The woods are dark and deep, but that does not stop Ramsingh Pawar from his duty of delivering goods far and wide for his employers, the e-commerce company, Flipkart.

Pawar is referred to as a wishmaster. On hill roads, muddy pathways, through forests… it does not matter how he has to get to where you live, but the 35-year-old will deliver the parcel to your doorstep.

Pawar has worked with Flipkart in Nagpur, Maharashtra, for three years and his days begin early. “Sneha, my wife has to get the food ready by seven thirty in the morning as I take it along with me to work,” Pawar said. He has two children, a son, Ganesh and a daughter Dhara. And the family lives in Vasanth Vihar, about a kilometre or so from the Sonba Nagar warehouse in Wadi, where Pawar reports to work every morning.

After finishing off some paperwork, Pawar sets off in the company’s small Ashok Leyland truck bearing the goods packed in cardboard and duct tape, to be delivered that day. “If it is just local that day, I do about twenty to twenty five deliveries a day. But very often our destinations are spread out over 100 to 120 kilometres (km),” Pawar said. Even then he manages to squeeze in 10 to 15 deliveries a day.

“It is a job, but one where one can’t help being touched by the reaction of the people who receive the parcels. There is so much anticipation, excitement and happiness that we feel happy,” smiled Pawar. He said there was something fulfilling in knowing that he had a part to play too in the joy of his customers when he sets down their precious cargo in front of them.

“I remember the time I delivered a long awaited-television to a family. The unbridled joy and excitement as I unpacked the TV, the laughter and the excited children clapping their hands was just so wonderful,” he said.

“They may not remember me or my face, but they will remember the happy moments when I unpacked their fridge, or washing machine or television, for them,” Pawar said. “Most of the time the customers are pleasant and offer us water. But then there are those who get annoyed if there has been a delay in delivery. Sometimes there are breakages despite all the precautions we have taken…” he trailed off.

Sometimes these wishmasters even lose their way. Still, countless times a day, Pawar slips off his shoes at the thresholds of homes, and carefully sets the parcels down and unpacks them, often to an audience of excited and impatient customers.

“Many times, there are no proper access roads for our vehicle.  In such cases, the driver and I have often lugged triple door fridges up to their doorstep, after walking more than half a km,” he said. One of the toughest deliveries he made, Pawar recalled, was to Wardha nearly 80 kms away from Nagpur, when after that long drive, he had to lug a washing machine, weighing more than 100 kgs up three floors!

“We carry our lunches with us. On the long drives we stop on the wayside and eat or find an eating place on the way and eat something there,” said Pawar. But it is usually cooked food from home that he carries along. It is accompanied by a lot of banter between the driver and him. Sometimes they pull each other’s leg about how the wife has packed the same food three days running!

Meanwhile, Pawar’s wife calls him up several times a day to remind him to eat.

It is driving through the dark forests on their way back from deliveries, late in the evening that is scary, said Pawar. It is pitch dark, it is deserted and the only lights come from the headlights of the vehicle. And, inevitably there have been times when the vehicle has broken down right in the middle of the woods. “Recovery vehicles are sent to us, but it is not nice being stranded there. We know there are wild animals roaming in those forests,” he said.

Pawar along with 15 others at his workplace, delivers packages six days a week, and earns approximately Rs 12,000 a month. “Some days are longer than the others, but we get an off once a week. Not necessarily on a Sunday,” he said.

The best time of the day for Pawar? “When I drive back after work on my scooter and see the lights of my home approaching. I know my wife and children are waiting for me.”

Read this report in Hindi.