How Mumbai's Dabbawalas, Hit By Pandemic, Are Fighting Food Delivery Start-Ups

But with extended lockdowns forcing millions of Mumbai's white-collar professionals to work from home, many dabbawalas have been struggling to feed their own families since April last year.

After the pandemic shut offices and put Mumbai's renowned lunchbox deliverymen out of work, the 130-year-old "dabbawala" network has tied up with a trendy restaurant chain to take on India's billion-dollar start-ups. For two decades, neither terror attacks nor monsoon deluges could stop Kailash Shinde from delivering hot lunches to Mumbai office workers, until lockdowns put the father-of-two on a forced hiatus for a whole year. "It's been very difficult," the 42-year-old said. "I had to sell what I could and work odd jobs to get by." Instantly recognisable in his traditional Gandhi cap and white Indian attire, Shinde is one of 5,000 dabbawalas -- or "lunchbox men" in Hindi -- who have gained global recognition for delivering home-cooked food with clockwork precision.