A lot has been made out of the fabled Indian mindset that is supposedly programmed to mediocrity, lacks killer instinct and revels in the chalta hai attitude. But the Mumbai dabbawallas are an exception to this rule. Their incredible system is stuff of folklore in Indian management circles.

In this former colonial metropolis now a city of over 16 million souls there are around 5000 dabbawallas who work as tiffin carriers. The dabbawallas take part in what could only be described as a daily miracle. Just like a well-oiled Olympic relay team, they collect, sort and transport dabbas to the respective destinations. They do this with absolutely zero documentation and yet rarely has it happened that a lunch has missed its destined belly. Lunch is in a tin container consisting of a number of bowls, each containing a separate dish, held together in a frame. The meals are prepared in the homes of the people who commute into Mumbai each morning and delivered in their own lunch carriers. After lunch, the process is reversed. The effectiveness of the process can be ascertained by knowing the 5,000 dabbawallas make a mistake only about once every two months, according to the Mumbai Tiffin Box Carriers Association. That’s one error in every 8 million deliveries, or 16 million if the return trip is included.   

A little of the much known genesis

The dabbawalla system can be traced back to the growth of Bombay’s textile industry in the nineteenth century, a boom that brought skilled workers and traders into the city and the spread of new housing developments. Because most of these were beyond walking distance of the mills, lunchtime posed a problem. In the mid-1880s a Parsi banker began to employ an errand boy – known as a coolie – to collect lunch from his home in the Grant Road area and deliver it to his office in the Ballard District. Owing to the absence of catering facilities within the nearby factories the errand boy quickly picked up additional orders and looked to his friends and family members from Pune – a region 50 miles southwest of Mumbai – to help him build his business. Most of the dabbawalla workforce are still drawn from this region and, linked by a strong sense of kinship, they proudly express their Maharashtrian identity through their simple white cotton attire and Nehru caps. 

Battles off late

The battle between migrants and sons of the soil for control of some of the city’s oldest, most traditional businesses has just reached the tiffin boxes of Mumbaikars. Close on the heels of the fishing community creating an uproar over "outsiders" eating into their bread and butter, Mumbai’s dabbawallas are beginning to feel the heat, with north Indians now venturing into their once closely held domain. The dabbawallas, who have been ferrying tiffin boxes across the city for over 100 years, are up in arms against a section of Rajasthani cooks who not only prepare food but also deliver it to their customers.  
 
These new culinary entrepreneurs have grabbed almost 30 per cent of the dabbawallas’ clientele in Opera House as well as in corporate offices at Seepz and MIDC, Andheri. Said Sopan Mare, president of the Tiffin Box Suppliers’ Association, "We are not against their preparing lunch boxes and operating in the same part of the city as us. Our only contention is that the delivery of the tiffins should be leased out to us since it’s our ancestral trade and our sole means of survival."  
 
The north Indian cooks operate independently, without any registered association, and charge up to Rs 400 a month for preparing as well as delivering lunch boxes.About 600 in number, they have set up temporary workplaces close to their clients’ offices and deliver food in a jiffy.

The role of Women

Although much has been documented by the media (this one adding on to the count) about Mumbai’s 5,000-strong dabbawallas, precious little has been written about the many women who cook the "homemade lunch" consumed by thousands of working women and men in the metropolis. The early 1990s saw tiffin services mushrooming in many parts of Mumbai and its suburbs. Women who were forced to earn a livelihood had started many of these. During that period, hundreds of men lost their jobs following the closure of several textile mills and their ancillary units, and huge losses in the real estate business and the stock market. The growth of cable television also affected the jobs of many technicians and junior artistes in the film industry. The USP of these enterprising women was, and still is, a home-cooked meal at an affordable price. A typical day in a household that runs a tiffin service begins before dawn — chopping the vegetables, kneading huge quantities of dough, cleaning the rice, and then the cooking itself. As long as people think there is nothing to beat home-cooked food, the enterprising women and the dabbawallas of Mumbai will continue to flourish.