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This Indian meal service is so efficient
In Lower Manhattan, a busy banker stuffs herself with overly rich restaurant fare ordered off Seamless.com. In Frankfurt, a manager slops generous portions of the canteen's stew onto his lunch plate.
In Mumbai, an insurance analyst sits down to a healthy home-cooked meal, still warm from the stove where it was prepared by his wife or mother.
Rob Elliott | AFP | Getty Images
Indian dabbawallahs push their carts laden with food, on their way to make lunch time food deliveries, through the streets of Mumbai.
India's commercial capital is a teeming metropolis of nearly 20 million, boasting a sparkling international air terminal and a sleek new metro system, swanky furniture stores and Bollywood starlets. It's a city constantly striving, yearning for the future.
Remarkably, its age-old tradition of home-cooked meals — delivered on wheels — has resisted the momentum of change.
The dabbawalas, as they're known, are the men who make it possible.
They have cemented their place in Mumbai's colorful tapestry. They deliver lunch from home to the office or school every day, monsoon or shine.
"We take great pride in ensuring delivery even against great odds: We worked through the floods in 2005 and the terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 2008 when most of the city had come to a standstill," said Vitthal Sawant, a 34-year-old dabbawala who has delivered lunches for more than 15 years.
The dabbawalas are a common sight in Mumbai: men clad in white kurtas, weaving their bikes through impossible traffic and swarming throngs, juggling multiple tiffins — circular silver tins with four to five compartments, each packed with food — that are destined for office buildings and school courtyards.
Read more from here:This Indian meal service is so efficient it?s the envy of FedEx
In Lower Manhattan, a busy banker stuffs herself with overly rich restaurant fare ordered off Seamless.com. In Frankfurt, a manager slops generous portions of the canteen's stew onto his lunch plate.
In Mumbai, an insurance analyst sits down to a healthy home-cooked meal, still warm from the stove where it was prepared by his wife or mother.
Indian dabbawallahs push their carts laden with food, on their way to make lunch time food deliveries, through the streets of Mumbai.
India's commercial capital is a teeming metropolis of nearly 20 million, boasting a sparkling international air terminal and a sleek new metro system, swanky furniture stores and Bollywood starlets. It's a city constantly striving, yearning for the future.
Remarkably, its age-old tradition of home-cooked meals — delivered on wheels — has resisted the momentum of change.
The dabbawalas, as they're known, are the men who make it possible.
They have cemented their place in Mumbai's colorful tapestry. They deliver lunch from home to the office or school every day, monsoon or shine.
"We take great pride in ensuring delivery even against great odds: We worked through the floods in 2005 and the terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 2008 when most of the city had come to a standstill," said Vitthal Sawant, a 34-year-old dabbawala who has delivered lunches for more than 15 years.
The dabbawalas are a common sight in Mumbai: men clad in white kurtas, weaving their bikes through impossible traffic and swarming throngs, juggling multiple tiffins — circular silver tins with four to five compartments, each packed with food — that are destined for office buildings and school courtyards.
Read more from here:This Indian meal service is so efficient it?s the envy of FedEx
