It’s been barely three months since the 360 degrees turn that my life has taken. I was a Mumma’s boy, for whom privileges were served on a platter. Never have I ever made a meal for anyone or for myself. And here I was, in the city of dreams, starving. Having to fend for myself was definitely not a part of my big dream, and yet, it had become an inevitable part of my journey.
Two days before the commencement of my job in a legal firm in Mumbai, I shifted to a modest apartment in the city’s suburbs. In the initial days, I dragged life on by ordering food online. I had two roomies, both of whom had also shifted to this flat around the same time as me. We took our time in settling in, with each other and in the house. While we soon hired a maid to cook meals for us, getting groceries, online fresh vegetables, fixing breakfasts and brewing the morning chai were still our chores.
Karan and I hated the house work – we had never done it, but Snehajeet was our man of the hour. He was a hotel management graduate and knew his way around the kitchen. He started teaching me the basics – boiling milk, brewing chai, making sandwiches, boiling eggs. I’d never felt so proud of myself in all the years of my existence. My mom was particularly overjoyed to find me making an omelette all by myself, on one of our video calls. However, hectic work hours used to leave me with little energy to experiment in the kitchen.
One day, it was my turn to stock the kitchen and buy other essentials for the house. That day, I had to ensure I leave work early to reach the shops before they shut for the day. And believe me, it isn’t easy to talk your boss into letting you off early. I left late, as always. I had to run errands from chemist to vegetable seller to grocery shop and then carry everything back home. It was exhausting.
Seeing me come home looking drained, Snehajeet said, “Hey lazy, how come you decided to slog so much today, that too for groceries?” I was dumb-founded and slightly angry. “It was you who asked me to get the stuff this time,” I said. “Yes, but you didn’t say do it physically. Haven’t you heard of these things called Apps?,” he said. He showed me the Lovelocal app on his phone and said, “You could have simply ordered it from here. They literally delivery all daily essentials to your doorstep from local stores” While I was still angry at not being told of this app earlier, a wave of relief washed over me.
I tried ordering online groceries on the Lovelocal app. It was super easy and convenient for online grocery shopping as well as online medicine shopping. Moreover, its combo deals help save money too. Tomorrow, I’ve invited a colleague from the office to our place for dinner. Snehajeet suggested that I impress her with rice noodles and vegetable soup. “How do I find rice noodles here? Do you know any place?” He patted my forehead and gave me my phone. “You’re not serious. This app won’t have an unusual item like this one,” I said. “You bet?”