Dabbawallas' planning turns awry at hands of nature

Apurv Pandit / Mumbai

For this six-sigma rated hand that feeds Mumbai, the past week has been the worst ever. Reputed for their flawless tiffin-box delivery service to over two lakh workers and schoolchildren, the famed Dabbawallas of Mumbai saw their cutting-edge planning go completely awry at the hands of nature.

The Dabbawallas' service got completely shut down throughout the record 94 cm downpour on July 26 and 27, while more than 30 per cent of their clientele living in suburbs along the Central Railway local train system still await the resumption of the lunch delivery service that they had become so dependent on.

"Our entire system functions at the mercy of local trains, all of which were on a complete halt at some time or the other in the past week, leaving us in the lurch. Never has our service been so hampered in its century-old history," the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers' president Raghunath Medge told The Pioneer.

While local trains on the Western and Harbour suburban lines of Mumbai have largely resumed, those on the Central line, serving key middle class residential hubs such as Kalyan, Mulund, Dombivali, Ghatkopar and Powai are still undergoing repair work. The Dabbawallas deliver lunch boxes to more than 50,000 people from these Central line suburbs.

"We have been delivering lunch boxes to schoolchildren that can be reached using bicycles, but more than 30,000 office workers from Central suburbs are still cutoff due to lack of local trains. The 2,000-odd Dabbawallas who serve these people have nothing to do but to wait for the trains to start again," informed Medge.

Until then, office goers from these parts would have to carry their lunch to workplaces."Customers understand the problems and conditions that we work in, so they have not complained about the stalled service," said Medge.

Each of the 5,000 Dabbawallas has his own story to tell of the fateful Tuesday when incessant rains perpetrated the worst-ever havoc on Mumbai. With water levels reaching 5 feet in Mahim, Bandra, Ville Parle and Andheri, most Dabbawallas fought a hard battle handling crates full of tiffin-boxes by the scores. The local train monthly passes of many got washed away in the water, while others lost their footwear.

During moments when the end of survival lay a few inches away, some of them abandoned the tiffin boxes with willing samaritans at temples, shops and homes to be picked after the floods receded.

Medge claimed proudly that each of the tiffin-boxes had been accounted for and, even though it may take time for them to be delivered back to owners, the boxes were safe.

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Source: The Pioneer