The Faceless Heroes
Do you remember the face of the person who delivered groceries or medicines or food from restaurant at your doorstep? Or that of any cab driver who has served you? Or of the waiter who served you last night? I don’t and am sure you don’t too.
Every time a delivery guy comes to my doorstep, I am in a hurry to collect the deliverables, mostly not looking at his face, mostly never saying thank you and closing the door to his face almost always. India has become a heaven when it comes to doorstep services, or using apps which cement the gap between demand and supply very well. However, as much as we are happy about these services, we are least bothered about the people who function at the lowest end of the supply chain- the delivery boys of Amazon, Blinkit, Swiggy, Zepto, Zomato or the cab drivers of Ola and Ubers. These are people amongst us, somehow eking a living in the fast moving cities. They come from the villages of India, leaving their homes in search of better opportunities in the cities- In cities they are just running behind getting better reviews, more stars, and some petty bonuses.
I was wondering what is it that we can change in ourselves to make their lives better? While most of us can’t help with the exploitation these guys face in their ruthless work environment, we surely can change the way we treat them when they meet us, even though for a really short duration of time. I have seen people shouting at these guys when there is some confusion with the return policy of the tech giants they work for. We can understand that these guys have no roles in the policies of the companies they work for, and they are just mediators between the sellers and the buyers. We can understand when they say they don’t have enough cash that can be exchanged, and pay online. We can offer them water when they come to our homes in the scorching heat. These steps may seem too tiny but as long as we are doing something to help someone, the magnitude of it doesn’t matter, right?
After all, our lives are so much easier because of such people and we save so much of our time due to them. In our own small ways, we must thank them.
You may reach out to me at sdshivanidubey@gmail.com.
