This footage was filmed and produced 23 July 2021.

After the pandemic shut offices and put Mumbai's renowned lunchbox delivery men out of work, the 130-year-old dabbawalla network has tied up with a trendy restaurant chain to take on India's billion-dollar start-ups. With extended lockdowns forcing millions of Mumbai's white-collar professionals to work from home, many dabbawallas have been struggling to feed their own families since April last year.

The video shows interviews with Dabbawallas - the Lunchbox deliverymen of Mumbai.

Interviews:

1) Ulhas Muke, President of the Dabbawalla association (Male, Hindi, 48 sec):

“When the lockdown started the dabbawallas had no options but to return back to their villages from Mumbai. But even in the villages, when they were about to set up their lives again, they had to face the Cyclone that happened in the months of June and July. That caused a lot of damage and loss to the dabbawallas. So, they were high disheartened. Now they are back in Mumbai and think of starting afresh. But the dabbawallas don’t have a big bank account and they have a day-to-day existence. They are able to survive on whatever they earn in that particular month. So,to survive was a big challenge for us and we had to face many problems and uncertainty.”

2) Ulhas Muke, President of the Dabbawalla association (Male, Hindi, 10 sec):

"This is a new beginning for the Dabbawallas. We are trying to do things differently, whatever is possible for us. We are ready to explore the vast scope of delivery services in Mumbai.

3) Ulhas Muke, President of the Dabbawalla association (Male, Hindi, 23 sec):

“Many of the people have lost their jobs in the pandemic. Their earnings have dropped to half. We had always worked and survived on bare minimum wages which was just enough to support us. So, now also, we are working on deliveries for restaurants on minimal salary just enough to get by.”

4) Ulhas Muke, President of the Dabbawalla association (Male, Hindi, 22 sec):

"The Dabbawallas are ready to challenge Swiggy and Zomato in food delivery, as we have been working in this sphere for the last 130 years. There is a lot of scope for us in the delivery space be it hotels, couriers or any other delivery service. The dabbawallas have entered into this space now and we are challenging Swiggy, Zomato and all the others to compete.”

5) Ulhas Muke, President of the Dabbawalla association (Male, Hindi, 18 sec):

“Customers are used to get the home cooked food when we were delivering for them before the pandemic. Many people who are working from home now have realized the importance of home cooked food. So, we are hopeful , going forward from here that our food deliveries business will definitely increase in the future”.

6) Shailesh Gupta, Versova Social restaurant manager (Male, English, 13 sec):

“Everyone knows that dabbawallas are very fast in deliveries that was the reason we tied up with the dabbawallas. And for discounts, whosoever is ordering directly from us we are giving a 25% discount and delivering that food through dabbawallas.”

7) Shailesh Gupta, Versova Social restaurant manager (Male, English, 07 sec):

“Yes, Yes , of course we want to continue our tie-up with the dabbawallas, It’s going well and it’s growing.”