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4 April, 2005: So far, only two people in Mumbai, India's financial capital have been invited for the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. And they are not Mumbai's gliteratti - they are the
dabbawallas - tiffin carriers - who are in the business of reaching home-cooked lunches to Mumbai's working millions.
Mumbai has an estimated 5,000 tiffin carriers -dabbawallas (literal translation- the can-carriers) delivering about 175,000 lunch boxes every day. The business is centiry old and evolved over a period of time - and the efficiency of the process have earned the dabbawallas a six-sigma rating from Forbes magazine. The Six-sigma rating means that they have a 99.99 % efficiency in delivering the lunch-boxes to the right people. Their indigenously developed tracking system has been studied by management institutes and gurus, and Prince Charles, when he came to Mumbai in 2003, met them and had a chat with them.
Raghunath Medge, president of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association and Sopan Mare, the secretary, are the proud receivers of the invitation. The invitation was sent on behalf of Prince Charles to the dabbawallas by the British High Commission. The invitation thanked them for their gifts to Prince Charles (one gift was a cap worn by the dabbawallas which Prince Charles chose not to wear!)
When the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles was announced, the dabbawallas went looking for traditional gifts to send to them. They chose a traditional headdress and a sari (both are unlikely to be worn by Prince Charles or Camilla Parker Bowles!). The dabbawallas even conducted a pooja (Hindu prayers) for blessings to the couple on March 13, 2005.
The two proud dabbawallas will go to London, but will
not stay at the Hilton hotel due to language problems,
and instead will stay at the Sanyas Aashram Trust centre
in London.
Talking to Mid-day, Medge said that, “It’s a huge honour for us and all the dabbawallas in Mumbai. When we met him in 2003, the prince was warm and affectionate, but we honestly never expected an invitation to the wedding. To say that we are touched would be an understatement.”
"It is a noble gesture on his part as we are poor, hard-working people and never ever imagined to be part of such a grand royal wedding," Mr Medge told the AFP news agency.
Midday also reports that the dabbawallas will cary quintessential Mumbai gifts - tilgul laddoos (a sweet) and a bouquet and a wedding card.
The dabbawalla representatives do not speak English, and are worried about it. Their other problem would also be the food, as British cuisine could be impossible for them to eat. Still, the dabbawallas are looking forward to the wedding, they say, and will go wearing shirts and trousers (which itself is attire they are not used to.)
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