INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..90

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN..LXXXX
Dr K Prabhakar Rao

(Gandhi and Nehru and Patel are seen standing at a corner near parliament in Delhi. They are as usual. Pedestrians are looking curiously at them. A guy approaches them. He is Rattan Singh accompanied by Sucha Singh)

Rattan singh. Oh Bhai. Bade maze me ho ( appears to be happy).. I think I saw this old man some where. Where it could be? He appears familiar.

Patel. You must have seen his statues. You could have never seen him earlier alive.

Rattan singh. Why and How?

Patel. Because he died much before your dad was born.

Sucha singh. Mere Bap. Tell us, who is he?

Nehru. He is Bapu. Mohandas Karam chand Gandhi. Father of nation.

Rattan singh. Yeah. I heard his name. There used to be a statue near my house, Now it is not there.

Gandhi. ( Getting excited) Where it has gone?

Rattan singh. It has not gone any where by itself. It was in bad shape with broken limbs. It lost its ears, nose and one hand. It was standing on iron rods as there were no legs. So municipality has removed it.

Gandhi. Where they have taken it? I want to see it.

Rattan singh. They have thrown it in a scrap yard. Why are so inquisitive?

Gandhi. Eee..eeee.. Patel.. Have you seen my fate? (Cries loud) (Sings)

Look Patel at my fate now
I do not know whether to laugh or cry
My statues are now in junk yards collecting shit
And I do not understand for this fate how and why

Sucha singh. My dear old man. Why are you crying? How long people will remember you? Why they should? What is so big about you?

Rattan singh. True. My grand father and his relatives were thrown out of West Punjab after 1947. My uncles were killed enroute. My grand father barely escaped death. He was almost a beggar when he came to Delhi

Sucha singh. We were no less. We lost all our property. My uncle was killed in Lahore. My grand father also was killed while catching a train to India. My grand mama barely escaped. Our families suffered so long and so much! All due to you.

Gandhi. What can I do? I never thought it will happen like that.

Rattan singh. How can you say that? Please go away from here. I do not want to see you here.

Sucha singh. Rattan. This guy is not Gandhi. Some one is dressed like him. Now a day this is very common in India. Guys dress up and beg.

Gandhi (Annoyed). I am not a beggar. I am real Gandhi. Father of nation too.

Rattan. Better go away from here . Or else..

Patel. Bapu. Let us go from here. The guys are offensive. Your memory has almost vanished in this country.

Nehru. True.

Gandhi. Eee…eee.. ( sings)

Ab kaun hai mera ab kaun hai mera
Faryad hai…
Faryad hai takdeer ne loota hai basera
Ab loota hai basera…faryad hai ( Song from Anmol Ghadi by Surendra)

( The trio run from the place and stand at a far off place. A pathetic song is heard from a loud speaker)

Mukhda dekhle praani.. Zara darpana mein ..

Paap hai kitna.. punya hai kitna. Dekhle jeevan mein

Dekhle darpan mein.. mukhda….oh. ( Song by Kavi Pradeep)

(Look at your face in a mirror.. and know how much of good things you have done and how much of sin you have committed in your life…)


Gandhi. (Wipes tears with his dhoti) cries and sobs… Yeah. I have committed greatest crime of getting freedom for India ( sobs).. eee..ee… aa.aa

( In the mean time a large crowd wearing black coats are seen crossing the road and traffic comes to halt)

Gandhi. Hey Patel. Who are these guys in such large numbers?

Patel. Bapu. I read in a news paper that 1 800 advocates from Telangana left Hyderabad by special train yesterday. They have come now to Delhi

Gandhi. Why so many? Are there not advocates in Delhi? Where they have vanished?

Patel The advocates of Delhi are in Delhi only. They have come here not to practice law, but to practice how to break law

Nehru ( Laughs) hee..hee

Gandhi What is there to laugh?

Patel. Bapu. These guys have come to protest against the government policy towardsTelangana.

Gandhi. What they will do.

Patel. They will plan same actions as done in Hyderabad

Gandhi. What they have done there?

Patel. They wear black coats. Sit on hunger strike and Dharna in front of courts. Stop traffic at some places. Raise slogans. Most unadvocate like show it is.

Gandhi. Then?

Patel. Most of the time police personnel lathi charge them, kick them, drag them on roads, beat them mercilessly, pull out their coats, pull hair, and kick them too with boots. Ohfo.. no end to the show.

Gandhi.. Ohfo. What a shit? Is this happening to lawyers on road?

Patel. Very much Bapu. Lawyer or no lawyer. Police guys are happy beating up the guys whoever is seen protesting and creating trouble.( sings and does jig)

Police guys beat all creating trouble
Simply reduce them in to a pulp and heap of rubble
They use sticks and stones too to play terror
The news papers from AP are full of this horror

( Some onlookers gather around the trio and clap while Patel does jig and sing. In the mean time truck loads of police guys arrive and land on the lawyers from AP state. Lawyers try to run towards parliament house and the police men try to prevent them. Some lawyers get into arguments with police personnel.. Satish, Yadgiri, Madhusudhan Reddy are among the lawyers).

Madusudhan. Come on guys. Run towards parliament. To day Telangana has to be decided.

Yadgiri. Chalo ( Let us go) parliament. Jai.. Telangana… Jai Jai Telangana

Inspector. You guys shut up. Khoon peejawoonga ( I shall drink blood)

Yadgiri. Tum kuch nahi karsakta ( you can not do any thing)… Jai Telangana

Madhusudhan. Krishna Committee go back… down down.. Andhra fellows down.. down.. Samaikyandhra murdabad… hai… hai…

Yadgiri. Ohh.. Police go back Delhi police hai.. hai.. hai..hai.

Satish. Telangana Leke rahenge.. nahee tho jaan dedenge( We shall take Telangana or we shall sacrifice our lives)

Inspector. I shall give you guys three minutes to go back

Yadgiri. What shall you do ?

Inspector. Chamdi utaar doonga ( I shall take off your skin)

( the crowd shouts loudly and lunges forward. Inspector runs to the ACP)

Inspector. ACP sahib. Order do sahib. Sab ko bhoon ke rakhdoonga ( I shall mow you down)

ACP. First lathi charge them. Kick them hard. ( Maa yaad aan chahi ye) ( they should remember their mothers)

Inspector..Thank you sir, Listen.. Go…….. Charge.

(The police men fall on the advocates and bash them up with lathis. The lawyers are thrown on the ground and trampled. Many are dragged holding hair. Lathis are mercilessly used. Most of the lawyers are injured and are seen bleeding. some skulls are broken)

Inspector. Vakil banta hai aur danga fasad karta hai. Dekhloonga tum sabko.. Mar apnaa state me jake mar. Dilli aanaa kya marneke liye.. Bhaag saale.. ( You guy want to become a lawyer? Then resort to arson and lawlessness? I shall see you. Die and go to your state and die. Do you need to come to Delhi to die? Run idiot…)


(Lawyers are found fallen on ground and most of them are lying bleeding). Few run away from the scene. The entire parliament street is littered with broken lathis , chappals, torn black coats and pulled out hair. Police men drag all the fallen advocates to roadside and vanish from the scene in trucks. There are great cries, moans and weeping. Gandhi and his friends slowly go to the fallen men)

Gandhi. I am very shocked to see these things. Is this happening in India, to Indians?

Patel True Bapu. This is India and the police men are Indians. The beaten up guys are also Indians. Look Indian parliament hose is also there. We are breathing Indian air

Gandhi. ( cries) Mera Bharat. Mera bharat.. (Sings)

Ye kaisa anyaa y vidhata.. Ye kaisa anyay… (a saigal song)

Patel. Bapu. Please do not sing. Do some thing for them

( The injured lawyers crawl to Gandhi and bow to him)

Madhusudhan. Look Bapu. How they have beaten us up? We came to demonstrate for Telangana.

Gandhi. This is a high security zone. You should not have come here,

Yadgiri. No one is listening to us in our state

Gandhi. Don’t you have a government in your state?

Yadgiri. There is one for name sake headed by an old man after YSR s death.

Madhusudhan.That guy is more worried to save his seat.

Yadgiri. It is police raj there in AP.

Gandhi. I learnt Osmania University is the hub of activities and no teaching goes on there now.

Yadgiri. It is all governments mishandling.

Gandhi. So you believe that Telangana is a must.

Yadgiri. Sure. Things have come to a point of no return. We can not co exist.

Gandhi. I am very pained to see the police behavior.

Madhusudhan. They act as per government’s orders,

Gandhi. Better you guys go back to Hyderabad and continue peaceful struggle.

Yadgiri. Sure Bapu. We need your blessings. Peaceful means getting beaten by cops.

Gandhi. True. Look Police is always with government. Best of luck to you guys. This is part of game. Nothing comes out without sacrifice. Look . we got independence. At what cost? Partition took place. Millions died on both sides. I was also shot dead like a sitting duck.. eee…eee… aaa… aa.. Margaya re. Godse ka Goli abheebi dard kartha hai… ammo… oh… ( Godse’s bullet is still painful..)

Madhusudhan. True Bapu. Take it easy. You became father of nation too. But not without sacrifice. We may die. But we shall get Telangana. Jai Telangana..


Patel.. Jai Jai Telangana.

Gandhi. Let us all sing ram dhun… and run away from here. Or else the police guys may return and enact another Jalianwallah Bagh here..

Yadgiri. Ok..Bapu. We are happy they did not fire on us.

(The fallen lawyers crawl to Gandhi and lying down try to sing Ramdhun while some cry in pain. All sing Raghupathi raghava raja ram…. And Gandhi and Nehru and Patel vanish in to distance slowly)

CURTAIN FALLS