I met him at Bandra Bazar , he was drenched and I asked him , about his raincoat , he just gave me a brave smile..but all in all the Dabbawala during the rains , is a sordid tale of misery and I have in my limited way documented the Dabbawalas life and I meet them unexpectedly wherever I go, I stop them take their pictures , so you realize his sense of punctuality in getting your tiffin despite the three day non stop rains ,,
My fascination for the iconic dabbawala , his down to earth simplicity and his sense of service has endeared me completely to this race of Marathas .
My grand daughter Nerjis stood next to him , and I am not very adept at using my mobile phone in the rains , I have a damaged right hand so shooting on this miniature photo shooting mechanism is a slippery business , so forgive me for accidentally chopping of his head , but than perhaps the cycle the tiffins and his disembodied form give a greater touch of realistic explanation ..
I have shot the Dabbawalas protesting at Azad Maidan for Anna Hazare , and that was the only day when 5000 dabbawalas took a day off , justifiably so.
They have helped promote fiilms , they have helped promote peace , their dabbas are the best form of reaching the common man with a message .
Most of the dabbawalas of Bandra know me and they know I shoot their pictures to promote their cause ..many years back the Dabbawala used to bring my lunch from Colaba to Bandra West where I worked ..because they come early my mom used to get up and make my lunch much before she made breakfast for my siblings.
After he had left Nerjis asked me who he was and I explained to her little fecund mind , a street photographers mind the job of the dabbawala , his importance to middle class ,and the working class who gets their lunch on time come what may..the clock may run late , the train may run late the bus driver might be slow in reaching his destination , but the humble dabbawala drenched to the bone is there at your doorstep with your food.
And strange raincoat makers , never thought of distributing a batch of raincoats to this loyal Mumbaikar ,,but than our business mind is impermeable like Duckback..
So I have collected all my Dabbawala pictures as a set, photo album at Flickr as my tribute to this great community of healers , yes they heal us too with our mothers food , wife's food ,,I poetically think.
And this was the first lesson of the day in the morning for Nerjis who did not go to her playschool as she is not well ..but she loves the rains , who doesn't ?
