The box guys who think outside the box

"Anne, I want to see the wabamata. They were showing a documentary the other day on TV. You know, it is fascinating!"

Last time my mum told me about something fascinating shown on TV, it was about the octopus: "Did you know? The octopuses are very smart creatures", she nodded convincingly. I had stop all activities and burst in laughter.

You have to understand that octopus is said "poulpe" in French. And somehow, the phrase "Le poulpe est un animal tres intelligent" has a huge comical potential.

It had been a torture to listen to my mum without giggling hysterically while she was describing half laughing, half serious, the remarkable feats of the octopuses.

"The wabamata?" I repeated stupidly.

"Yes, you know, these people who deliver the lunch boxes across Mumbai!"

Please, be lenient. The word "dabbawallah" is quite complicated for any non Indian to remember.

After all these years in India, I had kind of forgotten the fascination of westerners for dabbawallahs. But it is true, what they are able to achieve is quite impressive. Picking up and delivering lunch boxes without fail and on time to hundreds of thousand people, even during the heavy rains, is a great accomplishment for these mostly illiterate people.

It is also said that some great American business schools come to India to study this miracle of supply chain and logistic. The industry is more than 125 years old during. Over these years, a simple although very efficient coding has been developed, that guarantees the quality of service.

But like a sport even, watching the dabbawallahs in action is always better on TV. You need the big picture, you need to step back to appreciate the beauty of the movement.

I had remembered the documentary that my mum was referring to. It was really nice to follow them throughout their journey. I had flash back memories of two parts of the documentary.

Though the entire movie was from the dabbawallah's perspective, this scene was taking place in an Indian kitchen in the morning. The wife of one dabba's recipient was cursing the dabbawallah who was impatiently waiting outside for her to finish cooking the priceless "Ghar ka khanna". She could not bear hurrying up: "He can wait four or five minutes". These five minutes were precious for our guy and any additional delay may jeopardize their punctuality.

The second scene was taking place in a local train station. Two dabbawallahs were carrying a huge platter of dabbas on their heads and were trying to enter an overcrowded train to reach their destination on time. Some people do have a tough job.

When you meet a dabbawallah on his cycle proudly wearing a Gandhi cap, carrying five lunch boxes, it is very easy to forget the well oiled and remarkable organization behind the man. So today, let me be western and impressed: Well done, box guys!