Anybody and everyone, even vaguely familiar with the city of Mumbai would have been fascinated by the legendary Mumbai Dabbawallas and the levels of synchronization and coordination that they manifest. In a city as large as Mumbai operating at breakneck speed, these ubiquitous Dabbawallas (estimated at about 5,000) with their signature white uniform and Gandhi Topi deliver about 2,00,000 lunchboxes every day – sans use of GPS, barcodes, smartphones, etc. (without relying on any technology whatsoever) operating in missionary mode with almost perfect adherence to time.
Reflecting a single minded devotion and focus on their work, these Dabbawallas pick up lunchboxes from various locations (needless to say, widely geographically dispersed in a city as large as Mumbai), deliver them to the office desks before lunch, pick them up and deliver them back in the evening with error rates invariably failing within the limits of Six Sigma efficiency (the continued error in the movie “Lunchbox” being a minor aberration or more likely a cinematic creation) – of course, more tellingly, sans any advanced management tools.
Most of the legendary Dabbawallas are followers of the “Varkari” tradition, a movement centered on devotion to Lord Vitthala of Pandharpur and shaped by Sant poets such as Sant Dnyaneshwar, Sant Tukaram and Sant Namdev wherein humility over hierarchy, collective purpose over individual reward and doing ones’ duty with devotion are the basic elements of conduct. The Mumbai Dabbawallas reflect that spiritual traditions endure not in temples alone, but rather in practices that shape everyday life – when work is performed with passion and sense of service bordering the sacred. In their deep-rooted devotion to their work, these Dabbawallas are the quintessential examples of “Seva” (“service”) and “Shraddha” (“devotion”).
Through a seemingly intelligible, but disarmingly simple and ingenious alpha numeric coding system, combining the pick-up location, the defined Dabbawalla, the train station of exiting the local train and point of delivery with the underlying system being ingrained in their psyche, these Dabbawallas operate with a sense of duty, selfless service and, of course clinical efficiency – and have continued to do so over several decades with no end to their services, notwithstanding the advent of modern technology, gadgets, home delivery apps and what-have-you.
While the service and levels of efficiency are certainly noteworthy and commendable, certain life lessons manifest themselves in the manner in which this clan (most of whom are either illiterate or minimally literate) functions, foremost of which is the level of devotion, spirit of service – performed as, already discussed, “Shraddha”, something of a responsibility, nay pious duty, sans any rights, save a remuneration which might be just enough to make both ends meet in a city as expensive and overbearing as Mumbai.
The spirit of “Seva”, inherent in the functioning of these Dabbawallas, gets reflected in the words of Raghunath Medge, President of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association:
“If you treat the Dabbawallas as a container then you might not take it seriously. But if you think this container has medicines that must reach patients who are ill, and may die, the sense of urgency forces commitment”.
The other is the sense of belonging, oneness and unity within the entire tribe (akin to the choirmaster managing the various members of the choir or the coxswain who does not actually row the boat but is responsible for implementing strategy, motivation, and ensuring safety while sitting in the stern to ensure optimized performance with the entire team being in perfect sync) – with the critical difference being that here there is no Boss. The Dabbawallas operate with an unending commitment to timely delivery, which is, in turn, dependent on timely pickup, catching the right suburban train, exchange and arrangement of dabbas at the designated point and onward delivery – activities which are done in perfect unison and harmony with exactitude of the highest order – something which even a Harvard study has commented on.
The congeniality also gets reflected in their working with the division of labour amongst various team members determined invariably mutually, with the Dabbawallas having no leeway as to time and adherence to the Mumbai suburban local train schedules being the ultimate determinant of their efficiency – a missed train connection leading, in all likelihood, to a veritable collapse of the system.
From what I have read and heard, these Dabbawallas, in their external countenance and interaction represent an extraordinary degree of congeniality and physical ease, reflecting some degree of comfort and stability in interpersonal relationships – so vital for the sanctity and performance of their tasks. This level of synchronization powered by synching to the tribe and further fueled by a sense of belongingness, represents a remarkable aspect of their activities and resultant performance.
Another aspect of their seemingly simple activity, akin to a delivery service, albeit with a sense of piety, bordering on the sacred, is the underlying emotional connect that this service provides. While the inter se connect between the Dabbawallas and the synching of their hearts is the essence, resulting in them being able to stick to timelines, another aspect is their ability to forge an emotional bond within families.
Delving on the issue of emotional connect, Daniel H. Pink in his remarkable book – “When – the scientific secrets of Perfect Timing” compares these Dabbawallas to a “pizza delivery guy”, who might “be efficient” but whose work is “not transcendent”, and points out as to how the Dabbawallas “see one member of the family early in the morning then another later in the day and thereby help the former nourish the latter and the latter appreciate the former”. In the process, they enable the recipient of the lunchboxes to keep connected with their family during the day as they often leave home even before the sun has barely shone and invariably come home when it is already dark – all in the performance of a duty with the spirit of “Seva” and “Shraddha”.
The lessons to be learnt from these Dabbawallas are deep-rooted and intensely capable of being applied across all lines of activity. Beginning with the need to look for simple solutions – devoid of complex analytical tools or cutting-edge technology to manage operations or designing operating eco-systems, the need to operate with an extraordinary degree of unity, cohesion, synchronicity and, of course, unblemished interpersonal relationships, is paramount. Replacing the “I” with “We” and exploiting each other’s strengths while ironing out weaknesses is the cornerstone of unhindered and seamless organizational functioning and congenial societal interface.
Perhaps unrelated, but not entirely dissonant, is the need to understand and appreciate the value of “emotional connect” and “human element” in all our interpersonal relationships – whether within the organization we work in in or in the larger society that we are a part of. The need is to invest capital (essentially, individual effort) in bringing some level of emotional connect with the underlying behavioral iterations in all our relationships, whereby individual growth with a balanced mind and a more peaceable persona will be an inevitable outcome. The Mumbai Dabbawallas by being seemingly contrarian to contemporary thought processes, deeply reliant as they are on technology, while standing at the intersection of tradition and modernity irrefutably demonstrate that trust, discipline, shared values and a deeply imbibed sense of service can sustain complex operations with their activities of course approaching the “sacred” with the underlying sprit and theme of “Seva” and “Shraddha”.
About CA Sanjeeva Narayan
An alumnus of Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University and St. Xavier’s School, Delhi, Sanjeeva Narayan is a Fellow Member of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He has been a practicing Chartered Accountant for nearly 40 years and is the Managing Partner of Ashwani & Associates. He specializes in the fields of corporate and international taxation and advises on taxation matters for a wide range of corporates, high net worth individuals and other organizations.
Sanjeeva is a regular contributor of articles on professional issues to journals like “Taxman”, “Corporate Professionals Today”, etc. He is also an active blogger on issues of general interest which can be accessed at https://medium.com/sanjeeva-narayans-blog. He is also the author of a book titled “Your Appeal Before Commissioner (Appeals)”.
