Your stomach growls with hunger,
and your face turns red with anger.
There you go, open the platform app and click,
waiting for the food, ready to lick.
Within minutes, you hear a ring on the doorbell,
A worn-out orange shirt cladded guy gives a box despite his ride being hell.
Why hell?
He had to cruise dangerously in the pursuit of driving,
just to ensure it will suffice your hankering.
He has no time to drink, rest, talk or eat,
as he gets ready for the next order’s walk with his wrinkled feet.
He is just a pawn in the codes of an AI-driven algorithm,
where we look upon him with antagonism,
and often mocked with vulgarism.
This is the apogee of capitalism,
where the platforms keep profiting
at the expense of the hands of those gigging,
as they keep riding and slogging,
and ending the day without much earning,
What is his future?
Well, it would be decided by some computer,
Will he have at least this job,
as the platform’s drones are galvanised to rob?
None can surely say,
as he would be the next prey.
The platform will live forever and be invincible,
as the gig worker gets sucked out and ends up being invisible.
Rijesh Ramachandran is an engineer by education, central banker by profession, traveller and blogger by passion. His experience are his words.
Featured image: A delivery worker of Zomato, an Indian food-delivery startup, waits to collect an order from a restaurant in New Delhi/ Photo: Reuters