The new sloth SaaS: Servant-as-a-Service

Jugaad - the art of cobbling together clever fixes with whatever's at hand - is rightly getting a bollocking these days. But the latest 'innovation' is less about invention and more about monetising inertia.

Enter CarryMen, the 'startup' service offering assistants to shoppers in Delhi's Lajpat Nagar Market to carry their bags from 30 min to 4 hrs. This being the Great Indian Service/Servant Industry, it's bound to be a hit that turns middle-class sloth into a business model.

The genius of India's startup scene is services that eliminate the last vestiges of physical culture pitched as cutting- edge. Domestic help has long been the backbone of middle-class convenience. But, now, apps, dashboards and seed-funding are giving sloth a glossy veneer.


So, those who won't lift a finger will happily lift their phones to order someone else to lift their entire body. And if you think CarryMen is the limit, brace yourself. Tomorrow's startups will offer Remote Control-Control, sparing you the trauma of pressing buttons. Key-Finder Pro will have a person not only locate your keys - and reading glasses - but also deliver them while humming bhajans.

WaaS, or Walking-as-a-Service, will let someone else rack up your steps while you livestream their progress to your smartwatch. The next frontier? A startup that breathes for you: AfL, or Airbnb for Lungs.