INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN...266

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..266

Dr K Prabhakar Rao


(Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are seen strolling in the road in heavens. They come across a stiff looking man with imposing gait. He nears them and Nehru recognizes him. )

Nehru. Hello, General Thimmayya sahib. How are you? Hope all is fine. It is long since I met you.

Thimmayya. Hello Panditji. I am fine. Hope all is well with you. ( He greets Bapu and patel)

Thimmayya. Namaste Bapu and Namste Patelji. Hope you are keeping well.

Bapu. We are fine here. It is very long since we met.

Thimmayya. True. Panditji, I heard that our episode is being enacted again in India. Do you have any idea?

Nehruji. What is that? What was our episode? I am unable to recollect any thing.

Patel. Jawaharlal, You are good in forgetting important things that you goofed up.

Nehru. What goofing up I have done? Eee..eee…ee.e…eee Bapu. Look, this Patel always comments on me.

Bapu. Jawahrlal. Please learn to accept comments. Otherwise, you can not survive. For a politician these are very small things.He must brush things and give a smile ( sings and does jig).

It is a great chance for the guys
Who swallow things, forget and hide
Insults, abuses are part of the game
And be a buffalo always with a thick hide

When you get some left over of food
Accept these as divine offerings and sweet
Be happy with all the abuses on the earth
And be sure one day you shall get a big treat

Thimmayya. Great Bapu. Well sung ( He claps)

Nehru. So General Sahib. You also joined the clapping brigade.

Thimmayya. Good things must be appreciated. Panditji, Do you remember your 1962 Chienese fiasco?

Nehru. Sure. Army did so badly and we were let down.

Thimmayya. ( a bit angry) Is it you or we let the nation down?

Nehru. It has to be army only. They fought the enemy and lost badly.

Thimmayya. But it happened because you let down the nation with your Chinese policy that was cock eyed.

Nehru. Why? Why did you keep quiet?

Thimmayya. Army can not involve in politics in a democracy. We were apolitical. It is not Pakistan, where army calls shots.

Bapu. True, What the General said is hundred percent correct. It is you who let down the nation. It is you and only you. No one else can be blamed. Indian army jawans and officers sacrificed their lives.

Patel. True. It was you and Krishna Menon the Defense minister. Where he is now?

Bapu. He must be in hell suffering for his sins.

Patel. Then why Jawahar is here with us? He should have been with his stooge Menon.

Bapu. Jawahrlal also did some good things before he became the PM. So he is enjoying heavens . But this is for a short period. He has to go to hell to undergo suffering for long period.

Nehru. Ee..eee..ee. Bapu, Should I suffer? Was my sin very great?

Patel. Sure, Bapu is always correct.

Nehru. Now you must be happy Patel.

Ptael Why I should be happy? It is your doing.

Thimmayya. Panditji. I was struggling to get army equipped and expecting threat from China. You guys never listened to me. I had great tiff with Menon and I had to resign.

Patel. You did wise thing.

Nehru. But you withdrew it also.

Thimmayya. But when? I withdrew my resignation when you requested me and also promised that my grievances will be sorted out.

Nehru. True. I said that. I am not denying that.

Thimmayya. But you let me down in parliament. You castigated me there. I had to cut a sorry figure in front of army and nation too. That was not proper for you. I trusted you.

Nehru. Hello General, Promises are made to break. Can politician be trusted? Otherwise he can not be a successful politician. We make and break promises. In fact politicians are the greatest liars on the earth.Only fools believe them. Hee..heee..hee ( Sings and does fast jig)

I fooled you guys and tricked you
And I took you nuts for a bumpy camel ride
You guys like a goat believed the butcher with knife
While we politicians hide within a buffalo hide

( Nehru does jig very fast, slips down and falls suddenly. He can not get up)

Nehru. Eee…eeee…eeeee…ee.. Please save me. I am done.

Thimmayya. Panditji. You are too old for these dances. It is for youngsters.

Patel. Hee..Hee..heee

Bapu. Patel. Please take pity on him.

Thimmayya. ( Gives a hand ) Please rise Panditji. We are always ready to help politicians in this democracy. After all Civilian set up is supreme in democracy. I agree.

Nehru. Hope you are not sarcastic.

Thimmayya. Why I should be? What is rut has been told to you.

Patel. True. He is very honest.

Nehru. Does it mean that I was dishonest?

Patel. You know it better. I need not say anything on that. Honesty and dishonesty are the two sides of a coin.

Thimmayya. Panditji, Of course I did not protest and swallowed things.

Nehru. You could not do any thing. I knew it. I Expected it. I knew you would lump it down your throat.
Thimmayya. Result you have seen yourself. You cut a very sorry figure in front of the nation. Your slogan Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai.. vanished into air. They stabbed you in your back.

Nehru. I never expected it. I really trusted them. They betrayed me badly.ee..ee…ee. I lost my reputation.ee..eee..eeee

Patel. If it was there!. Why are you crying now? Relax.

Thimmayya. I am afraid, Politicins have not learnt lessons after 1962. The story is repeating now in India.

Patel What is that happening.

Thimmayya. The present General is VK Singh. He and govt is logger heads particularly the ministry of Defence.

Bapu. What exactly happened?

Thimmayya. Poor General had entered his date of birth wrongly when he joined army and later he applied for correction giving proof of 10 the class certificate. Although 38 years passed his grievance was not sorted out. He went through various ranks and finally became Army chief. Still he date of birth was not sorted out. The correction would have given him one year extra service as Chief. He has to otherwise retire in May this year.

Bapu. I see.

Patel. Was it so difficult to settle the matter? It is rather strange. If an army Chiefs grievance was not corrected that was pending for 38 years, how the govt can settle grievances of other lower ranks and officers? This is very bad indeed. It shows red tapism in civil beaurocracy.

Thimmayya. I agree.

Bapu. I fully agree. I think we have most inefficient guys sitting in MOD.

Thimmayya. That I do not know. Nehruji knows it better. I was shocked when I knew that Gen VK Singh approached Supreme court against Govt orders vexed up with the issue.

Bapu. What happened in the court?

Thimmayya. The court gave orders in favour of Govt. General accepted the verdict.He prefred to continue

Bapu. We can not comment on this issue now as the verdict was given by the highest court. It is his fate. I feel bad .

Thimmayya. The distance increased between MOD and the Army Chief day by day. One day the Chief declared that he was once offered Rs 17 Crores by Representative of a suppilier of Tatra Trucks for accepting inferior equipment. He said that he informed Defence Minister immediately. Sadly, the representative was a retired Lt General of Indian army. It seems that the conversation was also taped by the army chief.

Nehru. Why he is telling these things now? If his date of birth was corrected as desired, probably he would have kept quiet. Hee..heee.

Thimmayya. It is up to him. Now an enquiry has been ordered by the govt. The retired Lt General filed a defamation case against the Army Chief in a court.

Bapu. Any thing further?

Thimmayya. A letter written by General VK Singh to PM on Army prepared ness has been leaked out. The letter said that army is ill equipped with rusty and useless equipment and weapons including artillery and that there was no ammunition even for various weapons. This has resulted in great shock in the nation.

Patel. Haa..haaa. Our enemies have been spending lot of money for getting information on our Defense preparedness. Now they got it free.. Haa..haaa

Nehru. Who leaked it?

Thimmayya. Intelligence has declared that Army chief is free from suspicion. They are tracing the culprit. All these things are very bad. Only thing is that the Chief has not yet resigned. Only two months are left for his tenure.

Patel. Govt also does not want to buy problems with him now. As it is trapped in all scams. I also heard that all bigwigs are involved in the trucks deal and their names would come out of the tape if pressed further.

Bapu. This is a dirty shit pot infact. I feel sorry indeed. This govt has lost all credibility. It is better they quit.

Thimmayya. What I can say? If our enmies take advantage now, we have to cut a sorry figure. Antony could be another DrMonon.Man mohan singh will replace Panditji. As it is the govt of singh is limping and running from pillar to post every second day. They are neck deep in scams galore.Chee..Chee..Chee. I am ashamed.

Bapu. Why you should be ashamed? We must be ashamed. It is me , patel and this Nehru. We brought freedom as many believe. Churchill said long ago that India would be handed over to scoundrels. How true he was!
Thimmayya. I feel sad Bapu. I am helpless.

Bapu. We too. Hope for the best. Let us sing Ramdhun. It may help us.

( All sing Ramdhun )

CURTAIN FALLS