Dabbawala Tour with Dharavi Slum Tour

Dabbawala Tour with Dharavi Slum Tour - AHM : 1159

The word "Dabbawala" can be interpreted as "box-carrier" or "lunchpail-man". In Marathi and Hindi, "dabba" means a box (usually a cylindrical aluminium container More specifically, the word dabbawala implies a person in the Indian city of Mumbai who carries and delivers freshly made food from home in lunch boxes to office workers.

The concept of the dabbawala came into being when a person named MahadeoHavajiBachche started the lunch delivery service with about a hundred men. At the present time, Indian businessmen are the main customers for the dabbawalas, and the service often includes both cooking and delivery.

The guests will be picked up by the Guide from the Hotel and drive to the Churchgate Railway Station where they will see the Dabbawalas disembarking the Dabbas ( Tiffins ) in the wooden cart from the Train.

At Churchgate station the Guest will see how the people stand in the Ticket Counter Q and take their tickets to reach their offices. Now the guests will escorted towards the platform to board the Local Train for Mahalaxmi Station. Local Train are the major means of transport in Mumbai. The extensive network of Railways has three lines, namely the Western Line, the Central Main Line and the Harbour Line. Being a linear city, Mumbai is totally covered by local train network. This Tour will give you an opportunity to experience the Mumbai Local Train. We travel in First Class Compartment and will be traveling from South to North Mumbai when there is no crowd.

Guests arrives at Mahalaxmi Railway Station is served by the Mumbai Suburban Railways. The station is situated next to municipal dhobi ghats at Mahalakshmi, on the suburb of Mumbai.

Most of the Dabbawalas get down at Mahalaxmi Station as all the Corporate offices are in this vicinity. Here the Dabbawalas sort out the Tiffin Boxes based on the markings on the Tiffins which is done area wise.

A brief introduction here with the dabbawalas and their exact arrangements how the tiffin's are coded and distributed at the right place at the right time. The Tiffins are put on the Wooden Crate which carries 150 Tiffins and driven by 3- 4 Dabbawalas in different directions for delivery on the bicycle.

The Guests will escorted out from the Mahalaxmi Station.

The guests will proceed to the Open Air Laundry firmly known as DHOBI GHAT. A unique feature of Mumbai, the dhobi is a traditional laundryman, who will collect your dirty linen, wash it, and return it neatly pressed to your doorstep. All for a pittance. The "laundries" are called "Ghats": row upon row of concrete wash pens, each fitted with its own flogging stone. The clothes are soaked in sudsy water, thrashed on the flogging stones, then tossed into huge vats of boiling starch and hung out to dry. Next they are ironed and piled into neat bundles, where almost two hundred dhobis and their families work together in what has always been a hereditary occupation

Dharavi Slum Tour

If you come to Mumbai as a tourist for a few days and you spend your time in the posh southern tip of the city, around the Gateway of India and Marine Drive, it is easy to forget that a big part of the urban population in India lives in slums and has to fight for a livelihood every day. Around 60% of the citizens of Mumbai live in slums and Dharavi, with a population of at least half a million, probably has become the most famous one of them, especially after the success of the movie "Slumdog Millionaire". The tour is separated into two parts. In the first part the guide takes you through the commercial area of the slum. Especially waste recycling is a big business in Dharavi and the residents and workers who scavenge materials from all over the city bring them to the little workshops in order to clean, process and recycle them, from old Aluminium cans to plastic chairs. But also foodstuffs like biscuits or pottery items are produced in Dharavi. The visit of a roof right in the center of the settlement allows you to get an impression of the vast dimensions of the place and the number of people who must be working and living there On the tour you will be guided by the local Guide who will be fluent in English. With his extraordinary knowledge that you experience the sights and sounds of Dharavi as only a local would. The Dharavi tour leaves from a central location in Mumbai and takes you through the heart of the slums, teaching you its history, bringing you in contact with its people and introducing you to its way of life & their standard of living.