‘Pretentious grind’: Bengaluru man spots Rapido rider listening to coding tutorial; viral post sparks debate

A viral photo shows the glowing mobile screen attached to the handlebars as the rider listened to the Node.js tutorial on YouTube.

The post quickly gained traction, igniting a debate on the grind techies go through in Bengaluru (Image source: @vaibhav_gup01/X)

Bengaluru, colloquially known as the Silicon Valley of India, has long been associated with tech and innovations. In an incident reflecting this, a Bengaluru man recently shared a post showing the side hustle of techies as Rapido riders.

In the post, Vaibhav Gupta, an X user, gave a shoutout to his Rapido rider, who is a developer, taking coding tutorials mid-ride. The now-viral photo shows the glowing mobile screen attached to the handlebars, as the rider listened to the Node.js tutorial on YouTube.

“Yesterday my @rapidobikeapp rider was listening to a Node.js tutorial. Upon asking, he told me he’s already a developer and is preparing for a switch. Crazy grind & a @peakbengaluru moment for me,” the post read.

See here:

Yesterday my @rapidobikeapp rider was listening to a Node.js tutorial.

Upon asking, he told me he’s already a developer and is preparing for a switch.

Crazy grind & a @peakbengaluru moment for me. pic.twitter.com/mMtwWDrzS7

— Vaibhav Gupta (@vaibhav_gup01) November 17, 2025

The post quickly gained traction, igniting a debate on the grind techies go through in Bengaluru. While a section of users hailed the rider for his diligence, many called it ‘pretentious’. “I feel bad that India is not able to utilise and I don’t know why,” a user wrote. “This cringe is why I hate Bangalore. This pretentious grind and hustle cringe and moreover identifying with that culture more than actually being it,” another user commented.

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“Good hustle, recommend not to get distracted while driving. Both are under risk,” a third user reacted.

In September, a software development engineer’s moonlighting as a Rapido bike taxi rider to fight loneliness on weekends caught the internet’s attention and sparked a discussion on work-induced isolation. The incident unfolded when a passenger booked a ride, and a rider with TVS Ronin, a motorcycle priced at approximately Rs 2 lakh, arrived to pick him up.