A recent trend is the use of domestic-help apps through which one can avail oneself of services to help with repetitive tasks such as unpacking baggage, arranging clothes in cupboards, assisting during gatherings/parties, peeling garlic and pomegranates (!) and other mundane jobs. The app, started as an experiment in Bengaluru, is now popular in Mumbai and Delhi NCR too. From one lakh monthly jobs in Aug 2025, it has now grown to 10 lakh and is still growing. The service providers earn Rs 20,000 to 25,000 per month for fixed shifts, and are either an add-on or ad hoc support to the regular domestic help, if any.
Though the app provides employment to several people, it is amazing that simple household jobs are outsourced at high cost. Either the clients have money to spare, are busy professionals who need time to surf social media, want to brag, or are plainly lazy. Who in their right mind would get garlic cloves and pomegranates peeled when they cost less than the hourly rate charged by the app? These could be done while watching TV or mobile screens or chatting.
We are eager to change the British names of roads and heritage buildings but are becoming more snobbish than the colonials, Ms./Mr. Bertie of P.G. Wodehouse, by employing a Ms./Mr. Jeeves. Hope the day does not come when people outsource their daily routines, thinking and breathing to some obliging gig worker! Hey, my onion slicer guy is at the door!
