'King of our hearts': Mumbai's dabbawalas send turban and shawl as coronation gifts

King Charles met the delivery agents in Mumbai’s famous Churchgate station during a visit to India in 2003

The dabbawalas handed the gifts for King Charles III to Alan Gemmell, British Deputy High Commissioner for Western India. Photo: Dabbawala

The famous dabbawalas of Mumbai have given traditional headgear and a shawl to King Charles for his coronation.

The dabbawalas, literally "box carriers", form one of the world’s largest and oldest services for delivering meals.

They share a strong relationship with the 74-year-old British king that goes back two decades. For his coronation on Saturday, the group is sending two traditional gifts to honour their “old friend” — a scarlet turban called Puneri Pagadi — considered a symbol of pride and honour in the city of Pune in Maharashtra, and a shawl from the state’s Warkari community.

The gifts were handed over to the British Deputy High Commissioner for Western India, Alan Gemmell.

Most of the dabbawalas are from the Pune area.

“He is part of our family. Because of him, we have earned name and fame. As he is going to be crowned, we want to honour him with our most respectful symbols,” Ullas Muke, president of the group, told The National.

“We cannot buy him any expensive gift; we can’t put a value on what he has done for us. We can only honour him. He made us famous — because of him the world knows us. We are very happy that he will now be the king.”

The dabbawalas have long been an integral part of life in Mumbai, India's financial capital.

The group was formed in 1890 when a banker wanted to have a home-cooked meal at the office. In the absence of food delivery services at the time, he gave the responsibility to the Mahadeo Havaji Bachche.

Mr Bacche was soon joined by 100 workers and they established a sophisticated and highly reliable system for delivering packed home-cooled meals, known as tiffins, across Mumbai. There were 5,500 members making 200,000 deliveries a day before the Covid pandemic. Their number has since dropped to about 1,350.

Their clients include office workers, bankers, bachelors and students, to whom they carry meals by train and bicycle irrespective of heat or rain.

Following a colour-coded and numbering system to keep track of their containers, the dabbawalas work as a chain. One group collects the tiffins from homes and hands them over to another group that sends these off by train to stations across the city. Dabbawalas waiting at these stations pick up the containers and deliver the tiffins to their clients' offices.

They also collect the empty lunch boxes and return them to the clients' homes following the same chain in reverse.

They are renowned for their ability to remember their customer’s addresses and their ability to deliver the right lunch box to the right customer on time.

Intrigued by their unique system, King Charles met the delivery agents at Mumbai’s Churchgate station during a visit to India in 2003, when he was Prince of Wales.

He spent about 20 minutes with the dabbawalas and lauded their acumen, efficiency and accuracy.

The meeting with the British royal gave the dabbawalas worldwide fame.

They became a case study at Harvard Business School and began to be approached by other famous people as well.

Sir Richard Branson, the British business magnate, spent a day out with the tiffin service providers in 2005.

Mr Muke said their recognition is down to King Charles.

“We were there even before 2003 but we got respect after he met us. He changed our lives forever. People from around the world know us,” he said.

“He is the king of our hearts. He is part of our family.”

Two dabbawalas were invited for then Prince Charles's wedding with Camilla, where they met the late Queen Elizabeth.

They gave the bride a nine-yard traditional Paithani sari intricately woven with peacock motifs, and the groom a tunic and Puneri turban.