Today I packed my first tiffin...or rather my maid / cook packed my first tiffin (how I love her) :-) For those of you wondering "WHAT is a tiffin?!".... A tiffin, my friends, is an awesome cylindrical indian lunchbox. The tiffin consists of 4 separate tin containers stacked on one top of the other. In each separate compartment you will find either rice, dal, curry, and roti (bread). My tiffin containers are stacked and placed in a tiffin thermos to keep them warm and steamy delicious until lunch at the office. I personally carry my own tiffin to the office, but the city also has a unique way of delivering tiffins if need be.... The famous ISO 2000 certified Dabbawalas carry over 200,000 lunches from homes in the suburbs to offices throughout the city. Here is how it works: The dabbawalla comes to your house around 10am to receive your tiffin after you have left for the office. Then the tiffin is taken to the local train station via bicycle where it is sorted according to destination before being loaded on the train. The tiffin travels to the appropriate railway station and is then delivered to your office. Now here comes the best part.... After you have eaten, the tiffin is collected from your office and the whole process is reversed with the tiffin being delivered to your home in the afternoon. And all this for a monthly fee of around 350 rupee (7 dollars)! This process is famously efficient are with only 1 mistake made in every 6 million deliveries. The dabbawalla organization is largely illiterate but manages to run one of the most efficient supply chains in the entire world entirely without computers and using only public transportation (Mumbai local trains) to make deliveries. Pretty cool! They also wear fabulous little white hats that I love. :-)
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