INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN…141

 

                                                  
Dr K Prabhakar Rao

 

(Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are seen in a University campus.
They are strolling on the roads. Every where there is greenery and lot of
students are seen roaming around. There are magnificent buildings everywhere.)

 

 

Gandhi. What a good place this is! Everything is grand here.

 

Patel. True Bapu,All that glitters is not gold.   This is a very nice place to look at . But indiscipline is also grand here.Plesae do not be carried away by mere buildings.Only buildings do not make a good campus. Atmosphere should be there.

 

Nehru. Bapu. I agree. This is very good place to spend time.
But this is very poor in discipline.

 

Gandhi. You said this is a nice place to spend time. Is it
not for studies?

 

Nehru. That is what I mean. Less of study goes on here and
more of troubles here.

 

Patel.  Hee.heee
hhhaaa haaaa…heee..hi.hi

 

Gandhi. What is there to laugh?

 

Patel.. What is there not to laugh.. haa…haaa..haa

 

Gandhi. You mean no studies go on here.

 

Patel.  You are
correct Bapu. Where is time for study? Politics start from here.

 

( In the mean time, they come across a large group of
students who gather  at a place. They are
carrying placards and shouting too. )

 

Gandhi. Ohfo. There appears to be no peace here. Why these
guys are so much disturbed? It is the time for studies.Looks none is interested.

 

Patel. Bapu. Life is like that here. Who wants to study now?

 

Gandhi. Then what for the universities are there?

 

Patel. Bapu. They are there because they have to there. It
is as simple as that. They can not be closed. Where all these professors would
go? Who will feed them. How some can become vice chancellors? How can any one
become  registrar  without a university?

 

Gandhi. That means  no
teaching goes on here.

 

Patel. You can judge yourself.

 

Gandhi. How they will pass?

 

Patel. Who wants to pass? Where is the
difficulty? Passing is simple. Just look at few old question papers. Read  some from all in one guides. You shall get 70
% marks.finally if a student fail in  two or three subjects degree wil be stil given. hee..heee

 

Gandhi. Is it so bad?

 

(They see a student with a  
notebook of 40 pages. He holds  it
between thumb  and finger   and 
is seen swinging to and fro. . He walks very carelessly booting stones
on the way.He is vry casually dressed with torn jeans  and a tee shirt. One flying stone hits Gandhi on the face. Gandhi cries)

 

Gandhi. eee..eeeee..aaa.. Margaya re mujhe maar diya ( I am
killed. I have died)

 

Patel.( Goes to the student) Stop oh Mr. Is this way you
walk on the road? Look, the stone has hit the old man. He is bleeding. Don’t
you feel sorry?

 

Student.  Then what
happened?  I have not hit him. The stone
hit him.Better  walk off...you...

 

Patel. Is this way you walk on road?

 

Student. That is my wish. I walk the way I like. This is
university. Our place. You guys are not supposed to be here. Are you a student?
You are so old.

 

Patel. Look friend. I am not 
a student. But I was a student once at some place. I was not like you.

 

Student. Better go away. Or else you are done. I am Satish
you know. I am a leader here.

 

Patel. Better to learn to respect elders. If you do not
learn it will be your funeral.soon. All days  do not belong to you.Better know it.

 

(Patel goes to Gandhi and sees Nehru comforting Gandhi. Now
Gandhi is cool)

 

Gandhi. Better leave that boy. Forgive him.

 

Patel. I have done that. We have been forgiving all cranks since1947.

 

Gandhi. We were discussing the studies at this place when
the stone hit me eee..eeee. It is paining.

 

Patel.  Bapu, for most
of the subjects, the examiners would carry digital balances and keep  with them. They weigh the answer books and as
per weight they give marks. Haa..haa..haa…heee..heeee

 

( He rolls on ground laughing and scratching his belly.
After some time gets up)

 

Patel.. Guys just fill up all trash in some subjects of
theory   and examiners do not know what
the guy has written and students also do not know what he has written. All goes
in game. Hee..heee….heee

 

Nehru. So all is fun here.

 

( They come to a building that is cordoned off by Police.
There are big posters everywhere.)

 

Gandhi. Patel. Plesae read these posters. What are their
demands? Some Satyagraha  is going on
here. I am happy, they are following my 
ideals.

 

Patel. ( he goes to 
some posters  and reads)

 

                                            We the students demand following:-

 

1. Answer books  from 
   our province should be evaluated by teachers of  our province only.
2. Answer books of  students must be categorized as  BC A, BCB, BCC, BCD, OC, OC (
   economically weak), Minorities, Handicapped, Sports, ex-servicemen,
   Management quota, for Boys  and
   girls separately
3. For each type of category as stated
   above, examiner should be earmarked from that category only.

 

Gandhi. This is funny. How these
can be met?

 

Patel. They know it better

 

Gandhi. For handicapped category
how they can get one for so many categories, girls and boys separately?

 

Patel. Probably they would recruit
as per these norms.

 

Gandhi. How  about exservice men type?

 

Nehru. They can request local sub
area to depute some officers

 

Patel. Hee..heee..haaa…haaa

 

( In the mean time some students
come to Gandhi. They wish Gandhi. They are 
Satish, Ramu   and Govind)

 

Ramu. Hoi  old man. You are well dressed as Gandhi.
Others are also  good as Nehru  and Patel. You guys should not beg here.

 

Patel.  We are not dressed. WE are  also not begars. We are they in fact.

 

Gandhi. I am Gandhi, Mohan Das
Karamchand Gandhi, The father of nation.

 

Gobind. That is fine (looking at   Ramu) Poor guys, appear to be mentally
disturbed. They think they are real national leaders. See how they are dressed?

 

Satish.  Just too bad guys. Leave them. I have seen
them earlier. One of the guys is very funny.He  misbehaved with me.

 

Patel. Look. Friends. We are not
fake. Believe. We are real as said. We are they and they are we. They and we
are same   and one. We and what you are
not thinking are same.

 

Ramu. Eee..eeeee… Strange words in
fact.

                                                      

Patel. Yeah. What you thought we
are not that, but we are they   and they
are we. We are surely they ought to be, you must accept that we are they and
not what you think.

 

(Satish looks at Patel and  shrieks loudly and falls down .Froth comes out
of his mouth . he violently shakes hands)All students gather around him)

 

Ramu. What happened? This guy was
perfect just now.

 

Gobind. Yes. He was fine. He heard
this old mans words   and collapsed.

 

Ramu. Where are those guys? They
were just here.

 

(They look around and the trio is
not seen)

 

Ramu. It is very strange. A second
ago they were here. They can not suddenly vanish.

 

Gobind. Look funny too. But their
words were also strange. I am sure they were ghosts. They are not normal guys.

 

Ramu. Do not talk rubbish.  How can there be ghosts around? They looked real
but mentally derailed guys.. Any how let us take this guy to hospital.

 

Gobind. Yeah. Do it fast.

 

( Satish is lifted  and put in 
car  and is driven to hospital)

 

Patel. Bapu.  Have you seen what happened? The guy became
sick suddenly.

 

Nehru. The guy appears to be not stable
and weak minded. He looked at Patel’s face and collapsed. He got scared looking
at skull face of Patel.  I am sure he
will recover Bapu. Let us go from here.

 

 

Gandhi. Patel. Why you have
displayed ghost face? The guy got shit scared. Yeah. Let us go.

 

( The trio vanish singing Ram
dhun)

 

                                               
  CURTAIN FALLS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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