Sanchita Chatterjee Kolkata: Years ago today. 3 Idiots was released on the silver screen of Bollywood on December 25, 2009. Super duper hit movie. A scene from the movie 3 Idiots - Raju Rastgir's (Sharman Joshi) father is suddenly ill at home. Without waiting for the ambulance, Rancho (Aamir Khan) takes him to the hospital on his scooter. Rancho ties Raju's father to his body with a towel on the back seat. Piya (Kareena Kapoor) sits behind Raju's father. They drive the scooter fast. After taking him to the hospital, the doctor said that if he waited for the ambulance, the patient could not have been saved. Raju's father survived. The doctor praised Rancho's intelligence for bringing the patient on the scooter.
Seeing Tarak Hembrom's injury and the 'bandaged umbrella' at the Barrackpore Stadium on Monday reminded me of 3 Idiots 16 years ago. The sight of two umbrellas bandaged on footballer Tarak's leg is no doubt visually stunning. But why were umbrellas used? It is shocking to hear the real story. After getting seriously injured in the Mohun Bagan-Railway FC match, the IFA medical team was treating Tarak on the sidelines for three minutes. The ambulance had everything that was needed. But the way Tarak injured his leg was not good. The physio of the Mohun Bagan club advised that it is very important to give strong support to both sides of Tarak's leg. Otherwise, the leg will bend over time. And if the leg bends, then maybe Tarak's football career could be over. At that time, there was nothing nearby to support the leg. There were two ladies' umbrellas at hand. They tied Tarak's leg to Barrackpore and left for Amri Hospital in Dhakuria, Kolkata. Injured footballer Tarak said in a video message from the hospital on Monday night, "Amri's doctor said that tying an umbrella to his leg has helped." What Mohun Bagan physio did is truly commendable.
If such an incident happens again, let the umbrella be used again. Let the IFA, Kolkata League, medical team be criticized. Let it be a slap. No problem. At least the footballer's career will be saved!
At the moment, one of the best orthopedic doctors in the country, Kanchan Bhattacharya, is treating Tarak. XRAY was done. The initial report did not find any indication of fear. The condition of the injury will be understood after the MRI on Tuesday.