INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN...235

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN…235

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

(Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are seen purchasing vegetables at a market in Hyderabad Rytu ( farmer) bazaar ( Market) and they are holding bags in hands.)

Gandhi. The market appears flooded with all types of vegetable. I am sure the prices must be low.

Patel. We have to see it.

Nehru. What is there to see?

Patel. OK Let we go in.

(They halt at shop and Nehru feels some tomatoes with hand)

Shop keeper. Oh Bhai. Please do not touch them.

Nehru. Why? What is wrong in it? What goes wrong with them if I touch?

Shop keeper. Bhai. Your hands may have some bacteria and virus. How do we know?

Patel (Angrily) Come on. Look at your shop. You have spread all vegetables on ground. Every where dirt is there. Once you are away in the afternoon, you will find all dogs pissing here. Pigs will roll here. It is so horrible. Look that child is urinating right next to your shop. Do you know that? I am sure you have not even cleaned this place before you occupied it.

Shop keeper. Look. I spread a plastic sheet on ground. I a careful.

Patel. Will it be OK? Whom you are fooling?

Shop keeper. OK Bhai. I am sorry. But this is not America to have great cleanliness. Life goes on like thgis.You may handle the tomatoes.

Gandhi. What is the price of tomatoes?

Shop keeper. Sir. Tomato costs Rs 10.

Patel. Is the price same for big and small?

Shop keeper. Yes. There is no change.

Gandhi. Give me two kilos. How much I have to pay?

Shopkeeper. It depends on how many consist of one Kg.

Patel. What does that mean? One kilo has to be 10 Rupees.

Shop keeper. No Bhai. Each tomato costs 10 rupees.

Gandhi. Oh no… eee..eeee.. aaa..

(Gandhi shrieks loudly and falls down. On lookers gather around him while Patel and Nehru are worried. Gandhi occasionally shivers with some froth at his mouth.)

Nehru. Patel. What happened to Bapu suddenly? I am scared.

Patel. I do not know.But he some times does this. Something must have bitten him.

On looker. Bhai. This place is very dirty. There could be some scorpion or some dirty insect or centipede that has bitten him. Take out these vegetables and search for it.

(The other on lookers throw out all tomatoes and search . But nothing is found. Shop keeper cries loudly.)

Nehru. Patel. Sprinkle some water on Bapu’s face.

Patel. I shall do that.

( Patel goes to a tap close by and finds no water coming out from it. The water tap is jammed and heaps of garbage is around. It appears as if the tap was not working since many years.)

Patel. Oh shit! What a place indeed! There is no water any where here.

( ( Patel goes near a dirty toilet room and finds some water in a bucket and he gets some water in a dirty plastic container available and sprinkles on Bapu’s face. Bapu slowly opens his eyes and moans. He slowly sits up.)

Patel. Bapu. How are you now? What happened to you? Has anything bitten you?

Bapu. No…. No . Nothing has bitten me. I heard the prize of tomatoes and collapsed after a shock.

( The on lookers laugh and go away. The shop keeper is busy collecting his tomatoes cursing every one around. He cleans them with available dirty water and wipes them with an equally dirty cloth.)

Patel. Bapu. Please get up. I am sure you are OK.

Gandhi. I am fine now. Let us move.

( They slowly walk to some distance and halt at a shop. The vendor is selling Bhaji ( Green vegetables)

Gandhi. Bhai. How are you selling these green vegetables?

Vendor. Bhai . A bundle costs depending on leaves. Each leaf is Rs one. On an average each bundle would cost Rs 40..

Gandhi. Ee..eeee…eeee. Is it so expensive? Is it gold? Aa..aa..aa. ( He picks up a stone from nearby and hammers his own head and shouts loudly)

Gandhi. Kill me..Kill me. I want to die immediately.

( Many people gather around them and enquire. They are Suresh, Ramesh, Narsimha, Yadgiri and Ramu)

Ramu. What happened to him? I feel bad about him. He is already bald.

Yadgiri. Why you guys are not stopping him?

Suresh. He may hit us. Guy appears to be a lunatic.

Patel. Come on guy. He is not lunatic. He is upset after hearing the prices of vegetables.

Yadgiri. We are also much upset about prices. But we are not breaking our heads.

Suresh. It is good to break swindlers’ and hoarders’ heads than breaking our heads. There is so much of price rise. There is no control on any thing. This govt is useless.

Yadgiri. You appear to be a fool. Do you believe that there is a government in the state and center?

Suresh. Some thing is there.

Yadgiri. What is the use? It is as good as not having.

Patel. What to do? In this country everything has become costly. There are so many types of taxes. Those who are in power are looting the nation. You guys. Do you know that some billions of crores of rupees are stored in Swiss banks by our men?

Suresh. Do you know them? I do not have even 20 Rs to hide in my pocket.

Patel. If I know them, I will be the first person to tell the names to media.

(Gandhi in the mean time gets tired of himself as no one has prevented him from hitting himself with the stone. He looks around sheepishly.)

Gandhi (Whispers to Patel) Look. No one has prevented me. You also did not bother. Of course Jawaharlal looked other way.

(Slowly on lookers go away from the scene laughing. The vegetable vendor curses the trio. The trio now is at the exit gate.)

Patel. Bapu. We have not purchased any thing. We spent hours here.

Nehru. Most of our time was wasted in Bapu’s Tamasha.

Gandhi. Was it a Tamasha for you while I suffered?

Nehru. Then what? You made a mocker of you and us also.

Gandhi. What was wrong in it? Is getting upset a crime?

Nehru. You know it better.

Patel. Bapu. You appear to be tired today. We shall go back. We can have milk in the night. Tomorrow we shall see.

Gandhi. I shall have only goats’ milk.

Patel. OK. I shall get for you some how. Let us go.

( The trio walks away from the market.)

CURTAIN FALLS