INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN...99

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN….99
Dr K Prabhakar Rao

( Gandhi and Nehru are seen sitting in a room in heavens. Gandhi is much upset over Indian politics. He is seen sobbing beating his chest. He tries to pull his hair, but there is none on his bald head.)


Gandhi. Eee.ee…aaa..aaa. I am very much pained to see the present opportunistic trends in Indian politics. Every one wants to become a minister. How it is possible? By the tiem they know something of the job the ministry is reshuffled or carpet is pulled under the feet and ministry falls. Musical chair is always around the corner.eee…eee…ee… ( sings)

In democratic India all wants to be ministers
Although many are mere sinisters
They always aim at grabbing the post
While the nation is made a sacrificial goat

Peoples mandate is blown into winds
As leaders act with dubious minds
Nation’s welfare is down the drains
While you and me feel perils of pain

Leaders of India have ruined the constitution
And Police has failed to check prostitution
Changing parties is the order of the day
Father of nation weeps in dismay

Eeee..eeee…..eee….eeee.

Aaaa…aaaa…aaaa…aaa

Waaa…waa…waa…waaa

Eee..eeee….eeeee.eee..eee

Nehru. Bapu. Please do not cry and feel bad. Your days are over. Why preach morals to a bunch of opportunists. Thank God , you have died, Otherwise there would have been many Godse with AK 47 rifles

Gandhi. What is this AK 47.looks like 1947?

Nehru. Bapu. It is a special latest powerful gun in the hands of militants and army and some police guys also use it. It is a crime for a civilian to have it although many like to have it

Gandhi. I was told that one film star was having one and he was put behind bars for owning it under TADA act.

Nehru. Yeah. He was Sanjay Dutt, the son of famous film actor and MP Sunil Dutt and Nargis Dutt the legend.

Gandhi. I do not know why he was involved in it. A sordid one ( sings)

No one in this country is above law
Although they act as if they have no flaw
Lawyers are busy in courts with open claw
Some innocents are also framed by the Law

Nehru. We can not say much on this. Sanjay Dutt was pardoned on some counts. He is still not free. But he is having a nice time and is out of jail and almost a free bird. No one is bothered for the law. He is influential and rich with lot of clot. So he has been dodging courts with impunity.

Gandhi. The law appears to favor rich and influential people in India.

Nehru. It is always there. If he was a common man he would have been hanged by this time.

Gandhi. Can I say Law is for rich, by the rich and of the rich

Nehru. You may. But you have to be careful. You may commit contempt of court.

Gandhi. Thank god. You saved me. Or else foolishly I would have said some thing and that could have put me and others in some trouble. Any how I am dead…a court can not hang a dead man. ( Sings)

As father of nation, I keep my mouth shut
While all fools abuse me who are just nuts
My statues on pedestals are found with deep cuts
While Indian morals are polluted with rusty rut

Some abuse me as a fool and multiple crank
That I swallow with smile as a prank
The nation watches helpless as cowards
The truth is as sore as the seed of mustard

The fact is that I am helpless nut the Bapu
Having been thrown down from the height as Thimpu
No one cares for my welfare
While leaders are ever busy with women and fan fare

It is better I was shot dead long ago
Disappeared from world as the bird DODO
Leaders are happy that without trace I vanished
Or else, their spirits would have surely diminished.

Nehru. I told you that you should not get sentimental. This is a changed world. Old values have died. They no more hold good. Please amend yourself or you will be miserable… that is all I can say. I am vexed up.

Say thanks to Godse who killed you
Or else, you would have swallowed potassium cyanide
Political ideals preached by thou
Are sunk deep in the debris of Bhopal carbide

Gone are the days when men blindly revered you
And abstained from making derogatory comments
They no more hold esteem for thou
And the nation is silent while no one laments

(The door opens and a badly disfigured woman walks in. She cries and bows to Bapu)

Gandhi. Madam . Who are you and why like this?

Woman. Sir I am wife of Sunil Sharma a youth congress leader from UP.I was murdered and was cut into pieces and then was burnt in a roadside Tandoor ( Stove).

( Bapu cries eee…eee… and is about to faint and Nehru holds him. Her sprinkles water on his face and Bapu recovers)

Gandhi. It is shocking indeed. What you say?. Are you cut into pieces? Who is the butcher?

Nehru. It is alleged that her husband did it. What a shame and ghastly act?

Gandhi. More over he is from congress party,. Let him be from Indira congress. I am happy he is not from my congress of twin bullocks.

Nehru. Your congress died long ago. Your bullocks were eaten too

Gandhi. People like this Satish Sharma must have killed it. How come such fools are given party posts. That means criminals are ruling the party. What is PM great PV doing? Do they recruit butchers in party?

Nehru. Where the time is for PM.He must be busy guarding his chair and also going around the world on tour. He is busy improving international relations.. Political parties thrive on criminals. This is the real democracy in India. Bapu. Please know truth. Please do not be in some illusions.

Gandhi. Yet we have poor relations with all. All countries around us are hostile towards us. That is our achievement. When we are in trouble, no on helps. USSR has gone off. Pakistan and Bangladesh are with drawn swords. Nepal is grinding the knife. Lanka is too not that happy. It feels threatened.

Nehru. Bapu. Whole nation is being mismanaged. Every where crime is on rise. Politics are full of crime. Lot of politics in crime too. (Sings)

Criminals are thriving in Indian politics
And politics thrive in criminals
Leaders are busy in the foolish gimmicks
While chaos is created by Indian radicals

( In the distance famous singer actor Surendranath BALLB is heard singing in pathetic voice)

Ab kaun hai mera ab kaun hai mera
Faryad hai.
Faryad hai takdeer ne loota hai basera
Mera loota hai basera.. Faryad hai
Barbad hai dil Ujada hua aashaonka mela
Hoo jagme akela..ujadee huee baste mei
Ghor and andhera.
Ab kaun hai mera…….. ( Surendranath BALLB from film Anmol Ghadi)

(Who is there for me?.
Who is there for me?
I pray..
Fate has looted me and my house..
Who is there for me?
I pray
My heart is ravaged
It is a scene of destroyed hopes
I am alone in the world
There is utter darkness all around me)
Who is there for me?)



The pathetic song puts Gandhi off and he sobs hysterically. After some time he gets composed and wipes his face with a khadi hanky. He goes to a corner and washes his face with water taken out from an earthen pot. Nehru goes to him and comforts him

Nehru. Bapu. The world has changed. India is going through a bad patch in its history. It always happens in history. Some periods are bad. Just look. We had bad days during invasions of Muslim invaders. We suffered for more than six centuries till English men started ruling us. Then again we had suffering under English men. We gained independence. Now people are suffering under self rule. Has not Germany suffer under Hitler?

Gandhi. But how long this suffering would continue? Earlier aliens were ruling us. So we had to fight and throw them off. But people are suffering under own governments. Whom they will throw off?

Nehru. They have to throw off our own guys. Now we have elections and democracy. People have to elect good people and show door to the rascals. But things will be difficult when every one is a rascal. I shall give example. Have you seen a troop of monkeys or Langoors where a strong male dominates and copulates with all females? Other males just avoid confrontation till the leader grows weak. Then they will fight for supremacy. Indian politics is also like that. These are pack of Langoors in wild. Remember Bapu. A nation always gets a government that it deserves. Our people failed to use their brains during elections. So the government also will have such people in plenty. So the government continues aimlessly and nation suffers.

Gandhi I agree. The parties have criminals with them. You take any party they have criminals with them. It is a failed nation.

Nehru. All parties are not like that. Some are good too. But misrule is India’s trait and birth right too. You remember Winston Churchill’s word in 1947. He stated The Englishmen would be handing over poor India to a bunch of scoundrels where a glass of water and a piece of bread will be taxed. His prophecy has become true.

Gandhi. Yeah. How bad we are as a nation? (Sings loudly beating his chest)

The stronger and ruffians rule this land
While the honest and weak are driven mad
Morals and ethics are thrown to winds
Nobles are found to close their minds

India the mighty nation of lord Rama
Passed into a state of trauma
Where rapes and killings are the daily routine
And people have food without proteins

Nehru. Bapu. Again you are getting excited. Take it easy and relax. You just can not make amends. The nation is on a path to doom.

( In the distance famous singer Hemant Kumar ( Mukherjee) is heard singing)

Zami chalrahee hai
Aasman Chalraha hai
Ye kiske ishaare hai
Jahaan chal raha hai
Zamee chal Rahi
Aasman charaha hai (song from film Pehli Jhalak)

(The earth is moving
And the sky also moves
Under whose command
The universe moves..
The earth is moving
And the sky also moves)

(Gandhi wipes tears while Nehru consoles him)


CURTAIN FALLS

Note. This article was written by me during the tenure of PV Narsimha Rao as PM of India.