It is a fact that Bhubaneswar has become an education hub and a leader in the eastern region. Students from all over the eastern and north-eastern States flock to this mini metro for bachelor and master-level education, especially in technical areas. On the all-India parameter, the way it is growing it is falling into the pattern of Pune, which happens to be the largest education hub of India. The IT business is also doing well because of which many young bachelors from various parts of India are staying in Bhubaneswar.
Most of the students and bachelors in order to economise are staying in private houses or rather rooms where there is hardly any cooking facility. Since the education business is almost thirty years old in Pune, the business of the renting out system, sharing of rooms and flats, the ‘Dabba’ system, etc., are very much in place whereby students and young bachelors don’t face any problem. The gender issue has been overcome and a few friends or students consisting of girls and boys take one flat on rent so as to save costs. Some of them cook at home, but most of them avail of the Dabba system for food requirements.
The Dabba system is very popular in western India, especially in Mumbai and Pune. For those who have not come across this name, I would like to elaborate on this and say that it is a system by which housewives or other people supply home-made food, usually twice in a day, for students and once in a day for executives. The Dabba system in Mumbai is so professional that even researchers from various eminent institutes have studied this practice as a supply-chain management system and how efficiently it runs. The reason it is called Dabba is because the food is supplied in tiffin carriers with around four to five compartments. These carriers are called Dabba in the western side and now all over India the name has become popular. The homemade food is nutritious. The menu usually consists of rice, roti, one curry with gravy, one fried vegetable, salad and/or curd. The curry may be vegetarian or non-vegetarian according to the choice of the customer. This is a standard Dabba menu which is like home food and affordable. There are many variations depending on the demands of the customers. Some could consist of continental or Chinese food too as many offices are requiring a working lunch.
It is the housewives who supply the Dabbas at a reasonable cost and use good oil to prepare ‘Ghar ka Khana’. They take the help of their part-time maids and get additional income for the family. While asking my neighbour in Pune, I had found out that she was supplying food to 25 students daily. The food was prepared by her and two daughters-in-law. She said that from this business, the entire grocery cost of her large joint family was covered by the profits. So, the women were not a burden on the husbands, and since the timing was flexible they could still attend to other responsibilities of the house.
I am writing about this as this phenomenon is bound to take off in Bhubaneswar shortly and our women who are very efficient and spending their extra time watching TV serials will now be breadwinners for the family. Women who are singles like widows, divorcees and without jobs, staying as a burden with their siblings, can start this business as soon as possible. The best part is that there is no additional investment or maybe very low, which can be recouped within a month’s time.
Most of the institutes have their own hostels, but some can only partly accommodate the students. The rest of them hire rooms which are charged as per the number of beds in the room. Coaching centres again have tie-ups with nearby houses on rent. The students and other bachelors with no other choice avail of food from hotels nearby. These hotels provide low-cost meals which are of inferior medium and spicy. The students are hard-pressed for time and cannot cook by themselves. Speaking with few of them at Saheed Nagar, Sailashree Vihar and a few other places, I found that they are looking forward to Dabbas or home-cooked food because they find it difficult to digest the food currently available. Most of them said they had developed acidity and ulcer problems at this early age. They would rather pay a higher price if someone provided them with Dabbas. The younger generation, especially girls, are very conscious about their looks and health and avoid spicy and oily food.
Women belonging to the middle and low-middle-classes do know about this scope of work as they are exposed to media and also travel a lot. Many students from Odisha go to Pune for higher studies and know about these practices. But again, the mask of middle-class morality binds them and prevents them from going ahead. When I explored the idea with some of them, I found that they were furious and said in many words, “I am so and so’s wife or so and so’s daughter-in-law; how dare you ask me to do this menial work.” Some were not that aggressive, but I knew that they were facing the piling up of bills in their households and knew at the bottom of the heart that one day or the other they would have to do something about it. Once I spoke to a couple who happens to be senior citizens in Pune as to why they were in this business. They said clearly that the days are gone when one person in the family earned and five others depended on him for survival. Now if the family consists of five members, all of them would have to earn to support the household. In Odisha also, we are now in the same situation with health, education and grocery bills growing day by day and it’s not possible to maintain households with a single income.
But a slow undercurrent of this business and discussions are underway in Bhubaneswar, and it is sure to take off in the coming year. It will benefit both the parties, the students/bachelors and housewives. This heralds a boom in the informal sector which can generate employment and income with the least amount of investment. I have made a deep study of this business while living at Pune and would like to discuss and pass on tips to those women who are interested.