We walked to Churchgate station this morning (and sneaked onto a platform) to await the arrival of the Dabbawallas
David and street dog waiting patiently
Whilst waiting, I photographed a sign on a train carriage ... it allows Tiffin Box carriers to travel at certain times of the day
More than 4000 dabbawallas are involved in collecting freshly prepared meals in tiffin boxes from workers' homes and transporting them by train to central Mumbai where they are sorted by the local dabbawalas who then deliver them to the recipients either by bike or on wooden carts. The dabbas (boxes/bags) have colours/marks on them to show the destinations
All meals are delivered by 1pm and then later the empty dabbas are collected and returned by the dabbawallas to the owners' houses
We were told that the error ratio is 1 in 16 million transactions!
Excitement as the first dabbawallas alight from the trains and battle through the crowds to unload the boxes in the street (this mainly happens between 11.30am and Noon)
organised chaos
Loading up the bikes ready for local delivery
and the wooden carts ...
It looks very disorganised but these guys have been working in the way for years and know what they're doing
heading out into the Mumbai traffic
a few of the dabbawallas
David and street dog waiting patiently
More than 4000 dabbawallas are involved in collecting freshly prepared meals in tiffin boxes from workers' homes and transporting them by train to central Mumbai where they are sorted by the local dabbawalas who then deliver them to the recipients either by bike or on wooden carts. The dabbas (boxes/bags) have colours/marks on them to show the destinations
All meals are delivered by 1pm and then later the empty dabbas are collected and returned by the dabbawallas to the owners' houses
We were told that the error ratio is 1 in 16 million transactions!
Excitement as the first dabbawallas alight from the trains and battle through the crowds to unload the boxes in the street (this mainly happens between 11.30am and Noon)
organised chaos
Loading up the bikes ready for local delivery
and the wooden carts ...
a few of the dabbawallas
I'm sure I've seen something similar on TV but can't for the life of me remember what it was. I'm wondering if it was one of Michael Palin's travelogues.
ReplyDeleteWe'd seen this on TV several time ... don't think Rik covered it though? Great fun watching it in real life though, such organised chaos and more-or-less all over in 30 minutes (at the railway station anyway)
ReplyDelete