In February, we flew to Mumbai, India to rejoin the ship for the trip across the Indian Ocean. We came a couple of days early to see a bit of Mumbai and stayed at the Taj Palace Hotel. Some of you may remember that in November of 2008, a terrorist cell from Pakistan came into Mumbai on small “zodiac” boats and shocked this peaceful city. The worst of the attack was at the Taj Palace, which was built in 1903 by a successful Indian who had been refused entry at a “whites only” hotel. It is a unique place of beauty, with unparalleled service. The terrorists attacked multiple locations and cost over 160 lives. At the Taj, it lasted for 60 hours. The sacrifices the staff made to save the guests is a moving story. 11 Taj employees died shielding or helping all but 20 of the 1,200 guests escape the slaughter. Service to the point of heroism.  Harvard did a case study on the “values-based recruiting” model of the chain that is worth a read if you are in the service industry or hire people.  A summary article can be found at:  https://hbr.org/2011/12/the-ordinary-heroes-of-the-taj

The hotel was rebuilt over two years and other than a memorial, there are no signs of the devastation. I wish I had taken more pictures of the unique balconies inside, but I didn’t know much of the story until we left. If you go, make sure you stay in “the old section” of the hotel. It’s worth it. 

2008 Attack photo

2008 Attack

We only had a couple of days in India, and rather than tour shrines and temples, we visited the Ghandi museum, (my hero for what he taught us about non-violent protest) and took a tour of two unique activities for which Mumbai is known. One is a 100-year-old outdoor clothes-washing process and the other is a lunch box delivery system that has been studied by business schools and logistics executives from around the world. 

World’s Largest Open Air Laundry

Begun by the British in colonial times, Dhobi Ghat holds over 800 concrete stalls that are used by thousands of men (washers) and women (ironers) to launder clothes for hospitals, hotels, and private residences. Piece by piece, laundry is scrubbed with a brush, then repeatedly beat against a stone and hung up to dry. Hot-coal irons are then used for pressing. The going price for a sheet is 4 cents. We had a good tour guide helping us through the city, but when we entered the laundry, a young man insisted he was the only authorized tour guide. We couldn’t really understand him, but at one point he took us into a filthy structure that was covered with soot and ash. He called it the sterilization room for hospitals. We were baffled. Only after we left did our professional guide explain that the was where they fired and stoked ovens to create sterilizing hot water when doing hospital work.

“Sterilization room”

Lunch Box Delivery

Even more unique was a visit to a Dabbawallah (“one who carries a box”) lunch box transfer station. Begun in 1890 by an entrepreneur, this system now employs 5,000 people delivering 200,000 lunches per day. The average commute for a Mumbai worker is 2 hours – “thanks” they say, to a very good rail system. Office workers like to eat warm, home-cooked, meals – and don’t want to spend the money to eat at a stand or restaurant. So each morning around 10 AM, the homemaker prepares a lunch for the spouse. A Dabbawallah contracts with 30 or 40 families to pick up an insulated container with the day’s fresh meal, ride the train to the city (in the baggage car), then through a complicated system of hand-offs, get the box to the desk of the worker. Two hours later, the system works in reverse, delivering the lunch box back to the home.  The Dabbawallah are typically illiterate, and depend on a clever set of codes on the boxes used by all to designate the source and destination. The accuracy and on-time record for this process is reportedly at six sigma levels, and has become a popular study topic for companies like FedEx. Not to overplug Harvard, but they also did a case study on this if you want to read more.  https://hbr.org/2012/11/mumbais-models-of-service-excellence

I asked our guide why the worker didn’t just take a Spiderman lunchbox with them when they left the house, but didn’t get a real convincing answer. I thought it was a brilliant idea, but maybe it would destroy the local economy

As always, a little  4 minute video to give you a better feel for Mumbai:</strong>