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Mumbai, India’s financial capital, received worldwide attention back in 2003, with the release of the book ‘Shantaram’ by Gregory David Roberts, and more recently by the Academy Award (2009) winning movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.
With a population around 19 million when counting the suburbs, Mumbai is ancient yet modern. The city is home to some of the world’s wealthiest people, yet also to some of poorest. Indeed, Mumbai is a miniature copy of urban India – a microcosm. Super-rich industrialists, classy movie stars, renowned artists, general workers, teachers, transport workers, clerks and of course beggars all reside in Mumbai – the select few in beautiful mansions, but most in soaring skyscrapers or sprawling slums, including Dharavi, said to be Asia’s largest and featured in the aforementioned movie blockbuster.
Half of Mumbai's residents commute everyday from the outlying suburbs to downtown offices, factories, banks, mills and factories in order to earn a living. A large number of these prefer fresh home-cooked meals for their lunch.
… and that’s where the Mumbai Dabbawala takes up the challenge.
Every working day, some 5000 men (and 4 women at last count) pick up fresh hot meals packed in tiffins (lunch boxes) from the homes of close to 200,000 of these workers and deliver the same to their places of work, just in time for lunch. After lunch they reverse the process by picking up the empty tiffins and taking them back to the workers’ homes. Incredibly, they only make one mistake in 16 million transactions, thus earning themselves Six Sigma designation by Forbes Magazine and ISO 9001 accreditation. It’s no surprise that HRH Prince Charles visited the Mumbai Dabbawala in 2003 while visiting Mumbai, and that Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic did the same in 2005. In fact, Sir Richard spent a day with the Dabbawala similar to the one described in the photo feature inside the book. They are also registered in ‘Ripley’s Believe it or Not’.
While other books have been written about the Dabbawala, the main author of ‘Dabbawala of Mumbai – Masters of Supply Chain Management’, is a gentleman who rose from the rank-and-file of the Mumbai Dabbawala to earn a PhD in business. Dr. Agrawal’s book delves into this system that has often been described as a phenomenon. More than simply a ‘how they do it’ the book is the first to demonstrate how the Dabbawala system relates to the principles of supply chain management, and for the first time, studies the socio-economic factors of the men and women of the Mumbai Dabbawala and their customers.
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The cover price is only Rs 190 (approx US$3.60). Shipping is extra and is in two categories depending upon destination:
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Within India @ Rs 100 for a grand total (book plus delivery) of Rs 290; and,
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Outside India @ Rs 200 (US$3.85) for a grand total of Rs 550 (US$10.60)
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