Hyderabad: Of a youth's grit & grace

Hyderabad: Air dancing through his hair, panting and breathing faster and faster, he pedals his through maze of a traffic to find a way to his hungry customers to deliver food on time. This is the inspiring account of a youth who refuses a cruel fate to browbeat him in the toughest of times when a deadly pandemic is reigning on the streets.

There was a time when the postman would deliver letters and articles on bicycle, and even now these postmen use two-wheelers but of a different kind to catch up with times – motor bikes and e-bikes. But, there is a 21-year-old youth in Old City, who has taken to bicycling to make deliveries for food aggregators.

Unlike thousands of delivery executives who deliver on bikes, one or two youth still make it on bicycle. For Md Aqeel Ahmed, an engineering student and a resident of Talabkatta in Old City, lack of bike does not deter him and he is hell-bent on beating poverty and supporting his family, by pedalling, sometimes, for distances of up to 80 km.

Ahmed said he was pursuing BTech from Medak Engineering College in Siddipet "Observing family problems, I wanted to contribute something from my side. And thus came the idea of working as a part-time delivery executive for a food app in February. Soon, the worst times of Coronavirus and lockdown followed. And part-time became full-time." He says he is not put off by other executives rushing on their bikes to make deliveries. He is confident that he would meet his time targets for the others he has taken up. He trusts his unflinching resolve and physique not to fail him in these times of dire need to eke out a living. Ahmed said earlier he used to deliver in areas like Malakpet, Dilsukhnagar, Uppal, L B Nagar surrounding areas, but now he is delivering mostly in Old City including Mehdipatnam, Bandlaguda etc. For each order, it takes him 10 to 30 minutes depending on the distance.

On Wednesday, he delivered the food order in Begum Bazar Fish market, and had received another order from eatery at Abids and the delivery was at Aghapura in Darussalaam. Ahmed says sometimes it is very difficult if he gets an order from any eatery to deliver to distant areas. But it is app-based delivery which has a time limit. When he can't make it in time, he would inform the customers that he is pedalling his way to their spot, and they would understand and oblige. Aqeel Ahmed is the oldest of his five siblings. He hails from a lower-middle class family. His father works in a footwear unit at Karkhana. For the sake of his and his siblings education, he trusts his bicycle to earn enough to meet expenses. He earns Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per week, depending on the business he does for his company.

Ahmed observes that not many people are now ordering food online due to the scare of the spread of coronavirus. "The demand for the online food has come down. Delivery executives have to work for 12-15 hours a day to earn little money, and the incentives have also been reduced," he adds. But that cannot wipe away smile off his face and he is ever determined to pursue studies and also educate his siblings.