INTO THE PAST WITH
PAIN..110

                                       Dr K
Prabhakar Rao

 

( Jawaharlal Nehru is seen sitting in a room in heavens. He
is nervousand is worried. Indira is seen sitting on a stool next to him.  Mahadev Desai 
rushes into the room very anxiously. )

 

Desai.  Jawahar. Are
you relaxing here?  Bapus condition is
bad. He has fainted. I think Indira has already told you.

 

Nehru. Yes . By all means. But what to do. That old man
takes everything to heart. He  must know
that he was dead in 1948. Look how many years have passed now.Why should he
worry for the events in India?

 

Indira. Yes father. 
What you said is true. He is still living in past ( sings)

 

Look father the great

This old man has to be set right

He is still living in past

Hope he  does not
breath his last

 

Nehru. I am highly upset. My entire family has been ruined.
I died a broken man. You were shot dead.Sanjay crashed in pane. Even Rajiv was
blown up. Eee..eeee.aaa…aaa..

 

Indira. Dad. I am his mother. How should I feel. I lost Sanjay
in air crash and it was his folly. You can not escape fate.

 

Nehru. But Rajiv was killed for nothing.

 

( In the mean time Ghost of Rajiv Gandhi walks in. His face
is very badly disfigured)

 

He embraces Indira and  
bows to  Nehru. Indira is seen
sobbing)

 

Rajiv. Mummy. Mummy I have also come. I could not stay in
that wretched place after you left India. We were not that bad people.
Why we were killed?

 

( In the back ground Great singer actor KL Saigal is heard
singing)

 

Koi bhee  manush kitna
hi bura ho

Hothi hai thodi si bhalayee

Ishwar kaa gun ek yahee

Kantao mein phool khila dena

Sath manush ke gayee burayee

Rahgayi uski bhalayee

Tumbhi man mein preet ko rakhna

Aur kantoko hasaa dena..                       ( From Film Lagan 1939)

( Who ever may be he

And how evil he may be

There is always some good in him

This is a god’s trait that 

In thorns a flower blooms

With death of a man

Also dies his evilness

Look, so harbor love in you

An always in your heart

And make thorns laugh)

 

 

(Some wailing ghosts suddenly enter the room. They shout)

 

 Ghosts. We are the
people who were killed along with this Rajiv. What crime we have done that we
died with him? Our families have been ruined. Haye  Hame Mardiya. Fuzool mein hame mardiya (Unnecessarily
we were killed).

 

Indira, Come on shut up you guys. A king never dies alone.
PM in India
is king. Whole world knows about it. PM in India is supreme.

 

Ghosts. Then who is president?

 

Indira. He is there as ceremonial head. To put his stamp where
required without questioning. Do you know Zail singh said he would sweep the
floor for us. Look a king never dies alone. Do you know that in medieval days
whenever kings died his attendants, concubines, horses and keeps were  also killed by strangulation and were  buried along with the dead king? Heeee..heeee..ou..ou..ou

 

Rajiv. Mom. Forget them. Why you are wasting your time?

 

(The ghosts go away after shouting slogans against Rajiv and
Indira)

 

Nehru. Very true. Rajiv, I was very happy when I learnt that
you were made PM

 

Rajiv. Yeah grand pa. Every thing was so sudden. Even I did
not expect turn of events Rather I was forced into chair. The nation was at my
feet and was handed over to me in silver plate.

 

Nehru. I heard Mukerjee was a stiff opponent. Who was he to oppose
a member from Nehru family?

 

Rajiv. He was no one. How dare any one can oppose one from
our dynasty? He did not have backing. He was silenced.

 

Nehru. How about the old man Narsimha Rao? He was faithfully
serving us for many years

 

Rajiv. No chance. Where I am and where he is? He can not
even dream. How can some one outside Nehru family will rule India? Although the old guys were
desperate they could do nothing. After all they are camp followers. Hee..heee,
I became the PM the youngest one and the whole country lay flat in front of me.
I was dead sure that for next 50 years I would rule India and every one thought so.(
Cries) but Grandpa.. eeee…eee. I was blown up by LTTE guys.. Haaa.haaa…
eee..eee. I hardly enjoyed as PM.

 

Desai. You guys had enough of discussions.  Are you not bothered about Bapu? I have been
watching you guys for the past one hour. None has bothered to go and see Bapu (
cries)Bapu. Mere Bapu. How are you? Zinda ho?( Are you alive?)

 

Nehru. Look Desai.  We
are all already dead guys. How can Bapu die again?

 

Desai. Ohfo. I forgot. Then I think we need not worry much
about him. The old man gets worked up on small things in politics.  Ditching, corruption, scams, cheating is part
of politics now. If one does not master these traits one can never succeed.
Think of Gulzarilal Nanda. He was PM twice for short periods as care taker. Who
cares for him? He did not have these traits or atlesat one of them. You know
his fate. The guy was cycling in Delhi while
political cheats were travelling in luxury cars in Delhi and also occupied important positions.

 

Indira. Are we cheats? Be frank

 

Desai. I did not say that.

 

Nehru. Please do not fight here. Desai Please relax. You can
never change the world. Your days were over long ago. You even did not live
till India
got freedom. We suffered more and have right to speak more.

 

 (In the mean time,
Gandhi  arrrives in wheel chair. The ghosts
of  Sikhs 
who were killed in Delhi
massacres after Indira’s death also 
scramble in to the room shouting)

 

Ghosts. Haye.. haye. Hame maar diya.. is kameeno ne. Ek
margaya to kya itene  maar naa kya.Haye..
kameeno. Haraamee..Kitne zaalim ho.Kya tumhe bacche nahee hai kya. Haramee..How
cruel you are?  We were always
innocent  Hamara ghar jaladiya.tumne..Khuda
tumko nahi chodega..sab ko khatam karega khuda ne… Haye. Haye.. You will also
meet same fate. Ye hamara  shaap hai..
Kameeno. Yaad rakho isko.

 

Gandhi.. Ram..ram ( Closes his ears with hands). What type
of curses they are giving?

 

( All run to Gandhi)

 

Nehru. Bapu. Why  did you
come here? It will be a strain.

 

Gandhi. I heard Rajiv has come here.

 

( Rajiv rushes to him and greets. He falls at the feet of
Gandhi)

 

Rajiv. Bapu. Namaste. How 
are you?

 

Gandhi. I am fine . but not happy to see you here. Things really
could not have been good in India.
Or else they would not have blasted you in Madras.

 

Rajiv. I have nothing to say.

 

Gandhi. I heard you were very eager to get into Lanka. It
was none of your business. Where was the requirement of going to Lanka for India
army?

 

Rajiv. You think like that. In fact lanka was in great
turmoil. Pakistan
was trying to get in. Even Chinese and Yankees were  ready to get in. So I had to act.

 

(Voices of dead India soldiers are heard. They
shout Bapu. Suno. Listen.. These are lies.. Bapu. Bapu. We were sacrificed for
some one’s fancy. We were just gun fodder. haaa.haaa. Haye…haye.. Our families
are ruined.  Where is my child?)

 

Gandhi. Too bad. I heard that our plans were very bad and
our troops were mowed down by Lankan LTTE.

 

Rajiv. Bapu. I can not answer this. Only Gen Sunderjee my
army chief can answer. But he is still alive (This article was written when
Sunderjee was still alive). How can he come here?

 

Gandhi. You don’t worry . I shall get him.

 

Gandhi.(  Twists hand
) Choomantar.. Sunderjee yahaa aanaa.

 

(Suddenly Gen Sunderjee appears in front of Gandhi. He is in
uniform with slightly tilted peak cap imitating Yankees)

 

Gandhi. Hello, General Sunderjee. What you have to say on
Operation Pawan, the Lankan fiasco?

 

Sunderjee. (In American accent). Bapuji. Nehruji, Rajivji,
Indiraji, one and all, I planned everything very well. On American lines of
course. You know, I did a course in their staff college. Our troops were well
rehearsed.

 

Gandhi. But the troops thought that they would have nice
time being a peace keeping force singing Ramdhun. They I am sure thought it was
a picnic.

 

 (Having remembered
Ramdhun, Bapu gets sentimental and  gets
up from wheel chair and  jumps around
singing Ram dhun.. All are surprised. Bapu gets tired and collapses in wheel
chair. He gasps and Desai gets him some water. Bapu slowly gets composed.)

 

Sundeerjee. Bapu. Initially they thought it was a picnic.
Some thought that it would be like Congo participation. Even Lankan
kids were terrorists. They shot from behind.. They carried information.

 

Gandhi. I felt bad when I saw the Photographs of dead Indian
men in heaps on the cover pages of Indian journals. How sad?

 

Sunderjee. I agree. Indian army was very well hammered in
Lanka and air was taken out of them. It happens some time. In turn we bought
wrath of LTTE.

 

Nehru. And Rajiv had to pay dearly with his life ( cries)
aaa…aaaa…eee..eeeee.

 

Rajiv mummy.. Oh mummy I was killed for  a national cause ( cries) eee..eeee..

 

Gandhi. A true soldier never cries. Do not cry. ( suddenly
Gandhi develops serious cough and his condition becomes serious.)

 

Desai.LookFriends, Bapu needs rest. Let us  leave Bapu to take rest. We can meet again.

 

Indira.That  is  fine.

 

( Gandhi is taken way in wheel chair by Desai while all look
at him)

 

 

                                               CURTAIN FALLS

 

 

---------------- Note: Content of this blog post is writer's personal opinion and may not be SanghParivar.org or Sangh's view.