Somewhere in the ethereal reaches that lie between the Hindu Brahmalog and the Muslim Firdaus, the fathers of two nations two nations separated at birth met for the first time. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was his usual bird-like self, dressed in the vestments that once so famously provoked that old bulldog, Winston Churchill, to label him ``that naked fakir''. In contrast, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, as was his wont, wore an off-white suit tailored by the best hands that Savile Row could offer. They greeted each other with a warmth that belied the current stand-off between the two nations they had sired.GANDHI: Salaam walekoom, Mohammad, well met, well met. (He pulled out his chain watch and grinned a toothless grin.) In just a few more hours we will be celebrating our respective Independence Days, Mohammad!JINNAH: Namaskar, Mohandas. Well, well, wonders never cease, imagine bumping into you like this on a morning constitutional! Yes, I would say the occasion is an auspicious one, if it were not for the factthat at this very moment, our respective nations seem hell-bent on destroying each other. What are they doing, Mohandas? What? (Words fail him.)GANDHI: I know what you mean, Mohammad. Just this morning I was telling Kasturba, is it for this that we had struggled for so long? Is it for this that I embraced ahimsa and fought for it? (A deep sigh racked his frail form.) Violence cannot rule the world, Mohammad. Yet, the tragedy is that these so-called civilised men conduct themselves as if the basis of society is violence. Now take the concept of swaraj..JINNAH: That's the trouble with you, Mohandas. You kept spouting airy-fairy nonsense and just can't perceive the reality. You just couldn't perceive how troubled we were. We had to break away from you to keep our own identity. Remember 1920, when I left the Congress because of your misguided non-cooperation call?GANDHI: You divided my country, Mohammad, I can never forget that. We could have live together, I tell you. I just could not countenance thevivisection of India, but you were so jubilant. I remember that, I remember that..JINNAH: Mohandas, we had no choice, we had no choice. How many times should I tell you that? But what's the point in two old ghosts debating all this now. It's too late anyway and, in any case, both our nations could well end up in a cloud of radioactive smoke, from what I hear.GANDHI: Yes, I've been reading about it in the newspapers, about Pokharan and Chagai. You know, Mohammad, I had always maintained that the atomic bomb has deadened the finest feelings that have sustained mankind for ages. It can only yield an empty victory..JINNAH: My sentiments precisely. Sometimes I wish I were there to put some sense into those numbskulls down below. Really, it makes me so livid. Look at what 52 years of freedom have brought my people. Literacy levels of women in my country is, I believe, just 25 per cent! 25 per cent, I ask you. What were they doing, those Khans and Bhuttos, and that Nawaz, what is he up to?GANDHI: Andhas India fared any better? What dreams we had, Mohammed, what dreams of wiping every tear from every eye.of peace and harmony..JINNAH: Remember what I once said, Mohandas? ``Let the two nations manage their affairs and live in peace and good neighbourliness''. But I might as well have spoken to the desert wind, for all it was worth. They called me Quaid-e-Azam, or great leader, but have completely forgotten me.''GANDHI: They called me the Mahatma, or the great saviour, and have built statues of me in every town and city. But they might just as well have buried me.(A long, gloomy silence descended on both speakers, even as golden birds chirped all around them and the indescribable fragrance of the champak blossom laced the air.)GANDHI (in deep thought): How did those lines from Iqbal go? ``O Iqbal, to none in the world our hearts we bare.''JINNAH (finishing the stanza for him):``About the anguish in our hearts does anyone care?''
