Page 104 - Active Skills for Reading Intro Book

W www.questions4ASR.heinle.com

Your Questions Answered!

--- You have questions? we have the answers! --

Type your question here: [ wtio are the dabbawallahs of India?

Dabbawallah: from Hindi meaning
1
lunch box deliveryman. Dabbawal lahs are
sometimes also called Tiffin Men.
Description
s It's lunchtime in Mumbai, India
(population: 12 million), and students and
businesspeople around the city have
to make a choice. Should they go to a
restaurant or eat a hot lunch from home?
10 Today, many can choose the second
option, thanks to the dabbawallahs.
2
Every day, 5,000 dabbawallahs deliver 200,000 lunches to
people all over Mumbai. The dabbawallahs work together.
They pick up a person's lunch from his or her house (or a
1s restaurant). They put the hot lunch in a special box (called a
tiffin). Then they bring the lunch to the person's office or school
by lunch time. The men travel long distances (many kilometers
a day) on bicycle, train, and foot to deliver the lunchboxes on a tiffin
time.
20 Many of the deliverymen are poor. Most cannot read. They use a special system of colors
and lines to write a person's name and address on a lunchbox.
There are many challenges (traffic, bad weather, long distances), but the men are very
3
organized. On average, for every 6 million lunches they deliver, they make fewer than
one mistake! The dabbawallahs do so well that some teach classes at business schools
2s around the world!
... c c • • ) ..
PRINT I EMAIL PAGE I MORE INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC

1 Hindi is one of the official languages of India.
2 If something happens thanks to a person or thing, it happens because of that person or thing.
3 Traffic refers to all the cars, etc. on the roads in a particular area.

The Tiffin Men 103