When technology failed, a sense of human purpose prevailed

But what about those who couldn’t get off their night shifts, or who were travelling into Chennai from other cities and arrived late? For most of these youngsters, moving from day-to-day is difficult without using mobile apps like Swiggy, Zomato, Ola and Uber. With all these delivery and transport services down as well as mobile networks/internet being jammed, many were fearing the worst as a long night ahead loomed.

However, a cursory walk outside the offices onto the main roads revealed several small eateries, open well into the early morning hours. Parvathi and her husband Ravi were handling a small push-cart with idlis, dosais and porottas near the Olympia Tech Park in Ekkatuthangal after midnight. “We actually got a call from one of our regular customers asking where we were. Though we’d initially planned to stay home after seeing the news, we realised that these young kids working in corporate offices didn’t even have a kitchen in their homes to make a packet of Maggi. So, we quickly whipped up some batter and made our way there. Within minutes, we were swamped by several people who had been hungry all evening and were clamouring for food. I’m happy we listened to our heart.” 

Similarly, several auto rickshaws were also spotted whizzing on the roads, surprisingly asking for reasonable rates to customers panicking about being stuck outside. 

Duraikumar, a veteran driver, tells us, “The same thing happened during the floods, Cyclone Vardah, and Jayalalithaa’s death too. Many people prefer Ola and Uber – but when technology fails, it is a sense of human spirit/purpose that comes to the rescue. 

Many of us were concerned about our vehicles, but some of us still understood that worried commuters need assistance.” “I’m not denying that some drivers hike their rates, but some like me try to keep it fair. Maybe days like this will change perspectives on what they usually think about auto-drivers,” he added.