Every one must carry an identity card when they go out. After reading the following stories you will agree with me on this very important message, which I got a few years ago.
During my regular walks on the Elliot beach road in Chennai, one day I found a crowd gathered around a gentleman, probably in his sixties, lying dead on the footpath. Eyewitnesses mentioned that he had come on a two-wheeler and after parking it in the parking lot as he stepped on the footpath he collapsed. Someone called the ambulance which arrived in no time and on checking the pulse and other parameters of the gentlemen he was declared already dead. He must have suffered a massive cardiac arrest. The police arrived and found no identity card on his person. After some deliberation, they broke open the glove compartment of his two -wheeler and found his insurance paper from which the dead man`s address was noted. By the time the family was informed and they arrived to take charge, the body was lying on the footpath for nearly five hours with a policeman keeping guard.
This gentleman, in his fifties, was a regular at the tennis court in an upscale colony of Chennai where he had moved in recently . Everyone knew his name but no one had an idea about his address. One morning at the end of a vigorous session, he collapsed. He was rushed to a nearby hospital by fellow players but they did not know whom to contact as he had no ID card on his person. His mobile phone was locked. It was with great difficulty, using social media, his identity was known and later the family was informed.
The latest incident involved a very good friend , a part of my walking group. He was 81 years old and used to come in a two wheeler to the popular coffee shop near Elliot beach where we regularly meet for coffee after our walks. He was not doing well with old age related problems and in spite of repeated appeals from friends not to use the two- wheeler he insisted on using it and refused to carry any identity card on his person. During my morning walk a few days ago, a regular walker on the beach road, interrupted me and told me that he saw an accident involving an old man on a two wheeler and wondered if could be our friend. Instinctively I rang up my friend`s mobile and found the attendant of the ambulance responding. He asked me about my relationship with the mobile owner who, he said, was involved in a serious accident and was being taken in the ambulance to a hospital . He named the hospital and asked me to come there. I got into action and through another friend in the group the son of the victim was informed. The son rushed to the hospital only to find that his father was brought dead to the hospital. He had died of a serious head injury as he was not wearing a helmet. But for the tip I got, I wonder how his family would have been informed of the accident in time as my friend did not carry an identity card.
So my friends, young or old, always carry an identity card on your person whenever you go out walking alone or going on errands in your vehicles. It is not enough if you have your Aadhaar card. You must carry a card featuring your name and contact details on the front and on the reverse of the card it must feature the names of your near and dear ones who can be contacted in case of an emergency. It will be a good idea to also mention your blood grouping. I am reproducing below the scanned copy of a laminated identity card I always carry with me. Any big Xerox shops which also offer printing facilities can help you with this at a nominal cost.
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