[Reader-list] Of technology and identification

[zainab]

16/07/07

Bas, mundi replace kar do, aur kya hai?

Hmmm … replace the head, what else is there? What else is there to your identity, to my identity? My face, is it the marker of my identity in the domain of technology and governance? Is it?

Let us begin from the beginning. 

The journey begins at Infant Jesus Church in Viveknagar. I am headed to Jayanagar. Mukhtar is the man in charge, literally. He is driving the auto. He tells me that he will take me to Jayanagar via the shortest route to which I agreed immediately because right now, I am in this delirium where I am getting drunk on my own experiences and words as I am discovering Bangalore for myself, exactly a year from the time I first came here and began to live here.

At some point, I ask my usual question to Mukhtar,

“How long has it been since you started driving this auto?”
“20 years.”
“Wow! 20 years?”
“Yes, I was driving from the time when there was no requirement of displaying your DL in the auto.”

[DL means Driving License. As I have explained in my previous posts, autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore must display their driving licenses in the autorickkshaw. It is compulsory, but there are auto drivers who do not display their DLs in the autos. The DLs are issued by a technology firm authorized by the Government of Karnataka. DLs are issued after the drivers have passed their driving exams. However, to get a DL, you must possess other documents such as ration cards, election identity cards, etc. because the DL is not simply a license. It is a kind of state record of the auto driver’s details. I can only tell more about the DL as I discover later, from other auto drivers, in other journeys.]

“But, I have seen drivers who do not display their DLs in the auto?!?”
“Yes, that’s true. Some don’t do it. Then they are fined for 500 rupees, 800 rupees, upto 1,500 rupees. But then, they also have connections and networks and they can make their way around without displaying their DLs. It is about connections madam.”
“Barabar hai. But then, I have also seen DLs displayed in the auto, but the driver is someone else, different from the person in the photo. What about this?”
“Haan haan. Woh bhi hota hai. Now you see, it is a matter of just chopping the head off the photo of the driver whose DL it actually is and then putting your head instead. Bas, mundi replace kar do, aur kya hai? Now what do you think. There are several people migrating to this city. They learn how to drive autos. They pass their exams. They get their licenses. But where are the other documents necessary for making the DL? Do they have ration cards, election id cards, etc.? Where will they get these from when they have just come into the city? So what you do is simply replace the head on the photo and get your DL. Bas, mundi replace do, aur kya hai?”
“Barabar hai.”
“It is a matter of rozi, earnings, employment. What else is there to this city?”
“Barabar hai.”

So what is it about identity, identification and technology? 
I don’t know. 
Just when we have crossed Lal Bagh, Mukhtar stops to answer the call on his cell phone:

“Haan, bol. Kya? Kya? Haan, haan bol. Sale ko bol sidha rehne ko, nahi to gaand pe laath maar doonga. Mera DL hai woh. Abbe, mera DL hai!! Kal ko lafda ho gaya to mera DL jayega. Seedha rehne ko bol usko. Haan, haan, haan. Abhi main line mein hoon. Baad mein phone karta hoon.”

I asked Mukhtar if there was a problem. 
“I recently got a cell phone connection for my nephew. To get a connection, I have to give some documentary evidence. So I gave my DL. Now apparently, my nephew got involved in some trouble. Tomorrow, if he gets into a petty fight, or teases a girl, or does something and the police catches him, then my DL is the documentary evidence and I will get caught instead of him. He does something, and I will have to suffer. So I have to go and set him straight now.”

I am in Bangalore, the hi-tech city. Identities are marked not just in everyday practices of religion, but there is also the element and the domain of governance, which attempts to deploy technology to, can I say control? To map? To record? And there are everyday practices of peoples to make their ways through these technologies of governance. I am interested in finding out more about these relationships and dynamics.

I am interested to find out more …