in the bus.

Inspector. But you guys have no authority to take law into your hands. Interfering with durty is an offense. I may have to arrest the offenders.

Gandhi. Please arrest all of us and hang us.

Inspector. I do not have power to hang you guys. If I had power I would have surely done it. Last night I had a dream that I was a hangman in the service of East India Company and worked in Jabalpur.

Patel. You guys are no less even now.

Inspector. Who are you? You appear to be the ring leader in this group.

Patel. I am Sardar Vallabhai Patel the Iron man of India

Inspector hee..hee A joke. That character died long ago. I was not even born then.

Patel. You shall not understand this aspect.

Inspector. Who is this baldy and moving skeleton with long stick.

Gandhi. I am Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi, Father of India.

RTC Official. A joke indeed. That man died many years ago. He was cremated and some of his asdhes are buried many metres below earth at Rajghat. That character can never resurface.

Patel.. hee..hee.. Hu. Hu

Inspector. Now tell me who beat this driver.

Patel. All of us beat him

Driver. True all beat me black and blue.

Inspector. Now I shall arrest all of you and go and sit in the bus. This area comes under Sagar Police station. We have to go there.

Patel. Thank god. We will be seeing Sagar. Thanks for the trip.

( All passengers are made to sit in the bus and the driver is asked to drive. Some Constables also sit in the bus. Police inspector gets into his van and asks the driver to follow him)

Gandhi. Ohfo. Our whole day is spoiled. There is no picnic now. We will be troubled by the police guys.

Patel. True ( Sings)

We are now going to sagar dam
While the guys in Delhi are busy in a scam
Driver of this bus is foolish one
We kicked this guy correctly that we have done

Gandhi. That was nice.

Constable. No singing in bus.. I shall wrench his neck if he sings next time.

( All passengers sing in Chorus and the police man is lost completely. He picks up his cell phone and informs the Inspector. The driver of the bus suddenly speeds up to sucha great speed that it plunges forward and crashes into police van that is in the front. The van is crushed and the bus climbs over it. All the RTC officials and the inspector are very badly injured. Every ones limbs are broken. They shout… hoo. Matraya.. Bacho.)

Inspector. Oh My leg, My hand, My teeth, My thigs, My knees are all broken. Plesae save me.

Constable from the bus gets down and asks the passengers to help save the victims)

Laxman. We are prisoners. What we can not do?

Patel. Bhai. We can not do any thing. We are prisoners..

( All passengers refuse to get down from the bus)

Gandhi. Look Brothers. This is not the time to act like this. We must help them or else some of them might die too

Patel. It will be a good riddance for the nation.

Gandhi. That is really bad.

Nehru. Bapu. Iam with you. We may get some award too.

Patel. What type of nut you are?.

Gandhi. Awards or no awards. We have to save them on humanitarian grounds

Patel. So be it. Come on guys. Let us help the guys)

(All the male passengers get down and rush to the van and pull out the injured guys and are made to lie on ground in line. In the last they pull out the Inspector. He is very badly injured )

Inspector. Haye.. margayare.. Mera Kya hoga, Mera career khatam ho gaya.. Mera pair kat jayega aur mera hath bhee.. Oh Amma.. ayya. Ab kya Hoga

Patel. Look Inspector. You are atleast alive. I told you about the driver and you never cared, You again asked him to drive vehicle.

Gandhi. Inspector. You should have been careful. Now look. You a re suffering. The RTC officials are all very badly injured. Some lost eyes too. None have any teeth left.Fifty percent of them lost hands and another fifty percent have lso legs. Theyw ill become lame and langda.

Inspector. Eee..eee… Do some thing for us.

Patel We are arrested guys. What we can do?

Inspector. No..no.. You are free. Please do some thing.

Gandhi. OK. Some how we shall take you to the hospital at sagar

( Gandhi speaks to Patel and Patel quickly gets into the bus and drives it backwards and gets it freed from the van. All injured are loaded into the bus and the passengers too sit in it and Patel drives off towards Sagar Hospital. Van is completely crushed.)

Patel. Bapu. Our picnic is fully screwed.

Nehru. What we can do? What is to happen will happen.

Gandhi. Good philosophy. Let us hope all these jokers will survive of course as lame and langda.

Patel. Hope so

Gandhi Let us sing ram dhun in chorus

( Al passengers sing Ramdhun and the bus proceeds to Sagar hospital

CURTAIN FALLS