Be With Us in Bad Times Too!We Feel Betrayed!

(Picture courtesy Pinterest)

Online purchase and delivery has been revolutionised by big players led by the multinationals. We were happy, and they were too, as happy customers mean more cash in the kitty.

But where are they now! They may have their own reasons, but we also have a right to be upset. One would expect them to take the lead and manage the delivery of essential goods to us, stranded by the lockdown.

Even better, they could have used their expertise in designing effective, safely distanced, virus protected delivery methods.

We clapped for the brave health angels and law maintainers and these giants missed the chance to receive any piece of it. We will continue to clap and don’t miss the chance to be there, at least now.

But they won’t! History says so. In 2018, Kerala was submerged by the biggest of floods and the first to stop service were these multinationals. It was the fisherman of Kerala who kept the stranded alive, delivering bread and water. I thought that these giants with all their experience, resources and knowledge could have shown that kindness and bravery.

So, frankly it’s not a surprise to see them washing their hands off this current requirement to get the essentials and medicines across to the stranded needy. Of course, we are seeing the likes of fishermen in the kirana/ corner stores. And we are alive, still.

I am not demanding goodwill from these giants for the money we paid them to be rich. But I am wondering why the kindness is not inherent. You need some qualities for that. One we say in Malayalam, ‘nanma’ (goodness). The other is ‘karuna’ and there’s no appropriate translation and close one is ‘empathy’, but still very distant.

I hope good sense will prevail. They are anyway sure to reap benefits of the new habit of digital technology that we in isolation are forced to learn. But memories remain.