Kicking it old school

On-field medic at the Ambedkar Stadium for 60 years, Doctor sahib doesn’t plan to quit anytime soon

Barely three passes have been made in the second half of the DSA Senior Division match between the New Delhi Heroes and City Football Club, when Charles, the star Nigerian import of City FC is fouled and goes down in apparent agony. A bespectacled, big-white-bearded, salt haired old man shuffles hurriedly across the grass at Ambedkar Stadium followed by two boys carrying stretchers. After spraying Charles’ sprained ankle with Relispray, he walks a sheepish looking Charles to the sidelines.
“Sab drama” grins the 71 year old Mujahiduddin Bashi. “Yeh to bas rest karma chahte hain.(its all acting, the player just wants to rest)”
Bashi has been the on field first aid medic at the Ambedkar Stadium for as long as anybody around can remember. He himself puts the year he started as around 1962 but he was a regular at the stadium before that. A student of the Anglo- Arabic Senior Secondary School, he would visit disobey his father’s orders to return home immediately after school in order to cheer his team- Indian Nationals.
After obtaining a degree in pharmacy, he continued to frequent the stadium, until the President of the DSA asked him to do first aid for the players.
And Doctor Sahib as Bashi is now known has been fixing sprains at the Ambedkar Stadium ever since, missing out only for the odd wedding or funeral. Every day of a tournament, he wakes up at 5 am at his home in Turkman Gate, puts on his Reeboks, goes for a walk and then reports for duty. 55 year old Jagdish Malhotra, says he remembers Doctor Sahib from the time he himself was a Delhi Under 19 footballer.
Bashi points out that he isn’t really a doctor, although both his father and grandfather were Unnani Doctors from Dera Ismaili Khan in Pakistan. He provides the basic first aid to the injured- including binding broken bones, disinfecting scrapes and spraying sprained ankles, until they are taken to the hospital for more specialised treatment.
Doctor Sahib is more than a first aid dispenser. As a 1984 certificate from the organisers of the now defunct DCM tournament attests “His presence on the field inspires confidence”
Sitting in the neutral zone between the two teams, in front of a nearly empty stadium Bashi reminisces about the glory days of soccer in Delhi. He recollects the finals of the 1968 DCM tournament when the main gate of the stadium collapsed under the weight of fans trying to get in.” He recounts the time he accompanied Indian Nationals to Margao in Goa where they lost to Salgaocar in the finals of the National Second Division in front of a packed Nehru Stadium. Bashi has scant regard for the profession of physiotherapy and isn’t very appreciative of players these days either. As another player hits the ground in the penalty area, pleading for a penalty, Bashi gets up grumbling “aj kal players bade halke hain. Zyadatar to school ke hi hote hain. (Players lack strength. Many are still in school). It’s a false alarm as the referee signals “play on.”
Although Bashi has probably seen more live soccer than most people in India, he professes no desire to play the game himself instead preferring to watch. He laughs off suggestions that he might be too old to attend every game saying that he plans to quit when his body quits on him, something he says doesn’t seem like happening anytime soon. The league he says won’t be firing him as they see his duties as honorary and thus don’t have to pay him much.
The sight of a septuagenarian on the football ground inspires the usual smart alecky remarks. “Doctor sahib ko stretcher me nikalo(take out the doctor on the stretcher!)” shrieks anonymous in the stands. Bashi looks back, flashes a smile that’s missing a few teeth and yells back “arre koi nikal ke to dikhao. (lets see if someone can take me out!)”