Reading Comprehension - English (MCQ) for Bank, MBA, CAT, MAT, GMAT, SSC for Q. 28100

Emanating from the Indian kitchens every morning are the appetizing aromas of crushed spices, lentils, curry leaves and vegetables and working with her deft fingers and loving heart is the woman of the house creating ‘the great Indian home cooked meal’.

This is where the ‘dabbawallas’ sensed a business opportunity way back in 1980 – the idea of delivering home cooked meals to office-goers and their workplace and returning empty meal boxes to their homes before their return in the evening.

Today ‘dabbawallas’ have become integral part of Mumbai’s cultural mosaic. About 5000 of these delivery men crisscross the streets, lanes and by lanes of Mumbai, on foot, bicycle and local train, every morning to deliver about 2,00,000 home cooked meal boxes to office goers at their workplaces. What amazes business strategists across the world is the unique process of near faultless delivery, which even convinced Forbes magazine to give them the highly-prized Sigma Six Rating for quality assurance, a feat achieved by companies such as Motorola and General Electrics.

“The success of the system depends on teamwork and time management that would be the envy of every modern manager. Such is the dedication and commitment of the barely literate and barefoot delivery men who form links in the extensive delivery chain, that there is no system of documentation at all.”

They do not rely on any high technology data bases or computers for communication. Instead they use colours and code markings for identification. “Each container carries an indelible ink alphanumeric coding of some ten characters signifying the various transfer and delivery stages, as well as the individuals who are to be involved in the process.”

One of the major reason for the success of this delivery service is the high-level of personal involvement, relationship orientation and continuous communication with their clients and amongst themselves.
Memorizing about 35 addresses from where they must pick up the boxes it becomes critical for the dabbawalla to keep the flow of information continuous as any miscommunication might result in the unpardonable error of serving a non-vegetarian meal to a pure vegetarian, an act blasphemous enough to wash away all the good deeds of the person in a single stroke.