The evening is visibly worn out. And the opportune night is poised to tear into it with fangs of darkness and gobble it. The crowd has thinned out on Besant Nagar Second Avenue.
The lights have gone out in the shops except for food outlets given to entertaining customers and orders well into the evening. About fifteen minutes to eleven, a staff from Jonah’s Bistro steps out with packed food and hands it to a food delivery partner who would not budge from his two-wheeler. He could not budge from it. Attached to Zomato, Lakshmanan Angamuthu is differently abled, a locomotor disorder making him dependent on a specially designed three-wheeler for movement. Unlike other delivery partners, he cannot sweep into the restaurant and pick up the order to be delivered. Unlike other delivery partners, he cannot step off his bike, ring the bell and deliver that order at the customers’ doorsteps.
Lakshmanan notes that the delivery details would contain a reference to his condition so that customers are ready for it and step out to collect the order. But if they had missed that detail that came up on the screen, Lakshmanan would enlighten them about it over a call.
Unlike other delivery partners, he does not muscle his way through traffic, moving at a clip. He cannot. Being low-powered, his vehicle is hugely limited in speed. One could see that for oneself, after the conversation outside Jonah’s Bistro on Besant Nagar Second Avenue, when Lakshmanan rolled into Tiger Varadhachari Road and then Beach Road, and the vehicle was taking him to his destination at a leisurely pace.
Lakshmanan has been a food delivery partner for two years, and he enjoys being on the road moving from point A to point B. For, when asked if he would prefer a more settled work day, one that enables him to stretch his heels under a desk, and dig his feet into one address and not waltz from one address to another, the 33-year-old’s answer is a ‘no’ that comes right off the bat without a hint of hesitation.
“I am enjoying this job for now; I like to roam around and this job is all about moving around the city.” He works eight hours every day.
Lakshmanan is a resident of Saidapet, and this work would have familiarised him with a multitude of roads around Chennai.
As one treats him as a rara avis, Lakshmanan notes that there are other delivery partners with locomotor disorders dependent on such a vehicle and the understanding of customers. He also points out that Zomato makes these vehciles available to such delivery partners through a partnership with customised mobility solutions provider NeoMotion.