Royal treatment casts a spell on dabbawallahs

Mumbai's two dabbawallahs returned home after rubbing shoulders with royalty at Prince Charles' wedding in London.

After three days of life in a "magical world", Mumbai's two dabbawallahs, or lunchbox carriers, came back home Tuesday after rubbing shoulders with royalty and the rich and famous at Prince Charles' wedding in London.

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Back from their brush with the blue blood and right royal treatment befitting heads of state and business tycoons, the two privileged men - who represented Mumbai's famous dabbawallahs at the wedding - are still on the top of the world.

For Raghunath Medge, president of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin-Box Suppliers' Association, and his colleague Sopan Mare it was nothing short of a dream trip to London to attend the royal wedding as special invitees of the groom.

"It's difficult to express in words our experience there. I had not even dreamt of going to London and that too to attend the wedding of Prince Charles," a bleary-eyed Medge told IANS after arriving here in an Air-India plane.

"It feels as if we were living in a magical world for the last three days. We will never forget it in our lifetime. Prince Charles has proved that he is a true friend of all the dabbawallahs," he added.

"Right from the moment we landed there till we boarded the flight back home, we were treated as royal guests. All our needs were taken care of very well. It was a real pleasure to be able to meet the prince and his wife and convey our wishes."

They were the only city residents to receive the all-expenses paid invitation for the royal wedding held on Saturday.

The two dabbawallahs presented the royal couple with a box of sweets and a greeting card on the wedding day.

"All the royal family members and other guests were looking at us when we presented the gift to the couple. Although the gifts were very ordinary by their standards, they looked very glad and thanked us," said Medge.

Medge and Mare were also introduced to Queen Elizabeth by a Jaipur royal, who acted as an interpreter between them.

"Although not knowing English did act as a hindrance at times, the local Indian community helped us a great deal. Most of them were quite thrilled to know that we were the only two special invitees for the wedding from India," said Medge.

The dabbawallahs, who are famous for their high operational efficiency in delivering lunch boxes mainly to office-goers every day, had earlier couriered a wedding gift to Charles.

The gift included a traditional silk sari and bangles for Camilla and a turban for Charles.

About 5,000 dabbawallahs deliver over 175,000 lunch boxes to office and school goers on the weekdays with a high rate accuracy and precision. The decades-old system has earned recognition from Forbes as well as many management schools.

Charles had met the dabbawallahs and learnt of their efficient network of distributing tens of thousands of lunch boxes during his visit to India in November 2003.

A personal invitation by the prince for the royal wedding was delivered to the head of the dabbawallahs' association by the British high commission earlier this month.