For a huge chunk of Netizens reading this, the 31st night meant ‘party’, right? Some of you might have gone outside, to clubs or pubs. Most of us Indians though, have adopted the fairly new culture of house parties: an in-house DJ, some card games, and a lot of BYOBs. However, what keeps the party going? The vibes? For sure. Alcohol? One hundred percent. But apart from that, there’s something that never lets the party die down – the quick delivery apps. One chip packet torn after the other, one cola spilled over the platter, we get everything even before our upset-stomach friend completed his round trip from hell.
It was also a party for the big guns at these Q-commerce platforms and they wanted to make this a spectacle on social media. Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa and Swiggy Co-founder Phani Kishan shared multiple posts on X conveying the record-breaking order numbers to their followers.
No wonder leading the order list were our Indian party essentials, chakhna and mixer.
You know what those tonic water cans were for (Oh my GnT). We know how we forget to freeze those ice cubes for our ‘on the rocks’. And no matter how much we tell everyone we love Pringles, Aloo Bhujia is where our heart lies. However, of course, the choice of packaged chakhna for our generation is chips.
The following tweet represents the presence of the clan called ‘the responsibles’ in the house parties. From condoms to PartySmart, From water bottles to ENOs, the brigade was prepared for any kind of hazards.
One curious soul also enquired about the choice of weapons for the battles. I am sure he must be a stats nerd. Or a Baskin-Robins enthusiast. Only if CAT had given these kinds of pie-charts…
And if you thought that was bizarre, wait till you learn about what the chaddi aunty has.
Wait, how can you forget the ritual of the year? All those pictures on social media you saw of people crouching under their tables having grapes in their hands? Well, it might have been delivered by farm Q-commerce. Even the CEO seemed confused about the high orders of the particular fruit. I mean you can’t just ferment grapes into wines in the matter of an hour, right?
Those people who couldn’t be there with their loved ones also brought the party to them from far away. A bunch of packaged items can’t fill the void of people but hey, sometimes capitalism ain’t that bad, yeah?
However, amid all these parties of everyone, take a moment out, and think who wasn’t parting that day? Our instant Santas for the day, our delivery partners. Sure, one can argue that they were making those hours count so they could party later, but did we ask the question if the money they got was enough to party? Comedian Kunal Kamra, continuing with his encounters with entitled CEOs enquired about the wages the delivery partners were getting paid.
Certainly, there were instances of a good amount of tips being provided to the delivery partners, but we know how we Indians feel about paying ‘extra’ for a tip.
We all know the condition of the gig workers in our country. How many times do they have to risk their lives for some lazy entitled prick who refuses to get out of his boxers? The minimal wages for which they have to ride their bikes in the weather where we like to just have our chai and pakora.
I don’t have the financial knowledge to crack the code for them to get their respectable amount of pay. However, for now, I have a simple and immediate first-aid. Can we just be a little kinder to them? Ask them for a glass of water. I know it probably wouldn’t give them much to party, but hey, a little kindness might just elevate ours.
