INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN.... 283

                                                 INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..283

                                                           Dr K Prabhakar Rao

(Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are seen on a road leading to  Vijay chowk in Delhi. They are dressed as usual and Gandhi is  holding long stick in his hand. They are stopped by police men at barricades. )

Gandhi. Bhai, Why are you  stopping us from going further?

Constable. We have orders to do so.

Patel. That means you do not know why.

Constable. True. Our duty is to stop you. Not to know why.

Nehru. Hee…hee

Patel. Why do you laugh Jawaharlal?

Nehru. I am amused at his reply.

Patel. What is amusing in this?

Gandhi. Forget it Patel. Let us  see how to manage these guys.

Patel. Look police brother. We have some urgent work at a place and we have to go through this road only.

Constable. What can I do? I am obliged to do my duty. If I leave you, I shall loose my job.

Patel. Why so?

Constable. I  will be dubbed as a sympathizer of extremists.

Patel. Where is extremism in this?

Constable. Our Home minister feels that who ever has taken part in the recent show at Vijay Chowk are Maoists and they are extremists or Naxalites.

Gandhi. I feel pity for him. Poor guys is hard pressed with Naxal problems in Jharkhand and  Chattisgarh states.

Patel. He  is unable to sleep comfortably. Whenever he closes eyes probably A Naxal with a rifle is seen by him.

Constable. Look friends. Please leave this place. Or else I have to call my officer.

Patel. What he will do?

Constable. It is up to him. He may even ask me to open fire at you with this rifle.

Gandhi. Why bother him Patel.

Constable. Why can’t you guys travel by Metro rail?

Patel. All metro stations are closed. Trains do not ply.

Gandhi. There are no buses too.

Patel. Even if they play, no one wants to travel I them.

Constable. Why? You are males. You have to have no fear.

Patel. It is quite possible that driver and his friends could be homo guys. As it is, we are very old guys. If some one is after us we can not even fight back.

Constable. You are exaggerating. Till now no such thing happened in Delhi.

Gandhi. Now it can happen. For everything there has to be  some starting point.

Patel. We can not risk ourselves.

Constable. Please go away. My officer is coming this way.

Gandhi. Let him come. We are not scared.

( In the mean time an Inspector arrives with a carbine in hand)

Inspector. Constable. who are these guys?

Patel. We are Gandhi, Nehru and Patel.

Inspector. Why are you here? You were dead long ago.

Patel. We died long ago, True, But we are here for some work.

Inspector. Ohfo. We are tired of tackling living guys. How can we deal with dead guys?

Patel.  You have to. You are being paid for it.

Inspector. The fun is over. Can you fool us like this? Do you think we are fools.

Patel. We never said that way. You are calling yourselves.

Inspector. Now the jokes are enough. Go away from here. You are not allowed to go further.

Patel. Why are you so rude to old men like we three.

Inspector. You guys appear to be surely trouble makers. You are arguing with police men. Do you know the consequences?

Patel. At best you can open fire at us. What more you can do?

Inspector. Are you not scared?

Gandhi. Dead men are not scared of anything. They can not die second time. 

Inspector.  You guys appear to be fools.

Patel. You may think so. This is all fools world.  Every guy thinks other guy is a fool.

Inspector. That means you  think that we are fools.

Patel. Did I say that?

Inspector. But you mean it.

Patel. You may presume.

Inspector. Are you a Naxalite?

Patel. Am I looking like that? Look at me well.

Inspector. Nothing will be written on your face.

Patel. Why you have used word Naxalite to me? I feel offended.

Inspector. Why should you feel offended? Our Home mister Shinde Sahib called the youth agitating at Vijay Chowk as Maoists .

Patel. Hee..hee. He is obsessed with Maoists. Every one on the earth could be a Maoist for him. Any one against govt has to be a  Maoist for him. A new definition for Maoist has been found by him. Great indeed! Now you can use any amount of force against Maoists. Am I true?

Inspector. Very wells aid. You appear to be very intelligent.

Patel. That is why I was called Iron man of India.

Inspector. Come on guys. Forget about those old guys who were dead long ago.

Gandhi. But we are they.

Patel. And they are we.

Nehru. And we three are they and those three are we.

Inspector. Eee..ee…eeee… shh. Stop saying this..Or else I shall shoot at you.

Patel. What else you can do? We are Naxalites for you.

( Inspector lifts carbine and fires at the trio with a burst of fire)

Patel. Heee..heeeeee.. Hoo.. Hoo

Gandhi. Hoo…hoooo;;;haa ;;;haa

Patel. Look Inspector. We are not the poor youth at Vijay Chowk who were unarmed on whom you guys have shown your might. You can not do anything to us  as your bullets can not do anything to us.

Inspector. I shall show what I can do for you. I shall call a military tank to blow you guys.

Patel. Please get the atom bomb that is in store.

Inspector. Surely. After all I have to deal with Maoists.

Constable. Sir , If we use atom bomb all of us will die.

Inspector. True. Ohfo. Now what to do?

Patel. Best thing is to allow us to go through to Vijay Chowk.

Inspector. If we do that  we loose our jobs.

Patel. Then what is to be done?

Inspector. You only tell us.

Patel. Accept that you have done a mistake while  handling the youth at Vijay Chowk.

Inspector. I  shall say that  But Shinde sahib will not accept that.

Gandhi. He will also accept it some day.

Inspector. At least on my part I accept that we did mistakes.

Gandhi. That is good now. Relax. We are going back now. You will also get promotion soon  as ACP. Remember this in your life.

Constable. How about me sir. I am only a constable for the last 10 years.

Gandhi. You will become SI soon. Work hard and be humane and honest.

Patel .OK Fine boys , we are going

( The police men salute the trio as they walk back)

                                             CURTAIN FALLS