INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN...317

                                                INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..317

                                                         Dr K Prabhakar Rao

  (It is the festival of Bonalu in Hyderabad and entire city looks colorful with all durga, chandika   pochamma, Kali, Ellamma ,maisamma, peddamma, maremma,Nalla pochamma,Nookalamma  and , renuka temples are decorated in city. People are seen in  gay mood and everywhere drums are being played. Songs are blared out on  speakers.Gandhi, Nehru and Patel decide to watch the festival and they proceed to Tank bund.)

Gandhi. Patel, I heard there are many temples of goddess in Hyderabad. These are known to be at Lal dawrwaza, Tank Bund, secunderabad, Dilsukhnagar, LB Nagar, Saroornagar, Ameer pet, Osmania university, Madhapur road, Karwan, Golconda fort, Kukatpalli. Khilla maisamma,Chaderghat, Charminar, Afzal gunj and  many more smaller ones,     in twin cities.

Patel. Let us go to Tank bund . It is close by.

( The trio reaches tank bund lower road and the temple is called Katta .maisamma. At the temple ,there is great rush. Lot of women are dressed in colorful sareees and are carrying bonums  )

Gandhi. What are the things the women are carrying.?

Patel. They are called bonums. In fact  it is Bhojanam means  food. In the local  dialect the word got corrupted and became Bonum.

Gandhi. Interesting indeed. Every place has own traditions and one must respect it.

( In the mean time  some goats  bleat near by )

Gandhi. ( Gets perturbed) Where  are these goats.? Why they are  bleating? I hope they will not be sacrificed. I am itching to drink goats milk.

\

Patel Govt has banned animal sacrifice at temples 

Gandhi. Good. They have done atleast one thing good.

( In the mean time, a devotee brings a goat duly decorated with garland. It is presented to the goddess by the   priest. Once the devotees are blessed, they  take away goat away from the temple . The goat has a garland around the neck and has kum kum ( Red color powder used in worship) and vermilion on the fore head)

Gandhi, Patel. Have you seen it?  They brought a goat and presented it to the  goddess. I do not know what next awaits it.

Patel. What can happen?. Any one’s guess.  The orders are that the animal can not be sacrificed in front of the deity. They are abiding by it. There are no orders that it can not be killed away from temple. The goats re taken to a place slightly  away from the temple where a butcher awaits with a knife.

Gandhi. Ram. Ram.. What a cruelty!  The govt made rules to prevent sacrificing of animals. But I never thought that this would take place.

Nehru. Bapu, Why meddle in their affairs? They may sacrifice us  if we interfere.Many would be drunk too..

Gandhi. If you do not want to come, most welcome.

Nehru. No , I shall follow.

Patel. That is good.

( The trio travels to the place where goats were taken. There is a cement platform   available at road level on foot path. They find two strong men holding the goat to the ground. The third person has closed its mouth to prevent bleating. The butcher takes his knife  and  sluices the throat of the goat and blood gushes out. The goat struggles severely  but is pinned down to ground. Slowly the goat stops struggling and gives up the soul. The  dead goat  is taken to  another side where it is skinned and meat is carried away  by the owners of the goat. The butcher is paid before that. )

Gandhi, Patel. Have you seen it?  They brought a goat and presented it to the  goddess. I do not know what next awaits it.

Gandhi. Ram..ram..What a cruelty on streets!

Patel. That means cruelty can take place off the streets,

  

Gandhi. Did I say so? Please do not twist my words.

Patel. Bapu. This is a regular affair. It happens  near  most of the temples of durga and kali temples in twin cities and other places.

Gandhi. It is a sad thing.

Patel. Bapu. There are  sanctioned butcheries in city. Killing the animals is regular affair  to sell meat to people. Govt can not stop this activity. Some also  butcher animals at their homes. Can you stop? No, I know that. You see and forget.

Gandhi. No. No. I can not  keep quiet at this cruelty.

(Gandhi runs to the place where goats are being killed waving his long stick)

Gandhi. Stop this murder and mayhem. Are you not humans? Why are you killing them.?

Yadiah ( Butcher) It is our job . We kill because we are being paid on this holy occasion.

Gandhi. That means you are sacrificing animals,

 Yadiah (Butcher). If we kill in front of the goddess , it is sacrifice.

Gandhi, This is not correct. This is sacrifice only because initially you presented the animal to the goddess 

before killing it  here. I shall not allow it.

Yadiah. What you can do old man? Go away. Do not create trouble.

Gandhi. Nothing doing. I shall stop this. Have you seen this lathi?

(Gandhi gets excited. He swings lathi and sings )

Come on guys look at me

And see this swinging versatile stick

I shall not allow this  murder and mayhem

Although you may feel I am mentally sick

Narsiah (devotee) what you can do with lathi?.  See these knives.

Maisanna. Who are you buddhe ( Old man ) to stop this. Go away from here. Or else…

Gandhi. What else you can do? You said ‘Or else’. Are you threatening me? . What will you do?. Will you kill me? Come on kill me..Sacrifice me instead of goats

( Gandhi kneels at platform bending his head and shouts kill me .. kill me )

( The passers collect and soon big crowd collects at the site. Nearly ten goats also are collected at site. They start bleating loudly. The butchers are getting shaky. Many people are objecting to killing. The police  arrive soon at the site )

Inspector. What is happening? ?

Yadiah. We are killing goats here and this old man is preventing us.

Inspector. Hellow oldman. What interest you have in this? Why are you interfering in the function?

Patel. Look Inspector. Sacrifice of animals is banned by govt. Although they are not killing animals  in temple in front of goddess, they are killing them after presenting them to goddess. These poor animals are being killed here away from temple. This is nothing but sacrifice

Inspector. Old man , Why you are interested in this? In what way it will help you? Who has sent you here? Who paid you for this.

Gandhi. No one has sent me.

Inspector. What is your name? You look familiar

Gandhi. I am Mohandas Karam chand Gandhi,

Inspector. I heard his name. I read in text book.. But  He died long ago.

Patel. You heard correctly.

Inspector. Then how can you be alive now? You are  some trouble maker and cheat and trickster..

Gandhi. What else you can think bhai?.Your level of intelligence is limited andvery poor. The uniform has made you like this.

Inspector. Please go away from here before things turn violent. This is a religious affair. The practice is going on since many years, No one is bothered about killing goats,.

Gandhi. This practice should stop. All of you are party to this.

Inspector. If you guys do not go, I have to arrest you for disturbing peace. ..

Patel. Please do it. I am not scared of your arrest. I have seen many guys like you.

( In the mean time, the crowd swells up. There are many in the crowd who are against killing. They start raising slogans against police and the butchers shouting down..down... Sensing situation, the Inspector rings up his superiors on mobile phone)

Inspector. Is it the SP Avataram speaking? Sir, this is  Inpector  Tikka  shankaram from Tank bund maisamma temple. There is trouble here. Some guys are preventing killing of goats away from temple.

SP ( Voice ) Do they want the animal to be killed within temple ?

Inspector. No sir.. No sir… No where.

SP( Voice ).Better send away butchers and get all goats to police station. We shall see later. Post extra police men at site. Do not use force unless essential. Get the ring leaders to station. We shall see later. We shall chew them alive.I shall show what is Avataram.

Inspector. Ok Sir..sir..sir..sir..sirrr..sir.sir.sirrrrrrrr

( Inspector orders that all goats be  collected and sent to police station immediately.

Inspector. You three guys are  under arrest  for disturbing peace.

Patel. Why we should be arrested? Arrest butchers first. We shall come on our own.)

 (Police men arrest butchers and take away goats in a van. Crowd raises slogans against the police. They approach Gandhi and Patel congratulating them )

Inspector. Where is the third guy?

Patel Ohfo. Bapu, Nehru fainted some time ago. We forgot about him. Let us search.

(Police also search for Nehru and they find him near the site where goats were killed. He is not recovered and violently shaking limbs shouting no killing .. no killing here)

Inspector. (calls SI Yadiah) Mr SI.Yadaiah, Take this guy to hospital in ambulance immediately.

Gandhi. Not required. We shall take care of him.

Patel. ( Goes to Nehru) Come on Jawaharlal. please get up. Goats are safe

( Nehru opens eyes and slowly gets up)

Inspector. You three guys have to come to station. You started trouble.

Gandhi. Is it trouble?

Inspector. Then what?

Gandhi. Catch us and take us if you can .

Inspector. Are you playing with us? I shall skin you guys.

Patel .That you can do for goats in police station and have Biryani in the night.

( Inspector and few police men fall on the trio. But fall flat on ground as the trio have no bodies. They break their teeth. Inspectors revolver in holster fires accidentally and bullet goes through the leg of a constable.)Constable. Ho.Ho..Haaa. I am dead.. Save me. ( He collapses)

(Other constables carry him away to ambulance )

Trio. Well done Inspector. You can not even look after personal arm. Go to some dentist and get cured. We are off.

                                          ( The trio walks off  ) 

                           

                                        CURTAIN    FALLS