Books like Mumbai's Dabbawala: The Uncommon Story of the Common Man

They may be a tiny cog in the machine but the intrepid Dabbawalas of Mumbai deliver 200,000 meals every day from homes to offices within three hours. Mumbais Dabbawala is the uncommon story of a common man whose existence plays a crucial role in making the wheels of Indias financial capital turn smoothly. They may be a tiny cog in the machine but the intrepid Dabbawalas of Mumbai deliver 200,000 meals every day from homes to offices within three hours. Their clockwork precision and incredibly low error rate has got the world to sit up and take note of this awesome army of 5000 men, who make sure office-goers get a hot, home-cooked meal every day, come rain or shine. It is a stupendous feat of coordination, efficiency, honesty and sheer hard work that could teach many a corporate honcho a lesson or two in running a business successfully. The humble dabbawalas of Mumbai shot into fame when Prince Charles requested a meeting with them on a visit to the city in 2003, after having seen a BBC documentary on them. It was a meeting that the heir to the British throne did not forget. In April 2005, the Dabbawalas Association received an invitation to the wedding of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker-Bowles. A few days later, Sopan Rao Rao Mare and Raghunath Medge attended the royal wedding as representatives of the Dabbawalas Association. The story is narrated alternately by the man who has made it happen Raghunath Medge, president of the Dabbawalas Association, and the author Shobha Bondre. About the AuthorShobha Bondre is a celebrated and much- published Marathi writer. She has been writing for the last 25 years and has published 15 books, many of them bestsellers that have gone into over 75 editions. The non-Marathi reading world is now keen to read her works and her books are being translated into English, Hindi and Gujarati. She has written articles, short stories and columns for prestigious publications like Maharashtra Times, Loksatta, Lokprabha, Maher and Kirloskar. She has also written dialogues for many popular Marathi TV serials like Abhalmaya, Manasi, Oon Paaus and Ardhangini. In the last few years, profiling people from various walks of life has become Shobhas forte. For this, she interacts closely with her subjects, understanding them in their social, familial, emotional and economic settings. She has won many literary awards for her work, including the Maharashtra State Award for Best Novel in 1997, for Saata Samudrapar.