Dabbahwallahas (dabbah is a metal tiffin container; wallah means man)
Established in 1890 and Dressed in a traditional white outfit and wearing the traditional Gandhi Cap, the strong army of around 5,000 Dabbawallas’ deliver home-cooked food to Mumbaikar, delivered from home to the office every day.
They are the people who make sure that 200,000 people get their lunch on time at their offices or schools every day from home. However, they do so without any IT technology or personal cars, and a largely illiterate workforce.
Bombay's morning rush-hour- India at its most hellish - and millions pour into the city centre. Feeding the office workers, the minute cogs of immense establishments, are the dabbahwallahs, a slick well-greased group operating a highly efficient catering transport service.
Their system is unique to Bombay, because this city alone has an effective local train network, radiating throughout the suburbs. Precise co- ordination is paramount amongst the 2,000 dabbahwallahs.
7am and the officewallah leaves his suburban home for work. His wife proceeds to cook his lunch. Bachelors often register at special kitchens. 'Home' cooking is deemed cheaper, more hygienic and tastier than meals served at downtown cafes. 10am and the dabbahs are packed, ready for collection.
The dabbahwallah will speedily collect up to 30 such lunch boxes on his beat which may cover an area of 20 square kilometres, hook them onto his bike and rendezvous with another dabbahwallah, who, having amassed the dabbahs from a number of his colleagues, takes them to the nearest suburban railway station.
Here he meets the next link and transfers the dabbahs onto a long narrow tray measuring two and a half metres by less than a metre - and this is quickly slid onto the train when it makes its brief stop. The one way journey into the city may be as long as 70 kilometres.
Arriving at a central station, the dabbahwallahs congregate outside and sort out the thousands of dabbahs, which have been brought from all over the suburbs (a total of 100,000 dabbahs are carried each day). Most dabbahwallahs are illiterate; deciphering names and addresses through a series of coloured symbols painted on the lids of the dabbahs. Very rarely does a dabbah go astray. The third dabbahwallah in the chain will gather the dabbahs for his patch and scurry off to make his deliveries.
Noon and the dabbahs are at the end of the corridor, ready for lunch- time. At 2pm the whole procedure starts in reverse, and by 4pm the empty dabbahs are back in the suburbs.
Building a tribe mentality
‘Error is horror’ is the motto that illustrates the pride the Marathi people take into the reliability of their unique service.
They are Mumbai’s Dabbawallah’s, picking up 200,000 hot lunches in tiffin boxes every morning and delivering every single one to the correct office by 12:45pm. An average tiffin box changes hands four times and travels over 60km – yet there is only one mistake in every six million deliveries. This accords them the world-coveted Six Sigma quality standard, yet without a single micro-chip in the process.
Instead, efficiency is down to the commitment of each of the 5,000 members of the team, and they say this comes from their strong sense of community. They have all invested heavily in their career and providing their own bicycle, carrying-box and uniform. This gives them a strong sense of ownership.
It’s then a secure job for life, and the earnings of the operation are split equally each month, regardless of each person’s role or longevity in the job .
Anyone wishing spending a fortune on technology in the pursuit of quality, might pause to consider these ‘softer’ facets of belonging and pride.
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