James Bond obviously doesn’t have to deal with Bengaluru’s traffic when he is chasing a suspect in his Aston Martin. When I asked my driver to follow Anil, a food delivery boy, he categorically said, “ Nahin, woh short cut se idhar-udhar se jayega. Gaadi utna chhota gulli main nahin ja sakta ” (he takes short - cuts, enters crowded lanes and by lanes where the car can’t enter). When I tell the driver to follow till where he can, he pragmatically said we will go by our route.
We cannot keep pace with Anil. “I have to reach within 19 minutes,” Anil says parking his bike in front of a popular fast food chain restaurant in Koramangala. “We have deadlines. We have to know these short cuts. And you know Bengaluru traffic.”
Fish masala, fish fry and steamed rice from Maria’s Goa Kitchen to Prestige Acropolis — that was the third order of the day for Anil, a delivery boy with Roadrunnr. The minimum target to hit is 10, for every delivery, the delivery person earns anywhere between Rs. 50 to Rs. 100.
It is no wonder that Anil is eager to take on as many orders as possible.
There are approximately 7,000 to 8,000 delivery boys in the city and this number is only increasing. Thanks to the spurt in last mile delivery companies like Swiggy, Opinio, Foodpanda, Roadrunnr.
Negotiating Bengaluru’s traffic isn’t easy and its potholed roads are tougher. But these young men, mostly between the age group of 18 to 25, find the job lucrative. Karthik, who completed six months with Roadrunnr earned Rs. 27,000 a month before he met with an accident. “I am still recovering so taking it little easy.” he says.
It is a stop-gap arrangement for Karthik, Anil, Abhilash and others. As all of us sip tea from a roadside tea shop next to Jyoti Niwas College, they give me a brief glimpse into their lives. “I am senior administrator at coaching institute, in my free time, I work here,” says one of them. Before I could ask my whats and whys, he is already off with his next order.
Twenty-one-year-old Anil was studying electronics but couldn’t clear his exams. He tried thrice and then gave up. “I am done with it ma’am. I have the required knowledge. Degrees and all are useless. I want to make two lakh with which I want to buy a cab. I will drive that and with the money earned, the aim is to set up a dairy farm in Gulbarga, my native place.”
The siren on his phone starts ringing. “Another order,” shouts Kalmesh, Koramangala Team Leader, at Roadrunnr keeping a close watch on the boys. “The boys assemble everyday at a fixed time. They log in which means they are ready to take orders. We discuss if there are any problems and they are off. If there are any issues, we are around. This is how it works for every area.”
I wait outside as Anil gets the order ready inside the restaurant.
“ Oota aayta ? (Had lunch),” I ask the remaining people. “First we want to finish orders and only then we feel hungry but there is no fixed time,” says one of them.
Karthik adds, “I don’t want to be a burden on my parents. I was in PU second year but I couldn’t clear it. My passion is something else. Whatever money I earn, I put it there.”
The order is ready to be delivered at another block in Koramangala.
I follow Anil but I can’t keep pace with him again.
