PALAKKAD: On the streets of Palakkad, R Shalini zooms around on her two-wheeler delivering delicacies. That she works for a food delivery aggregator, Zomato, is hardly a surprise. But her nine-year-old daughter, Shishira, clinging to her on the backseat sure is.
The coronavirus outbreak pushed Shalini to take up the profession. And she is happy she did. "Now, there is absolute freedom. I earn around Rs 1,000 per day, and after the fuel expenses, I pocket around Rs 700 per day. If more than 22 orders are executed on a day, I’ll get an incentive of Rs 400 too," she says.
While the job is from 8 am to 9:30 pm, there is a provision to transfer orders. "If there is a report of a delivery executive misbehaving with a customer, the orders from the particular customer will never be forwarded to that person again. I undertake orders in a 5 km radius," Shalini says.
But why does she carry her child with her? "There is no one at home. My native place is Thiruvananthapuram and I am married to a Palakkad resident, Sivadas, who is an autorickshaw driver. My mother, Rajamma, and a brother and a sister are in Thiruvananthapuram while another sister is in Coimbatore. When the school was open, Shishira, who is in Class 4, was safe. As the school is shut now, I cannot take the risk of leaving her anywhere else. My daughter too enjoys the ride with me," she points out.
For the past 11 years, she has been living in Palakkad. Her husband supported the decision to take up the job. "Initially, I was running a home nurse service company in Kalmandapam in the town, but most of the demands were from Thrissur, Coimbatore, and other districts. Naturally, it was difficult to transport nurses to those houses. Subsequently, I was employed in data tabulation for banks. Because of COVID, I lost that job too," she recalls.
Later, when she was toying with the idea of setting up a driving school, restrictions were imposed again. "In 2020, the only flourishing business was that of the food delivery platforms and I grabbed that opportunity as I had to sustain my family during the lockdown. There has been no looking back since then," she says.