DHOBI GHAT
Documentation of World's largest outdoor laundry
Peranomic View Of Dhobi Ghat From Mahalaxmi station Bridge.
As you enter the laundry - you will see a sign that proudly announces the organisation's appearance in the Guinness Book of Records - for the largest number of people simultaneously hand-washing clothes at a single location (496) in 2011.
If, you think that the words 'Outdoor Laundry' suggest the group of giant washing machines that swirl foaming suds to get that 'bluesy white-ness', then you'd be wrong. The Dhobi Ghat is, in fact, a large area comprised of hundreds of concrete troughs in which men (young and old) stand up to their knees in soapy water, bashing the life out of dirty linen.
Every washerman has his unique lable number and client also has unique code number which make them easy to identify and deliver clothes.
We were told that 250,000 individual items of linen are washed here everyday. To me, that's incredible!
On a daily basis, Mumbai's hotels send their bedlinen to the Ghat; hospitals send in staff uniforms and sheets from their operating theatres; posh spas send their towels; and individuals send their household's dirty clothing. Some of the big clothing manufacturers even send brand new stock here to be washed so that the dies can be set.
Methods of transport include by foot - with laundry bundled into giant sacks on their backs; or on the racks of Hercules bicycles; or piled up on handcarts, which are then dragged half way or whole way across the city.
Thank you.
