INTO
THE PASTWITH PAIN…277
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
(Gandhi, Patel and Nehru are
standing at bus stand near Residency in Hyderabad.
They are waiting for a bus.)
Patel. What is the plan for
today? We decided that we should go to Salarjung Museum
today. Is there any change now?
Gandhi. I have to think.
Nehru. What is there to
think? If we have to go there we jolly-well go there. If we decide that we
should not go there we will not go there. Going or not going anywhere is in our hands. Going to places is
not much problem now. But problem is that Patel does not like the place where I
want to go. I do not like to go to the
place where Patel wants to go. Then you may not like to go where we want to go
and then we may go or we may not go to place where you like to go.
Gandhi. Eee..eee..eee.. What
is this Go.. go.. go…? Eee…eeee.. Please
save me. I am out. Save me.
( Gandhi faints on the road
and kicks around his hands and legs violently. People gather around them)
Laxman ( On looker) Bhai.
What happened? Why he fainted? Poor guys. He
is aged.
Patel. He suddenly developed
some problem.
( Some one brings a bottle of
water and sprinkles on Gandhi’s face. He opens his eyes and stares.)
Gandhi. Where I am? Am I
alive? Am I OK .Please lift me up.
( Soon he is lifted up and he
holds his stick and looks at Nehru)
Gandhi. Eee..eee…eee, Save
me. Save me..
( Gandhi sprints seeing Nehru
and runs through the traffic)
Patel. Oh Bapu. Please hold
on. Please stop. Why are you running?
Laxman. Bhai. Is the old man
scared of this man ( points towards Nehru)
Patel. Why should he? We are
all friends. We have to catch him at any cost.
( Gandhi while running
through traffic stumbles on a scooterist
and the vehicle falls down taking the rider and Bapu. Bapu gets up
quickly and runs again through traffic. A police constable arrives soon and
blows wqhizzle. He is after Bapu while the scooterist is carried away to a
hospital.)
Patel, Look Jawaharlal we
must catch Bapu. Otherwise it will become a problem for us.
Nehru. True, But my legs are
aching. I can not walk.
Patel. OK. Then sit down at
the bus stand and do not go any where. I shall catch Bapu and bring him here.
( Patel now runs after Bapu shouting
Bapu..Bapu. Seeing this some police men also run after them. Entire
traffic comes to an halt. Gandhi
dodging patel hides behind a large
truck that has special folded boom with a bucket at the end. It is used to life people safely
to repair high mast lights on the road. Bapu sits in the bucket and hides. Patel keeps searching hear
and there. In the mean time the operator of the truck arrives and starts
the truck and operates the boom and lifts it up. The
bucket goes into sky with Bapu inside. After some time Bapu realizes. )
Gandhi. Oh.. Save me. Save me. I will die
here..eee..eee..eee
Patel. Bapu, why are you
there? Didn’t you find a better place to hide?
Gandhi. Please save me. I can
not even jump from this height. I shall break my legs.
Patel. We shall save you
provided you promise that you shall not run again.
Gandhi. Sure. Sure
( Patel speaks to the
operator and he tries to lowers the
boom. But it does not work. The boom is stuck in high position)
Patel. What happened mechanic
sahib?
Operator. Some trouble. This
has been giving problem since a week. I told in the electricity
office also. But they sent me for work.
Patel. Now what will happen?
Operator. He has to stay
there till it comes down.
Patel. But he is an old man.
He might die there. Please try something.
( In the meantime some
monkeys playing on a tree jump near the
bucket and one of the monkey seeing Bapu snarls at him )
Gandhi. Shh..Shh. Please save
me.. This monkey might attack me.ee..eee
Patel. Bapu. Please do not
say any thing to that monkey. He is not
human. He is better than us. It will not do anything to you unless you do
something to him. It is not like our leaders who can harm others for their self elevation. It happened to me
in 1947. I was to become the PM, but Jawaharlal played cards and became PM.
Gandhi. Hanumanji.
Please excuse me. I shall bow to you (
Sings Ramdhun)
( Monkey nods it’s head and
goes away. In the mean time the
boom is repaired and it is brought down.
Gandhi gets out of bucket. Patel immediately
catches Gandhi and he is pleased. In the mean time, the constables
arrive. )
Constable. Is this the man
running around in traffic?
Gandhi. Yes that is me. Can’t
I run?
Constable. Yes , You can. But
not on public roads where you can be nuisance. You look elderly. Are you
playing here?
Patel. No. No. Sepoy sahib.
He was scared of some thing. Please excuse him.
Constable. OK. Please take
care of him. We have many other important things to do than this. If he does this
again we shall take him to Erragadda
hospital where such men are lodged for life. By the by what is his name?
Gandhi. I am Gandhi, the
Mahatma, father of this country.
Constable. ( looks at Patel)
What you said is true. He is not OK. He thinks he is Mahatma Gandhi. I feel sorry for him.
Patel. Please leave him. I
shall take care of him.
(Constables go away cursing
the guys)
Patel. Bapu. What was the
necessity to run like this? They would never
believe that you are MKGandhi.
Gandhi. But I am MK Gandhi. I
can not tell a lie. What to do? Jawaharlal was telling me something and I could not take his phrases. I had no
other go than except to run.
Patel. Ok .Ok. Now let us go
back. At times we have to tell lies too.
Gandhi. OK. But tell him not
to talk like that.
( Patel and Gandhi walk back
to bus stand while people around melt away laughing. At bus stand, Nehru sees
them)
Nehru. Bapu, why did you run
like that?
Patel. No questions now
please. Now tell me where we should go today?
Gandhi. I think we had enough
today. I am also tired of running. We shall go some other day.
Patel. OK. Again please do
not run. We are also tired.
( The trio walk away
singing Ramdhun)
CURTAIN FALLS
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