India 'A' and Mumbai batsman Suryakumar Yadav receives medicines for ailing pet dog thanks to Aditya Thackeray's prompt intervention.
Suryakumar Yadav with his pet Pablo
Explosive India 'A' and Mumbai batsman Suryakumar Yadav was in a state of panic on Tuesday before state minister Aditya Thackeray came to his rescue.
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Due to the lockdown, the Mumbai skipper struggled to get Phenobarbitone Gardenal 20mg syrup for his one-year-old puppy Pablo, a French bulldog, from medical stores in his Chembur locality. After enquiring with almost every medical store around, Suryakumar, finally took to Twitter, seeking help.
His tweet read: "Friends. Need your help. My puppy isn't well. And we are trying to find his medicine which he has to take to stay normal. Gardenal is the name of the Medicine. Couldn't find at a few medical stores. HELP HELP HELP @MumbaiPolice @AUThackeray anyone who could just figure it."
Twitter factor
To his surprise, state Minister of Tourism and Environment, Thackeray, replied to him via Direct Message (DM) and directed Shiv Sena leader Rahul Kanal to help out.
Aditya Thackeray
Within a couple of hours, the syrup was at Suryakumar's building gate.
"My puppy was not keeping well for the last 20 days. Some medicines and syrups were prescribed. The doses got over today [on Tuesday] and I thought I would easily get more but when I called up some of the medical stores in my locality, they said they were not getting stock due to the lockdown. I tweeted out of sheer helplessness after struggling to see my puppy suffering and unable to express himself like us humans," Suryakumar told mid-day on Tuesday.
Mumbai skipper Suryakumar, who had a dream domestic season, aggregating 1126 runs from three BCCI tournaments (Vijay Hazare Trophy, Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali T20), admitted he was pleasantly surprised at Thackeray's prompt response considering the Coronavirus crisis in Maharashtra. On Tuesday, Mumbai registered 59 new COVID-19 cases. "I tagged Mumbai Police and Aditya Thackeray sir. I tweeted around 3.30 pm and got a reply [from Thackeray] by 4.10 pm to connect with a person, who will take it forward. I forwarded the prescription via Direct Message on Twitter along with my address. In a couple of hours, I got the medicines I was looking for," said Suryakumar.
'Angels without wings'
Suryakumar considers Thackeray and Kanal as angels. "They are like angels without wings. I immediately gave the medicines to Pablo and he is recovering well. I'm thankful to Aditya sir for helping out despite the tense situation in the state due to the pandemic," said Suryakumar.
The Thackeray scion is known for his love for dogs. In the past, he has lent his support to numerous animal welfare projects and schemes. Last year, when a stray dog was brutally beaten up by security guards at a Worli housing society, Thackeray had tweeted: "What's happened with the dog in Worli is not just sad but immensely disturbing. To think that such inhuman behaviour exists towards creatures taking shelter during a rain. I would want to see that the man responsible for it is punished with the maximum penalty."
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