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New Delhi: The heat in the capital city at 1 pm on Saturday, May 23, 2026, is less of a wave and more of an open furnace, but for Arbaaz, a delivery agent with Zepto, it’s just another day at work. Except, he doesn’t have a work ‘place’. He’s got his motorbike parked next to the quick commerce company’s ‘dark store’ at Govindpuri Metro Station. He’s got his lunch packet open in his hands and he’s perched on the burning rexine backseat. And there, on a hot, crowded street, the 25-year-old is eating lunch.

Why? Because “there are no chairs, not even a tin shade, and no arrangement for cooled drinking water” made by Zepto, Arbaaz says. All he’s got is the Zepto app on his phone, which dings whenever an order arrives – usually someone with an ‘emergency’ forgot-to-buy moment for essentials like medicine or discretionary items like ice cream.

Zepto delivery partner Md Arbaaz, perched on his bike outside Zepto’s Kalkaji outlet with his lunch, in the afternoon heat on May 23, 2026.

The quick commerce business model survives on youth like Arbaaz taking ten minutes or fewer to rush whatever is demanded from a dark store – a mini-warehouse –  to waiting customers. As a result, delivery ‘partners’ like him are a section of the population that must remain outdoors, always on the move, working regardless of the weather. And that has been excruciating this summer, as temperatures soar even before the worst summer month, dreaded June, arrives.

A day earlier, on May 22, this reporter registered himself as a delivery partner with Zepto, Swiggy, Instamart and Blinkit. It was part of The Wire’s bid to better understand and explain to readers what being an Arbaaz – a gig worker – is really like during the ongoing heatwave.

The Wire did this after visiting numerous quick-commerce stores across locations and companies where it spoke to scores of gig workers. Over several days, this reporter heard them describe the severe difficulties they faced as they worked in the heat – with little or no help from the companies.

The Wire registered at the Zepto and Swiggy Instamart outlets near Govindpuri Metro Station in the Kalkaji area of the capital. For BlinkIt, we registered at the company’s Lajpat Nagar outlet. Registration was always quick, never taking longer than a few hours after the documents the companies wanted (Aadhaar, PAN card and so on) were submitted.

However, during the onboarding process, none of the companies provided any guidance or information about precautions to be taken while working in Delhi’s extreme heat or during heatwave conditions. It was as if Arbaaz, sitting on his bike in the heat outside the Govindpuri Metro Station, did not exist for them.

Swiggy’s Kalkaji dark store

At around 4:30 pm on May 22, The Wire reached the Swiggy outlet at Kalkaji, ready to make deliveries like a real gig worker. The temperature outside was above 40 degrees Celsius. Outside the store was a bench that could barely accommodate four people. Many gig workers were standing out in the open, waiting for the familiar ding on their phone, indicating that an order had arrived. Then they would rush into the store, stock up and take off on their two-wheelers in the heat.

The BigBasket and Zepto outlets were also close by, and groups of gig workers were waiting for orders outside them as well. Many sat on their bikes in the scorching heat, while a lucky few had found the shade of nearby trees.

The Wire went online on the Swiggy app a short while after arriving. The first order was assigned in barely two minutes. The delivery location was around 3.3 kilometres away and the order would fetch a paltry Rs 29 for the trip there and back. We took off on a bike. The road ahead seemed to be melting in the heat. Blasts of hot air made it feel much worse.

A few minutes later, a second order was received for another delivery, barely 0.8 kilometres away. The payment also shrank to just Rs 15 to get there and return.

We stayed online for around 57 minutes that day, delivering these two orders, covering eight kilometres to the destination and back to the store.

But the trips and the waiting had been exhausting. We felt desperately thirsty. With our total earnings at Rs 44, it made no sense to purchase even a bottle of water. However, the Swiggy outlet had no cool water for gig workers – its delivery ‘partners’. There was water, but it was warm. In fact, water fortified with glucose was available, but in the extreme heat, it had turned into undrinkable warm soup.

The Wire sent an email to Swiggy Instamart the same day – May 22 – asking how it was taking care of gig workers during the heatwave,........

© The Wire