2015개정 영어 YBM(한) 6과 본문

 

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6과 - Dabbawalas: Mumbai's Lunch Box Delivery Men

 

In India, many traditions are today being challenged as a result of globalization. The practice of eating a home-cooked meal for lunch, however, continues. In Mumbai, many people who work in offices far from home rely on an express food delivery service run by dabbawalas. Dabbawalas are delivery men who carry hot lunch boxes for Mumbai office workers from their homes to their offices. The word dabbawala comes from the Hindi dabba meaning "lunch box," and wala meaning "the person who carries it."

 

Most dabbas, or lunches, reach their destination after passing through several pairs of hands. A typical scenario would have one person on a bicycle pick up a dabba by 9:00 a.m. from about thirty different addresses. After collecting all of the dabbas assigned to him, he takes them to the nearest train station. Another person loads each dabba onto the right train, sending them off in different directions. A third person rides on each of the trains with the dabbas. Finally, a fourth person picks up the boxes at the receiving station and distributes them, again by bicycle, to each customer's office, all by 12:30 p.m. The empty dabbas are picked up by 5:00 p.m. and are returned to their original addresses by the same team, following the same procedure in reverse.

 

The dabbawala service began around 1890, when a banker hired a young man to deliver a lunch box from his home to his Mumbai office. Other people liked the idea and copied it. When demand for the service expanded, a businessman started the lunch-delivery service in its present format. Now, more than 120 years later, the dabba is a unique part of the Mumbai culture.

Why do Mumbai workers not take their lunch boxes with them in the morning, when they leave for the office? Those who use the dabbawala service are mostly middle-class office workers who live in one of Mumbai's suburbs. They have to leave for the office early in the morning, riding on a packed train. It would be difficult for them to carry their own dabba. Also, they often have dietary restrictions, depending upon their religion. Hindus do not eat beef, Muslims do not eat pork, and Jains do not eat onions and potatoes. As a result, it is not easy for workers to find the right food in restaurants near their office. To meet their dietary needs, Indian workers prefer their home-cooked meals, made especially for them.

 

Today approximately 5,000 dabbawalas cover 70 square kilometers in and around Mumbai. They conduct about 400,000 transactions daily―200,000 lunch boxes are delivered to offices every morning, six days a week, and 200,000 are returned home every afternoon. They even deliver in the pouring rain and during political strife. Surprisingly, hardly any cases of late or mistaken delivery are ever reported. Their motto is "error is horror."

The dabbawalas are proud of their 99.99 percent accuracy rate, which means just one mistake in every six million deliveries. It is an amazing record, considering that most of the dabbawalas are illiterate and that not a single piece of paper is used in the delivery process. The secret to this error-free system is in a coding system. Each dabba carries a code, painted with different colors, numbers, and symbols. These codes tell the dabbawala where the food comes from and which railway stations it must pass through on its way to a specific office in a specific building, in Mumbai.

 

The dabbawala organization is an outstanding example of an efficient distribution system. It is simple, relies on teamwork, has a low operating cost, and delivers almost 100 percent customer satisfaction. It is not surprising, then, that business schools and large corporations around the world learn from the dabbawala system. Today, most people cannot imagine an efficient delivery system operating without the benefit of technology. Dabbawalas, however, demonstrate that with no form of technology, some of the old ways may still be the best ways.