For some reason, I have never really asked myself a question like this one. When you need an ID card, you just carry it. When you don't need one, you still carry it to be safe. I have always carried an ID on my person, for the only thing I haven't been assured of is personal security. I don't know whether I am safe when I walk the streets of Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Jamshedpur... wherever. It didn't take a 26/11 to make me insecure. Just a couple of rash drivers did and I thought it wise to henceforth carry my card with me. It keeps me secure. "If something happens to me, people will know who I am and where I come from."
But not everybody thinks that way. We've never needed any kind of identification proof to go anywhere in this country, except Kashmir and the North East. So thought an elderly couple who boarded the Rajdhani from Mumbai yesterday. They didn't know that they needed to carry a senior citizen's card, PAN card, passport, voter's ID or driving licence as proof of identification along with the e-ticket they were carrying. They didn't expect they would be fined for defaulting. And worse, they had never expected that their own kids put them into such trouble because of their sheer carelessness.
When the TC asked them to cough up Rs 6,000 for fine, they seemed really helpless. Poor mobile networks didn't help much either. The gentleman has glaucoma, the woman didn't know English and fumbled with her cellphone. She told me (I had the opposite berth to myself) that they had gone visiting their son in London and had travelled to Switzerland and Dubai. She said that she'd had left her torn purse in the cupboard and taken her daughter, Reema's (the one who had actually done the bookings on IRCTC for them)bag. The purse had all the documents - her senior citizen card too. She shook her head in disbelief as she narrated how irresposible her children were - her son had left them alone at London airport without any contact address. She fired all her children - in Delhi and Mumbai and narrated the story again and again.The TC didn't budge. A rule was a rule and this was Rajdhani Express. They would have to pay the fine but they would be allowed to go to Delhi. The woman wasn't pleased. The man had more or less reconciled. The woman asked me to dial the number of a nephew in Gorakhpur. I obliged. She smiled after the conversation was over. "My nephew knows Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's personal assistant." The man chipped in, "Lalu ko bolenge dhoti-kurta pehenne waalon ko tang karte hain yeh (TC) log. Agar pant-shirt pehna hota toh yeh naubat nahin aati. Why should we carry our passports while travelling in our own country? They come up with these new tickets and rules to harass people."
I don't know if they actually paid the fine for I had to get off at Vadodara so your guess is as good as mine. What would you have done if you were caught in a similar situation?
2 comments:
Hey, I had seen a similar scenario while travelling to pune. A lady was troubled by a TC just because the number mentioned on the identity proof which she was carrying was not matching by one digit with the number which was mentioned on her E ticket. I actually saw them getting down at Pune and the TC collecting fine from her. As it was a clear cut typo error while booking the E ticket.
I would learn to read the terms and conditions before and after clicking a YES to anything. People in our country have always looked the fine print up before agreeing to anything. From buying sweets at a local stall to giving their daughters hand in marriage to some dude they met through a family contact. But, sadly the majority these days don't understand that the local jaan pehchaan cannot be extended to the whole country, if we have to survive and progress as a nation. All i tell people who moan; if you don't agree speak up or just shut up follow the rules. They all have a strategic objective.
Post a Comment