Dabbawala experience centre depicts 135-year-old journey

Mumbai, Aug 14 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday inaugurated the Mumbai Dabbawala International Experience Centre, a gallery depicting the 135-year-old journey of the city’s famed tiffin carriers.

“Visitors here will get a glimpse of the history of dabbawalas,” Fadnavis said, speaking at the event held in suburban Bandra.

Mumbai’s dabbawala system, known for its efficient delivery of home-cooked lunches to office workers, was established in 1890. It began with a single individual fulfilling a request to deliver a lunchbox and grew into a large-scale operation with thousands of dabbawalas delivering over two lakh lunchboxes daily.

The experience centre and mini museum is part of the initiative of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust and Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association.

At the entrance of the museum there is a portrait of founder-patriarch, the late Mahadev Havaji Bachche, who started it all in 1890.

The exhibition centre displays 10 original pieces of the tiffin-boxes as they evolved from copper to metal and now light tin-boxes, from a single-piece ‘dabba’ to a multi-layered tiffin as public needs changed over the decades. PTI VT