The ‘Dabbawalas' have come to represent the spirit of Mumbai in many ways. The famous Dabbawalas of Mumbai came to the city on Wednesday to share their “management module” with the students of S.N.R. Adarsh College.
Pawan G. Agarwal, chief executive officer of the Mumbai Dabbawala Association, a 120-year-old institution, spoke about how they (Dabbawalas) had perfected the concept of delivering “lunch dabbas” from one's home to workplace. This has been achieved with as much as 99.99 per cent success, that too in the vast metropolis of Mumbai. “Mumbaikars believe in our precision of delivery at the right time so much so that they feel that their watch may go wrong, not the Dabbawalas.”
He said that over two lakh “tiffin boxes or dabbas” are delivered everyday to one's workplace on time. Since the association was formed in 1890, there has not been a single record of workers' strike or police cases against any dabbawala. The trust quotient is so high that people have started using dabbas to even exchange love letters and valuables.
Mr. Agarwal attributed the success to sincerity and passion of each 'dabbawala,' who work mainly for customer satisfaction. He said that their driving principle was “work is worship”. He said that when Prince Charles visited Mumbai, he wanted to meet the dabbawalas. “When the British High Commission contacted our association, we told the officials that we would be able to make time for the Prince only during our 20-minute break in their office, as we did not want to jeopardise the trust of our customers. No compromise even for the British Royalty!”
When a student asked Mr. Agarwal about the eligibility criteria to become a dabbawala, he replied that one should be willing to carry 70 kg of weight. At the end of his lecture, he distributed the celebrated 'white topi' to the faculty and students of the college.
V. Premraj Jain, secretary of the college, spoke.
