April 1, 2019 – Mumbai, India
Our second day in Mumbai and we have no tours planned. We decided we would visit the Churchgate train station to experience the 5 million users it has daily and also observe the Dabbawala in action. This is the lunch delivery system that uses trains and bicycles to deliver hot lunches through Mumbai. 11:30 is the time the delivery starts. We did a walk in front of the Arabian Sea first. It was a beautiful but very hot day. We walked to the end and then headed to the train station.
We were a bit early so we took some seats and watched the trains come in. We noticed that the first few cars were for women only. I initially thought it was a cultural thing and then I came across this sign.
I had to look up Eve teasing. From Wikipedia “Eve teasing refers to the temptress nature of Eve, placing responsibility on the woman as a tease. Teasing the girls, passing comment on them, harassing them, troubling them purposely is called ‘eve teasing.’ “.
This is a picture of the inside of the train station. Nothing here suggested to me that Eve teasing is a problem but after reading about it I think otherwise.
The Dabbawala have been doing lunchbox delivery for over 100 years. A Bollywood Movie called “lunchbox” is based on them.
We met an Indian tour guide at the station who asked if we were waiting to see them. Of course we were. He said that they don’t speak the local language, they have very little education and they can’t read or write. They use a color coded system and then a building address to get them to the correct location. “There are a lot of lazy people in India” he said. When they see a lone person in India “We ask, ‘What do you do’, response: ‘Nothing’. ‘Come, you carry box’. “
I couldn’t help laugh. Lots on the web about the Dabbawala.
Almost lunch time. A man carries what are obviously individual lunch bags that individuals use over and over.
Outside of the station, bags are further distributed and placed on bicycles to be taken to offices.
Delivery men with white hat.
The impressive part of the system is the huge volume done without computers or written records. This system has been studied by Fortune 500 companies.
We stopped in a restaurant for lunch. Why not Chicago style pizza when visiting Mumbai?
We walked back to the ship and were exhausted from the heat. All aboard was 5 pm.
We had dinner in the dining room and sat with Pat and Elmer. Both were Boeing employees and have been retired since 1991. They had taken the side trip to the Taj Mahal and we enjoyed talking about that.
Early night for us. We received this before we retired for the evening.
I was expecting something like this as we travel in this area.…