Heat, humidity or hail: ‘majboori’ makes gig workers brave elements to deliver essentials

New Delhi: It was a perilous ride into summer that went from an unprecedented heat wave to high humidity and now the monsoon, all within days. And as many retreated indoors, it was left to gig workers to brave the elements as they delivered food and myriad essentials on their two-wheelers.

Heat, humidity, hail or heavy rain, when the weather gets tough, theirs is the band that gets going, working harder and for longer hours than earlier. It’s a job that has been getting increasingly tough with extreme weather events becoming more commonplace and frequent.

Weaving in and out of lanes as they whiz through traffic, Vimlesh Kumar is amongst the thousands of gig workers in Delhi-NCR. Waiting outside a bakery in Ghaziabad for the rain to stop one day last week, the 27-year-old said he has mixed emotions on such days - worried that he might get sick, glad it will pay him more.

For the likes of Vimlesh, it is about completing long shifts, delivering food on time and managing largely on their own, because “ye kaam to majboori hai, kaisa bhi mausam ho (this job is a compulsion, will have to do it no matter the weather)”.

“Generally, we get Rs 15-35 on an order. But when it rains, we can get as much as Rs 55 per order. There is also the risk of falling sick, our phone getting ruined, or much worse if I have an accident. But I have to do it. There is no other option,” Vimlesh said. Vimlesh, who makes Rs 20,000-25,000 a month, has to work more than 12 hours a day, travelling anywhere between 100 to 200 kilometres on his motorcycle.

Krishna, a 34-year-old delivery partner with a logistics company, complained about no respite from the elements and unempathetic customers. “People only want to know updates on their orders. They rarely care about the weather outside,” he said. Krishna has worked with different companies over the last 10 years, including Amazon, Zomato, Swiggy and Flipkart, and said the situation is the same everywhere.

“We have to risk our lives in this job that pays barely enough to survive in this city. Smartphones, bikes and petrol… nothing is cheap these days and we have to pay from our pockets so we can work,” he added. Before the monsoon hit the national capital last week Friday, when large parts of the Delhi and its suburbs went under water stalling everyday life, the city broke records of punishing heat during the days -- and nights. Roads emanated toxic fumes, the wind felt like a blast from a furnace, the skin burned and eyes strained to remain open.

Ashutosh Kumar, 24, said the unrelenting heat would often force him to seek shelter, not for himself but for his phone that would become “too hot” and stop responding.

For a delivery partner with a food aggregator platform, not being able to make calls, send texts and check the map is akin to losing the day’s earnings.