Dabbawallahs

What do dabbawallahs do? Where do they do what they do? Why do they do whatever they do? What is it that shot them to fame? Why do management gurus, kings, leaders alike took notice of these quiet men of honor?

We had Dabbawallahs themselves answering these questions during the sessions they conducted inhouse. I went over with my friend to get a first hand feel of what they do and why they are considered with such regard. Leave alone the six sigma statistics thay they have bettered. What captured my attention was the confidence and the pride with which he spoke and the humbleness that he displayed, a rare combination. They take home food to the offices and then bring it back to the houses after the lunch for a meagre amount. Like the business itself the process is extremely simple and is not replicable as such - it caters to the Mumbai city's needs and depends entirely on the electric train. And more than this on the passion and commitment of the Dabbawallahs who are stakeholders in the business. To a large extent this hinges on their desperation for earning a livelihood and their belief that distributing food is a divine task.

What is also noteworthy is the time management and the fact that the process is kept as simple as possible to keep the costs low. Despite that it needs to be seen how many more decades they will sustain. May be their younger generation will reconsider how much more money they can make with so many opportunities around!!

Maximum City - My opinions

He just captivated me with his words, dragged me into the details, humbled me with the heroics of the under privileged and teased me with the tale of the mislead. Suketu Mehta's brilliant work on 'Mumbai' truely kept me hooked on to the book for the entire length. A definite recommendation from my side, 'Maximum City' deserves accolades for the neutral view of the city.

I am a big fan of leading a peaceful life in a country like setting. I dream of having a quiet home far away from the hussle and bussle of the big cities. And i hate the fact that in India we do not preserve our rivers or even take enough pain to control growth in cities. We grow inorganically and reach a point where our infrastructure breaks. All our rivers are mere dumpyards and we fail to look beyond the confines of our homes.

The author comes across as a global citizen who can see the whole world without the burden of his context. He skilfully describes every character and event they were part of. I loved the non-partisan view on even his friends, for example on how he describes Vidhu Vinod Chopra as someone who is confused between the western movie styles and the Indian public's likes. There are places in the book where the author reflects in a philosophical manner of why people go through what they do. There is no right or wrong, there is no one way of living life and the one who most enjoys life is certainly the one who can open mindedly take in every opinion and change himself to accomodate what appeals to him.