Mumbai: Outside railway stations, the mid-morning rush of
dabbawalas was missing on Tuesday, as the motormen's strike threw train services out of gear.
The tiffin carriers' network, which is entirely dependent on local trains to deliver
dabbas, was unable to make it to customers' homes from where their lunch boxes are picked up for delivery.
The result? Some office-goers who did manage to reach their workplace using car pools or buses had to go hungry, while at home many a homemaker fretted and waited in despair for the
dabbawala to pick up the tiffin.
"Our services were badly hit yesterday due to the strike though we delivered
dabbas in areas which could be covered on bicycle," Sopan Mare, president of
Dabbawala Association, said adding that normal services would resume on Wednesday.
The association has 4,000 registered
dabbawalas who deliver at least 90,000 tiffins across the city daily.
For many
dabbawalas, the holiday was a good time to just take a break or spend time with their family.
"As usual, I reached Kalyan station at 7 am and found that there were no trains," said Anil Bhagwat, a
dabbawala from Kalyan who picks up nearly 300 lunch boxes between Kalyan and Dombivli and delivers them at CST. "I quickly called up my other colleagues to tell them about the trains and also informed a few customers to say that I would not be able to pick up their tiffins," said Bhagwat.
"Once I got home, I just lounged around and did nothing. It was a nice unexpected holiday and I enjoyed it to the hilt," Bhagwat said. "I did nothing special but just stayed put at home. That perhaps was the best part of this day off."
Among the several officegoers who were affected was Kharghar resident Advocate Lakshmi Ravindran who practises at the Bombay High Court in Fort.
"I usually prefer to have homemade food. Yesterday, as my
dabbawala was unable to get my tiffin, I made do with sandwiches and juice," said Ravindran.
Radhika, a Vashi resident who works for a public relations firm in Andheri, chose to skip lunch.
"I am on a strict diet and normally have home-cooked food without oil and spice," said Radhika. "Yesterday, I survived on fruit juice."