The first mile: Where dreams stay to die

We've all heard of 'last-mile' problems - those tragic moments when your food delivery is 200 m away, but the delivery agent decides to summit Everest first. But there's the less-spoken-about villain of the service industry: the first mile, that cursed stretch where things don't even begin. Take ride-hailing apps. You book a cab. It accepts. You rejoice. Then the driver calls to ask where you're going, judges your destination like a Tinder-ella, and cancels faster than you can say, 'But bhai-saab!' You're left staring at your screen, and wondering why the outdoors even exists. Or grocery delivery. You place an order on quick-commerce app that promises you delivery in 11 mins. 12 mins pass, and then on the 20th, you get a refund. Which means bread for lunch again. Even in tech support, the first mile is a Bermuda Triangle. You call. A bot answers. It asks you to 'describe your issue'. You do. It replies, 'I didn't get that.' You repeat. It says, 'Let me connect you to an agent.' Then you hear a synth version of Beethoven's Fur Elise play, forever.

We obsess over the last mile, but without the first mile, life is just full of potential. True, fixing it isn't glam. But it's the difference between a start that one hopes will end, and a no-starter where the end is never nigh. So, let's start again. We've all heard of 'last-mile' problems....