Delivery boys urge: Don’t be harsh with us amid the pandemic
As delivery boys run from pillar to post delivering goods around the city, they share experiences of how their interactions with people have changed in the face of the pandemic. Requesting denizens to treat them fairly, they rue over having to compromise on their dignity.
“Log kehte hain yahan phaikh do, door raho, sanitise kar do... bura toh lagta hai, but bimaari hi aisi hai ki kuch keh nahin sakte. Despite the couriers being sanitised all the time, we do get a lot of flak most of the times for nothing,” recounts Delhi-based delivery boy Jagpal.
Santosh, a delivery boy based in Gurugram, wishes people would not make him wait unnecessarily under the scorching sun. “Sometimes, people ask me to come upstairs to their door, but I ring the bell and say ‘Aap neeche aa jaiye, packet main tabhi deliver kar doonga’... itni der dhoop mein khada kar dete hai aur samay barbad hota hai alag,” he says.
Another Delhi-based delivery boy, Vinod Sahani, feels that things worsened after a delivery boy was infected some time back. “Bura to tab lagta hai jab hume dekhte hi customers sanitiser leke aa jate hain. We tell them that we have sanitised our hands and packets, par unki satisfaction ke liye dobara kar lete hain,” he shares.
And amid the soaring temperature, city-based delivery boy Rajan talks of not even getting a water refill during the job. “We mostly fill our water bottle when we leave, but at times we run out of water. But nowadays, you ask anyone for water and koi na koi bahana bana dete hain. Sanitiser maango to fatafat laa denge. Bolte hai ‘distance rakho’ ya ‘andar mat aao’,” he reveals.