Dabbawalla aka Lunch box delivery man

120 years old,  dabbawalla community is an integral part of my home town, Mumbai. They have formed a solid reputation of consistent quality and efficiency and seem to have frozen the image of their appearance over decades. Generation after generation they look the same and promise the same quality of service. You thought Dominos leads the consistency trend with consistent 30 minute Pizza delivery? Take a peek into this community and you will be amazed at how this barely literate people manage their complex network of dabbawallas and ensure six sigma (99.999999 % acurate measured by Forbes) delivery of satisfying home-cooked lunch to the hard working Mumbaikars and many school kids each day, every day, rain (lots of rain) or shine at unbelievably low cost of service. According to some research, average dabbawalla is believed to be making less than USD 100 a month. 

In recent times some of the sub-communities have progressed a little with use of SMS and online feedback system which only aids the unparallel but crude code system of color coded characters on tiffin boxes.



But which dabba is mine? Dont worry! dabbawalla knows it exactly using his coding system.





Typical Dabba Code - Image courtesy Google search.

 Right on dot at 10:05 am, door bell rings and a middle aged man of medium height stands there impatiently in white cotton kurta pyjama and white colored Gandhi style cap. Everyday my three year old nephew drops everything at hand and runs to the door to check out his dabbawalla friend with white topi (cap). Sometimes my nephew gets lucky if my mom and sister-in-law are running late in packing the tiffin and he gets to wear the topi for few minutes and enact as a dabbawalla. Shantaram, the dabbawalla shouts "Hurry Hurry! I am running late. You find a new dabbawalla if you can't keep the time". My sister-in-law rushes to deliver two tiffin boxes to the door, one for my brother and other for my dad and catches the first relaxed breath of the day. My little nephew says good bye to his friend and promises to see him again tomorrow. This is such a familiar sight in majority of the Mumbai household and an image that is pressed in my memory by its constant reprints day after day since my early childhood days. 

So why am I talking about these legendary dabbawallas today at my lunch time while comfortably enjoying noodle soup from the local restaurant? Simply because they touched my heart recently for two key reasons.

Firstly, for the first time in 120 years of their existence they went on strike! Yes, every single of the 5000 dabbawalla went on strike forcing people to eat out, disrupting kitchens and disrupting hardened daily food habits. They went out on strike last week on Aug 19th to support 2011 Anti-corruption movement in India. This event made me proud and ponder whether we as literate and well-paid global citizens of Indian origin are doing enough to curb the corruption? How many of us are actually walking the talk?

Secondly, on my leisurely stroll through the mall last weekend, I came across a stand of very cute looking colorful bags with fun designs on it. I got closer to check out if I can purchase it for my nephew. Interestingly it was a tiffin bag by a US based company called "Dabbawalla Bags" who makes fun, stylish and reliable lunch bags for kids. http://www.dabbawallabags.com/ These bags are manufactured locally in Taiwan before they are sold worldwide. Beautiful example of globalization.

Owners of the company were apparently impressed by the dabbawalla community during their travel through India and hence the name. Who knew that Shantaram and his friends are now famous worldwide for their sincere and reliable maangement model and service that they have provided for last 3-4 generations in crazy city of Mumbai? Who knew that a single piece of bag carrying their name would actually cost half their monthly income?