MEALS READY: Dabbawalas Suresh (right) and Prem Thapar (third from right) at Electronics City. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE: They may not have attracted the attention of Prince Charles, like their counterparts in Mumbai, but Bangalore's "dabbawalas" have software professionals queuing up for food every afternoon.

Bored of the "junk food" they get in canteen, the software engineers increasingly prefer homemade food. Hundreds of dabbas — the four-box tiffin carriers — are lined up in front of some of the software company offices every afternoon in Electronics City. The Information Technology professionals, with their identity cards dangling from their necks, walk up to the "dabbawala" and ask him "what is special today?" The dabbawala immediately knows whether he or she is referring to vegetarian or non-vegetarian food. For a vegetarian, he will name vegetables used for curry of the day and the type of sambar available. Rotis are common every day.

For a non-vegetarian, it is either a chicken-based speciality or meat. The non-vegetarians too get rotis every day. More non-vegetarian dabbas are sold than vegetarian ones.

The IT professionals in the 25-35 age group are regular customers for the two dabbawalas who line up their dabbas in front of the GE Capital Investment Service Facility on 2nd Main, Electronics City. Between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. dabbas are sold out. The customers carry dabbas into their offices, empty them and bring them back to the dabbawala.

Affordable

The food, priced Rs. 25 per dabba, is affordable for the IT professionals. "Anyway, food in the canteen costs us Rs. 25," says Dhwanyasri, one of the software engineers. Vivek Agarwal of Bhopal, who recently shifted to Electronics city after a stint at the U.S., says the food is good. "It breaks the monotony of canteen food," he says.

But for Anand, who has been a regular customer, he misses home food. Dabba food is "the best of the worst," he says. But he is aware that one gets bored with any food (other than home food) consumed regularly. "But there is no alternative," he adds.

It was Suresh of Kolkata, now settled in BTM Layout, who introduced the dabba system in Electronics City two years ago. It all began with supplying food to hostels and paying guest accommodations in Koramangala and BTM Layout.

It all began with seven dabbas. Today, he brings about 50 dabbas every day. When the sales dwindled a few months ago, he changed the cooks. "It (the sale) is picking up again," he said.

Now, Suresh has a competitor in Prem Thapar, a Nepali settled in the nearby Konappana Agrahara. Thapar brings about 50 dabbas a day. For some reason, Prem's dabbas are more popular among IT professionals, especially non-vegetarians. But Suresh is not worried. He delivers nearly 400 dabbas in different parts of the city. Two cooks, eight labours (who cut vegetables and help the cooks) and a few members of his family are involved in the business. Dabbas, neatly lined up in plastic bags, are usually transported on bicycles.

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