dabbawalla

English

Alternative forms

• dabbawala
• dabbawallah

Etymology

Borrowed from Marathi डबेवाला (ḍabevālā), Hindi डब्बावाला (ḍabbāvālā), literally "person with a box".

Noun

dabbawalla (plural dabbawallas)

1. (India) A deliveryperson in Mumbai, India who collects freshly cooked food in lunchboxes from workers' residences (mostly in the suburbs), delivers it to their respective workplaces, and returns the empty containers.
   • 2007 May 29, Saritha Rai, “In India, Grandma Cooks, They Deliver”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     “There is a service called FedEx that is similar to ours — but they don’t deliver lunch,” said one dabbawalla, Dhondu Kondaji Chowdhury.