INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..201

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..201

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

(Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are seen at Delhi at a park and are seated on benches. They appear to be cool.)


Gandhi. Patel, What are the news? Of late, we are not in news.

Patel. Yeah. We must do something and be active.

Nehru. There are news. Yesterday in a stiffly fought match India defeated Pakistan in World cup semi finals at Mohali.

Gandhi. That is good, but…..

Patel. Bapu., why you have stopped? What is after but ?

Gnadhi. There is nothing important.

Patel. Bapu, You wanted to say something, but you have stopped.

Gandhi. Whao all are out of this tournament?

Patel. All much glorified teams like South Africa, England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies are out of the game now. Other smaller teams like Netherlands, Bangladesh, Kenya, Canada, Zimbabwe are also out. Hee..hee

Nehru. What is there to laugh?

Patel. Nothing much.

Gandhi. Why Pakistan failed in this match? I thought they were doing well.

Patel. It is also a good team. Initially India won toss and selected to bat. Sehwag smashed Pak bowlers well and scored rapidly., the way he was hammering all thought that the sscore would touch not less than 350 atleast.

Gnadhi. Then what happened?

Patel. What will happen. As usual Sehwag fell to LBW and Sachin had to take the responsibility. He stabilized. He was also lucky to get few lives through dropped c taches. He sailed to 85 runs and suddenly gave a catch and was out. Yuvaraj earlier went for a duck. Gambhir also fell early and Kohli too was out cheaply. All thought that It would be a very difficult day. Dhoni played for some time and was out for 25 runs. It was only by Rainas efforts the score reached respectable 260 runs.

Gandhi. Was it not a good score.

Patel. Surely not. Pakistan is capable of chasing it. People kept fingers crossed.

Gandhi. then what happened?

Patel. When Pakistan batted. Run rate was very low due to tight fielding and good bowling by Indians. Pak wickets fell at regular intervals and soon they found themselves in spin. Finally Pakistan lost by 29 runs although they made some efforts to chase.

Gandhi. Poor guys. I feel sorry for them.

Patel. What d o you mean Bapu. You wanted them to win, I am sure.

Gandhi. Better I do not say anything. You guy will misunderstand me.

Patel. Bapu. You know, Pak PM came to India to witness the match.

Gandhi. That was good. I appreciate Dr Man Mohan singh for inviting them to India.

Patel. Bapu, There were rumors that Indian team would be asked to loose the match.

Gandhi, Why they should loose?

Patel. To appease them and a section of guys in India

Gandhi. I do not think this was true.

Patel. We do not know. It could be false rumors. Are Indian cricketers so low? They are great Patriots much more than the political leaders of today. They played so well. But when wickets fell cheaply, there was commotion. Yuv Raj who scored many 50 runs in this game, fell for zero.

Gandhi. Such things happen in cricket. I was told the pitch was bad soon and ball did not rise.

Patel. That also could be true.

Nehru. Hee..hee

Patel. Why are you giggling?

Nehru. Then what I should do? Should I cry?

Patel. Plesae cry because Pakistan has lost.

Nehru. Iam a patriot.

Patel. If so Iam happy. Bapu are you happy?

Gandhi. Iam also happy.

Patel. People generally think that you were for appeasement of Muslims.Even Godse in his statement during his trial said the same thing and he shot you plumb like Yiuvarj fell for LBW for a duck.

Gandhi. Iam not that bad as Godse said.

Patel. You know it better. Why dig past graves. More skeletons will roll down from cup boards. As long as Congress party is there these skeletons will be hidden in these cupboards. May be on some good day some guy will un earth these skeletons.

Gandhi. Then what will happen?

Patel. You know what happened to Lenin when USSR broke up.

Gandhi. Will my title Mahatma be taken away?

Patel. How do I know?

Gandhi. Any how Indian team bet Pak team convincingly. Iam also happy.

Patel. That is good and that is the spirit. In India every one wants India to defeat Pakistan. It is more important than winning world cup.

Gandhi. It is like wishing that my enemy should loose two eyes even if I loose one eye.

Patel. You may think so. Such is the situation. These guys harbored all terrorists and let loose jihad against India. They were involved in Bombay attack. We act as if we are ignorant. Our guys bend before them repeatedly again and again. We have no back bone and stiff spine. Our PM wants cricket diplomacy. What they are going ton achieve? They will go back and stray planning against us. There is no let up. They will not change. Upper stories of our guys are empty and the guys are clueless. You do any amount of favors to them Pakistanis will not change. They will continue anti Indian tirade. This is a naked truth.

Gandhi. Patel. Plesae do not spill so much venom.

Patel Bapu. Iam telling truth. Change atlesat now or else history will not forgive us.

Gandhi. Pate. Enough for today. Iam having head ache.

Patel Head ache will be there when heads are there. I know that you get head ache whenever I speak against Pakistan.

Gandhi. You may think so. Better we call it a day.

Patel. OK. Let us go.

( The trio walks away to the tune of ramdhun)

CURATIN FALLS