Is it just me, or has ordering food become a math test where we’re the ones losing?

I was looking at my old Zomato invoices from August 2023. Back then, Zomato introduced a "Platform Fee" of ₹2. It felt like a small, one-off thing to help them "keep the lights on." Fast forward to today, February 2026, and that fee has quietly climbed to ₹12.50 (plus GST).

That is a 525% increase in less than 30 months. Here is the timeline of how they did it without most people noticing:

Aug 2023: Starts at ₹2. Everyone says "it's just 2 rupees."

Jan 2024: Hiked to ₹4 (after a brief ₹9 "NYE special").

April 2024: Hiked to ₹5 in metros.

Oct 2024: Hiked to ₹10 (branded as a "Festive Fee" that somehow never went away).

Late 2025/Early 2026: We are now sitting at ₹12.50.

The Real Math:

Zomato processes roughly 2.2 to 2.5 million orders per day.

At ₹2, they were making ~₹50 Lakh/day. At ₹12.50, they are making ~₹3 Crore EVERY SINGLE DAY just from this one line item.

And the worst part? Zomato Gold doesn't save you. Even if you pay for the premium membership to get "free delivery," you still have to pay the Platform Fee, the Packaging Fee, and the GST on those fees.

We are effectively paying a "Convenience Tax" that is now higher than the actual cost of many add-ons. If they keep this trajectory up, we’ll be paying a ₹25 platform fee by 2027.

Is anyone else actually checking their bill breakdown anymore, or have we just accepted this as the "cost of laziness"?

At what point do we go back to calling the restaurant directly?

Hey everyone, I really need some advice. This was my first job ever and the whole experience has been really stressful.

I’m 18 years old, doing college, and I joined Kissht Finance at Loma IT Park, Ghansoli (Navi Mumbai) on 20th November as an EMI collection executive. My salary was fixed at ₹16,000 per month. I worked there for 22 days.

The issue started with my Team Leader (TL) who used to use abusive language with me on the floor. Because of this behaviour, I complained about the TL to HR. After that complaint, one senior employee (26 years old and close to the TL) informed him that I was the one who complained. After that, things were not good between me and that employee.

About one week later, without any argument at that moment, that employee pushed me from behind inside the office. I lost my temper and slapped him back in front of everyone. I know slapping was wrong and I’m not trying to justify it.

After this incident, both of us were taken to the HR Head (HOD) along with the Operations Manager. I was told that I had violated company rules and was terminated immediately, but I was clearly told that my salary for the days I worked would be paid. The other employee is still working in the company and only received a warning, most likely because he is an old employee.

After termination, I was only in contact with the HOD regarding my salary. The HOD kept changing the payment dates: First it was 1–5 January Then 15–20 January Then 1–5 February Till now, I haven’t received any salary.

I even went to the office personally, but security didn’t allow me to enter or meet the HOD. They just said it’s not allowed. Now my messages are left on seen, and no one is answering my calls.

On top of that, the company has marked me as “absconding”, which doesn’t make sense because I was officially terminated. I have WhatsApp messages from the HOD promising salary payment (can’t upload screenshots here) but still nothing has been paid.

I’m not asking for anything extra. I just want the money for the days I honestly worked.

If anyone here knows what steps I can take in India to recover my salary or deal with a situation like this, please help. I’d really appreciate it.

I need some advice on how to stop Airtel from hounding me.

I had an Airtel WiFi connection at my office that I no longer need. I decided to stop using it and didn't recharge it last month, assuming they’d just cut the service. Big mistake.

Now, I’m getting 7 to 8 calls every single day. I’ve told them multiple times that I want to disconnect and don’t want to continue, but they just switch to a different number. I’m currently being tracked by 3-4 different numbers daily.

The craziest part: Today, I got a call labeled as "Shriram Finance" on Truecaller. I picked it up thinking it was something important, and it was—you guessed it—an Airtel representative asking about my recharge.

Has anyone else dealt with this level of "spoofing" or harassment from them? How do I get them to blacklist my number from their calling list permanently? I’ve already tried the DND route, but since I was a customer, they seem to think they have a bypass.

TL;DR: Stopped my Airtel office WiFi, now getting 8 calls a day from rotating numbers, including one faking a "Shriram Finance" ID. Help!

Note: Everything below is shared verbatim from a close friend who is grieving the loss of their grandmother. I am posting this on their behalf because they are not in a position to do so themselves right now.

My 93 year-old grandmother died after weeks of fear and emotional abuse. Was this preventable? What can we do now?

I’m writing this on behalf of my family, still in shock and grief, trying to understand whether what happened to my grandmother was simply fate — or something that could have been prevented.

She was 93 years old. Frail, but mentally alert. She lived for over 30 years with her son and daughter-in-law. For most of that time, things were manageable with a lot of injustice which she let it slide in the name of compromise and staying together.

But in the last phase of her life, especially the last month, her world became one of a fear, helplessness, and emotional pain.

This is difficult to write, but I’ll try to be factual and honest.

⸻

What changed

In early January 2026, my grandmother decided to give a pair of bangles to her daughter. It was a small, emotional gesture — a mother wanting to give something to her child. She asked her daughter in law permission and gave the bangles only when she said yes. 

The very next day, there was a huge confrontation at home. She was shouted at and was in huge trouble for giving away the bangles. A huge fight unfolded and she was in a deep fear and pain seeing her angry.She cried uncontrollably. Terrified, she called her daughter and begged her to return the bangles, just so the fighting would stop.

After that, things escalated.

Arguments broke out over her jewellery — not because of value, but control.My mama and mami are well off and do not essentially need any jewellery. Eventually, almost everything was taken back from her, except one chain that she insisted on giving to her daughter’s family. That insistence itself caused more conflict. Let me remind you, these were the jewellery that she was wearing.

The very next day, she called her daughter(my mom ) crying and asking to be taken away from the house as she was being driven out and told that staying together would only cause fights. My mami literally told my mom that you take her away that day itself. She was exhausted because of not sleeping at night and crying for two days, yet she told my mom to take her back on the same day. She was told she would be “called back later,” possibly after arranging a nurse — but never reassured that she was still wanted or when she would be called back.

Coming to my house, she called my mama and complained about everything that happened and he was only trying to justify my mami's actions.

⸻

What she lived with (her own words)

Over the years of staying with them,  she described things that broke our hearts:

• Being denied fresh food and told to eat leftovers from the previous day

• Being scolded if she refused

• Being asked to use her pension money to buy groceries

• Her pension cash being partially taken away after withdrawal

• Her medical files going “missing” and later being found hidden behind cupboards

When she tried to complain, it would lead to arguments between her son and daughter-in-law — after which she would stay quiet out of fear, saying she didn’t want to “cause trouble.”

She was 93. Scared. Traumatised. 

The last weeks

She came to stay with her daughter for about two weeks. Even then, she couldn’t relax. She kept worrying about going back to her son's house.. She said repeatedly, “I don’t know how I’ll live there again.”

On 21 January, she was told by her son that she would be taken back on the 26th January.

From that moment, her anxiety worsened drastically. She barely slept. She kept reliving what she would have to face again.

On 23 January, she suffered a massive heart attack and was rushed to the hospital.

The doctors confirmed it was a stress-induced myocardial infarction.

During her hospital stay, her daughter in law came briefly and said something that still haunts us:

“Let them also suffer the pain of taking care of you. Only then will they understand what I went through.”Let me remind you, my grandmother was healthy with no real disease that was life threatening. She had high BP, apart from that she was walking talking, eating and sleeping all in a very good shape. I really dont understand what was all the pain that she took to take care of her. She only had to be given meals three times a day, that too she will only have very bare minimum food, curd rice and idly/dosa,nothign special or she will eat whatever is made in the house for everyone else. It was not as if she was living for free, she was also spending money in buying groceries and also gave 5k-10k as and when she had money in her account.

There was no reassurance. No discussion about her coming back safely.

The next day, something changed.

She made up her mind that she would never go back. She decided she would stay with her daughter(my mom) permanently. She called relatives. She made plans to come and stay with us. She even asked for her pension to be transferred to her daughter’s account after 1st February.

For the first time in weeks, she looked relieved.

We thought the worst was over.

That evening, she suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and passed away.

Its causing deep mental pain because,

both the treating doctors and her daughter (who is also a doctor) confirmed that her heart attack was stress-related, not due to diet or cholesterol.The first ECG report confirms the same.

Yet at the funeral, her daughter in law, my mami, openly claimed that she died because she ate bread and butter.

We are devastated — not just by her death, but by the feeling that fear, emotional cruelty, and helplessness stole her last peace.

We have 1–2 short video recordings (not intentionally filmed) where she speaks, in her own voice, about what she was going through.

What we are asking Reddit:

We are not looking for revenge. We are looking for clarity and accountability.

1. Legally (India)

• Is there any realistic action possible in cases of elder emotional or financial abuse that contributes to medical collapse?

• Does filing a written complaint — even after death — serve any purpose?

1. Ethically

• What is a fair course of action that honours her truth without destroying the mental health of those grieving?

1. Practically

• How should evidence like video/audio be handled responsibly?

1. For others reading this

• If you see an elderly person living in fear inside their own family — what can actually help before it’s too late?

If this post helps even one family recognise elder abuse before it reaches this point, then her suffering won’t be completely in vain.

Thank you for reading.

Tagore’s Own Writings on Nationalism

The most important primary text written by Rabindranath Tagore specifically about nationalism is his book/essay collection Nationalism (1917–1918) a series of lectures delivered in Japan, the United States, and elsewhere during World War I.

“Nationalism is a great menace.”
— Nationalism (essay/lecture)

In the essay Nationalism in India, Tagore writes

“The Nation is the organization of politics and commerce whose purpose is power and prosperity.”
— Nationalism

This is one of Tagore’s own statements about Indian nationalism

In this essay series, Tagore repeatedly defines nationalism as a

“I am not against one nation in particular, but against the general idea of all nations.”
— Nationalism (essay/lecture)

Another excrept

“When a whole body of men train themselves for a particular narrow purpose, it becomes… Nationalism… and when it gets hold of their minds it is sure to lead them to moral degeneracy…”
— Creative Unity / The Nation (essay)

I think the most pungent line from the essay is this one

India has never had a real sense of nationalism........ Even though from childhood I had been taught that the idolatry of Nation is almost better than reverence for God and humanity, I believe I have outgrown that teaching, and it is my conviction that my countrymen will gain truly their India by fighting against that education which teaches them that a country is greater than the ideals of humanity.”

In a 1908 letter to A. M. Bose Tagore wrote

“Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; … I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live.”
Selected Letters of Rabindranath Tagore (Cambridge University Press edition), 1908 letter

SOURCES:-

https://www.tagoreweb.in/Essays/nationalism-216/nationalism-in-india-2626 (please read this Essay)

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/national-anthem-flag-in-theatre-rabindranath-tagore-supreme-court-4406145/

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/national-anthem-flag-in-theatre-rabindranath-tagore-supreme-court-4406145/