"Dhobi Wallahs - The Laundry Caste" Top 5 Page for this destination Varanasi Local Custom Tip by Hmmmm

Have you ever heard of a “dhobi-wallah?” Dhobis are the human washing machines of India. They get up early every morning and head for the dhobi-ghat where they spend the rest of the day stomping around in vats of sudsy water and dirty clothes, laundering everything clean with their feet in a very very dirty Ganges river.

Where do the clothes come from?
Other dhobis do the pick-up and delivery. They begin at dawn, heading in all directions on bicycles to collect or deliver their customers’ laundry in big bags tied to the back fender. This is how is it is and how it’s been done for centuries (maybe not with bicycles, though). They bring the clothes in and after cruelly stomping on them they punish the clothes by scrubbing them with stiff brushes. Next, they flog them against cement walls… just to make sure they’re really clean. After that, they use heavy irons loaded with live coals to press out any stubborn wrinkles.

Why should we care about the dhobi-wallahs? Because they’re becoming extinct. They are being forced out of business by a tough competitor — the washing machine. You and I got one years ago, but the average Indian didn’t. They couldn’t afford one. It was cheaper to hire a dhobi. But today, Indians are buying washing machines by the thousands and the cleaner is losing his job.