For a person who is not a real writer or for that matter not penned down thoughts since English classes in high school, writing a blog is turning out to be quite a challenge. Nevertheless, here I go... So what inspired me to write? Well it was really a program about “Mumbai’s Dabbawallas” that I watched last night on PBS.
http://64.84.23.68/tv/programs/archive/index.jsp?pgmid=12443
Having spent a good chunk of my early youth in Mumbai “The Dabbawalla” was not a foreign concept for me. I was however completely awestruck with the level of organization this trade involves that the PBS program showcased. The Dabbawallas are mostly illiterate (in our normal way of 'understanding' literacy), own specific geographical locations, which they cover by walking, bicycling or using public transportation.
How is it that an organization of ~5,000 workers can work with an efficiency of 99.99%, be granted the prestigious six sigma certificate and have absolutely no technology to back up the entire structure? To top it off, the nature of their work involves pickup and delivery of millions of lunch boxes each day within a specified time range of 5-6 hours.
In this information age where every form of business has cocooned itself within the likes of Blackberries, iPhones and high speed internet connections, I begin to wonder how much is really enough?! Are we making ourselves slaves to technology or is it really that we become more efficient by being always “CONNECTED”?
I am by no means a technophobe, but a sneak peak at the Mumbai’s dabbawalla organization sure makes me wonder if we do need the gadgetry that we shackle ourselves with?!
With this wonderment, let me sign off with a tribute to the perseverance and the uplifting human spirit of the Mumbai Dabbawallas. In the indomitable voice of Mohd. Rafi - Ye Hai Bombay Meri Jaan:
- Harita Arunagiri.
