The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Hyderabad too has a dabbawala

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Tuesday, Dec 23, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Hyderabad too has a dabbawala

J.S. Ifthekhar

Mohammed Muslim delivers piping hot food to people at their workplaces

Mohammed Muslim

HYDERABAD: Now Hyderabad can boast of its own ‘dabbawala’. Though not as broad-based and popular as the Mumbai’s legendary tiffin service, nevertheless it has taken root here. An enterprising guy, Mohammed Muslim, has started delivering piping hot food to people at their work places in the old city. This tiffin box delivery service is in operation for the last two years in and around Charminar. People working in ‘zardozi’ shops, footwear making units and garment establishments have their meals delivered right at their workplaces. The similarities with the Mumbai pattern ends here. The Hyderabadi dabbawala delivers not just lunch but dinner too. Interestingly, the customers here are mostly UP-walas, the ones who want their food minus ‘khatta’. “I was myself very upset with the Hyderabadi dishes when I came here in 1992. We do not use much of tamarind. So I got the idea of supplying food for people with similar taste,” says Muslim who hails from Faizabad in UP. He started of with supplying just 20 meals a day and gradually increased to 50 as the service became a hit among north Indian workers here. “It is home made food and cost just Rs.25. What more can one want,” says Abdul Rahman who works at an embroidery shop at Shalibanda. What does the fare consist of? The three box aluminium container is packed with three rotis, rice, dal and sabzi. On Fridays and Sundays mutton biryani is served and on Saturday chicken curry. He can be reached on phone 9000205860.

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