INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN...221

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN…221
Dr K Prabhakar Rao

(Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are seen walking near Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. They are in their usual dress and appear to be in normal mood. Patel is seen munching fried ground nuts from a packet. Patel offers some nuts to Nehru.)

Look Jawaharlal. How about some ground nuts. These are tasty.

Nehru. No Thanks.

Patel. Why? Don’t you like them?

Nehru. This is not the way to eat them on roadside.

Patel. Oh. I am sorry. You were PM once. It will not be appropriate to eat these nuts on roadside.

Nehru. You may think any thing. I did not say any thing.

Gandhi. What troubles you guys. Patel. If Jawarhal does not want to eat them, let it be so. Why make an issue out of it.

Patel. Iam not doing anything. That guy has still some hang up. He has not yet returnrd to ground earth.

Gandhi. Oh I see.

Patel. There is nothing to see here. It is simple one. Jawahrlal still suffers from his ego of having been the PM once.

Gandhi. Let him be like that. If he feels happy like that let him be. Every one has his ways.

Patel. Bapu, Look at yourself. You are great Mahatma, Father of Nation, great Bapu. But still you are simple. Even now you are not putting full clothes. But this guys till thinks he is the PM. Look at his achkans and rose at his button.

Gandhi. People have their own ways. We must not bother for them.

Patel. OK Bapu. If you say so I am happy.

( They come across an old man with shaggy look, He is lean and lanky. He is holding a sickle in one hand and in another hand he has hammer. )

Gandhi. Bhai. Who are you? Why these gadgets with you. Are you looking for some job?

Patel. Bapu, Have you not recognized him. He is Charu Mazumdar, the great Communist revolutionary from West Bengal

Nehru. I do not know him much.

Gandhi. What is so great about him?

Patel. Bapu, He has become famous from Naxalbari movement. Along with Kanu sanyal, he was formidable.

Majumdar. You have recognized me correctly.

Gandhi. Bhai, Why are you on this street?

Mazumdar. Where I shall be? Where I will be? Where I have to be?

Patel. Why. India is very large. Even Bengal is very large.

Mazumdar. Friends. Now Red sun has sunk in West Bengal.

Gandhi. Yeah. You guys enjoyed for the last three decades. Now Mamta has thrown you out lock stock and Barrel.

Patel. Their top leaders have lot election including the CM.

Gandhi. As you sow , so you reap.

Mazumdar. Yeah. Very correct. They had to pay for their deeds. But no one expected that they would loose so badly.

Patel. Defeat should be like this only. It has to be convincing. Now we have to see how this new lady would do. People have lot of expectations from her. She has to perform really. It will be very difficult task indeed for her.

Gandhi. She will have support from center. Only thing she has to ensure that her colleagues do not gobble up things as they got a chance after so many years to be in power. Usually such things happen.

Patel. Wait and see. Congress govt at center is known to be scam happy.

Gandhi. We are going to eat cake soon. Why discuss its taste now?

Patel. Hee..hee. Look Mazumdar Bhai.. I shall call you comrade.. What are your plans? Your CPI ML is a gone case now in the state.

Mazumdar. Keep watching. You hall know soon. One day it will come back to its glory.

Patel. But CPI ML does not believe in elections. They live in gun culture.

Mazumdar. True. They have their own manifesto and believe in it. You know they are doing a great job in Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa. They are of course weak in Andhra and Maharashtra.

Patel. Look Mr Comrade, Don’t you think it is outdated philosophy?

Mazumdar. No.. No.. Never. It is always fresh and convincing.

Patel. Except in China everywhere they are fading. In China too it will go one day.

Mazumdar. That is your dream. Any how we are poles apart. Bye . Take care of yourself.

Gandhi. That is fine sir. You look famished much. Please take care of yourself first.

( Mazumdar walks away dragging his feet)

Gandhi. Look Patel, This lady Mamta successfully derailed Tatas Nanos project in west Bengal. The investments have gone out of the state. Will she be able to bring investments into state

Patel. Bapu. During the last three decades the state suffered greatly. Most of the industies opted out from the state. No new guy from outside would venture being a communist dominated state. Now things will change. But where people will go? There will be lot of unrest in the state. It will not be easy for het to settle things in these five years. She has to set things right that have been goofed up in three decades.

Gandhi. True. In next elections if center looses power she will have trouble. It is unlikely that the congress govt will return due to multiple scams. The states also are changing. I think there will be great changes in next election.

Patel. Till then they can have happy time. More scams will be un earthed. Rest of the time will be lost in defending scams. It will be a scams galore. ( sings and does jig)

Iam a hero of Indian scams
And yet go uncaught
I shall make Tonnes of money
Even though many laws are brought

It will be scams galore
I live in place like Phantoms crooks den
One day I would write my history
Using a mighty golden pen

Gandhi. Ha..ha.. Well sung Patel. Iam proud of you.

Nehru. What else you can say Bapu. This patel has put you in his basket.

Gandhi. You also may try. Who stops you?

Nehru. I have better things to do. My level of imagination is at higher plane. I do not sing cheap songs.

Gandhi. It may be so as you like. May god bless you.

Nehru. Thanks.

Patel. Bapu.. Look at distance. I see a huge sculpture. It was not there earlier in Delhi.

Gandhi. Let us go and see it from close.

( They go near the sculpture. They get astonished)

Gandhi. What a statue!

Patel. Bapu. Look at him. It is the figure of some one with a big sack on his shoulder. The sack is marked Loot. In his hands he has many cheque books of Swiss bank. He is also pushing a small trolley suit case marked scams money. Bapu. On the pedestal it is written dedicated to Nation.

Gandhi. It is a fashion to dedicate big projects and dams to the nation. The leaders who go there to inaugurate declare accordingly. If these guys do not dedicate where it will go. Will it go to Pakistan? It will still remain with in this nation. This is all tamsha by the leaders. The flunkies executives in govt plan all these tricks and the leaders nod their heads like asses. They want their names on plaques. Hee..heee..hee.

Patel. Haa..haaa.. God bless this nation and common man. In fact a very big statue resembling Laxmans common man ( Cartoon) should be erected in all Cities and declared dedicated to the nation. Haa..haaa.. Hoo.. Hoo..

Gandhi. Hee…heee

Nehru. Bapu. Iam vexed up with you guys. I am going.

Gandhi. Thanks dear. Yu saved us. Your agony is over.

( CURTAIN FALLS)