From press to door: Meet the KT delivery boys

Nair, now in his sixties, has been delivering Khaleej Times to loyal readers since 1995.

With his right hand, Sasidharan Nair grabs a set of Khaleej Times newspapers from a stack in his paper bag and, in one fluid motion, stuffs it into the crook of his left arm.

He locks his beat delivery motorbike in front of rows of residential houses in Al Buteena, Sharjah, and quickly enters a four-storey building apartment.

Upon exiting from the lift on the second floor, he almost glides to apartment 112 in the building. In one quick motion, he twirls the day's newspaper into a cylindrical shape and places it in the door handle. He has 12 other flats to visit in the same building within the next four minutes, 33 seconds.

(Clockwise) Jothi Venkatesan, with his delivery bike and bag, has been dropping off the paper for 20 years now; father-son duo Mohammed Zohoor and Mohammed Nizamuddin, who are both Khaleej Times delivery boys; Mohammed Mahtab Uddin, who distributes the paper in Abu Dhabi, has been with KT for 31 years. - Photos by Neeraj Murali, Ryan Lim

It's 1.10 am and Nair has to deliver a total of 155 newspapers between 1 am to 6 am, without waking his customers, starting from Rolla, Buteena, Mina Road, on to several other areas in Sharjah.

Nair, now in his sixties, has been delivering Khaleej Times to loyal readers since 1995. He knows the routes and streets of Sharjah inside out, and puts the paper right where it should be, with an efficiency that seems downright mechanical.

Every single day since 1978, a group of 250-strong newspaper boys have been zipping through the arterial routes and bylanes of the UAE, delivering the nation's first English language daily. A 365-day job, and well before the advent of social media and the Internet, these newspaper boys were the first torchbearers of the day's news to readers across the UAE.

Before the digital age

"Before Facebook and online news portals, people waited for us to hand-deliver news to them. They read, and many of them continue to read Khaleej Times along with their morning cuppa. We have delivered news that has shocked, inspired, delighted and sometimes angered the nation," said Mohammed Mahtab Uddin, a newspaper boy in Abu Dhabi, employed with Khaleej Times for 31 years.

A stalwart among the delivery men, Bangladeshi national Mahtab knows the by lanes of Abu Dhabi like the back of his hand. "The long-time readers of KT continue to be loyal. I've known many of our subscribers for over 25 years, and I share a good rapport with many of them," he said. According to these old timers, people waited for their newspapers and cared only about its contents. But priorities and reading habits of readers are fast changing now.

"I don't see that happening among younger people, as many of them are keen to buy the paper for the sake of the vouchers they get along with the paper," said Jothi Venkatesam, a delivery boy who has been with KT for 20 years.

The 44-year-old delivers 180-200 newspapers every day to Emirates Hills, the Meadows and the Lakes.

"I started my career in KT by delivering in Deira, but now I deliver to the newer areas," he said, adding: "I remember when in 2003, American forces captured the former president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. Many of the readers had already heard about it on TV, but waited keenly for KT to read about the details of his capture."

"From father of the nation Sheikh Zayed's death (2004) to former Indian prime minister Rajeev Gandhi's assassination (1991), we've always been the first to know after the newspaper's reporters and editors. But I read the paper only after I complete delivering, which is usually at 6.30 am," stated Nair.

Another long-timer, Mohamed Zaheer Zahoor, said that with the advent of social media, most of KT's readers already know the news before the paper is delivered to them. He distributes 180-200 papers per day at Al Rigga area. "I've been delivering KT to readers for 14 years in Deira. But I suppose our loyal readers continue to read KT because we give in-depth analysis of a story after our readers have read it online," noted Zahoor.

What kept them loyal to KT

When the world slept, newspaper boys like Nair have seen the UAE transform into the bustling metropolis that it is today. "Along with the country, I've seen the newspaper transform under the leadership of various editors as well. I remember when former editor Bikram Vohra took over, our readers told us about a remarkable change in the content of the paper," said Nair.

He used to be a sales professional in his Kerala hometown. "When I first arrived here, we worked on a commission basis. Today, we are salaried professionals. My son Aravind was born the same year I joined Khaleej Times. Today, Aravind too has joined KT as a newspaper delivery boy. Nair added, "Back in the day, we would sell papers at traffic signals. When delivery boys started meeting with accidents some of which resulted in deaths, Khaleej Times stopped the practice of selling papers at the signals." Many of the paper delivery boys started out with bicycles. Today, most of them deliver papers in larger areas, both residential and office, on motorbikes.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com