The Last Mile: A Bitter-Sweet Diwali
I had ordered a box of sweets for Diwali through the company’s e-commerce portal on October 26. The product was excellent I had bought it before from a store, delivery was promised within two days By October 28, the parcel had reached the Mumbai hub. And there it stayed. The days passed. I called the vendor, logged into the tracking system, and followed the parcel’s progress—or rather, its lack of progress. The tracking page showed it sitting immobile at the Mumbai hub. Finally, on November 1, an SMS arrived. The parcel was out for delivery. That evening, I was at a concert, enjoying the music, when my phone began to ring and vibrate incessantly. It was on silent, but an unknown number kept calling. I tried to answer. The audience glared. The concert was at its climax. I had to disconnect. Only later did an SMS arrive: no one had answered, so the parcel could not be delivered. At home, the family wondered why I was so tense. “Did you not enjoy the concert?” I told them the delivery fol...