Standing up for the Dhobis

One of the fascinating aspects of every large city is the form that inter-class interaction takes in it, especially if there is a wide disparity between their living standards. The center (as defined by the elite or the upper middle class) may deeply desire to somehow rid themselves of the filth and squalor in which the masses live but are restrained by their own dependence on them.  In most large cities of the world, the only reason why the economically well off are able to live comfortably is because they can delegate undesirable tasks such as sweeping, cleaning and washing on the poorer segment of society which has no choice but to do this work to earn its basic sustenance. Although the gains for the richer classes are clearly much more in terms of having a large, readily available, unemployed segment of society at their beck and call, the poorer class benefits too for the meager income provides their fundamental necessities. 

 The bustling city of Mumbai in India, home to fifteen million inhabitants, is a case in point. Many of the menial tasks of day to day existence are executed by the poorer segments of society.  The dhobi-ghat is a site especially interesting for it employs more than ten thousand individuals.  It is only human to develop a certain attachment to one’s profession regardless of how poorly it pays and the washermen of Mumbai are no exception.  Many of them started working at the dhobi-ghat at a very early age and have spent more than a decade of their life in its environs.  Occupations in India, like the associations of caste and religion, tend to become entrenched in identities and are handed down the family line from father to son. Therefore, it is not uncommon to find that many of the individuals who work in the ghat are doing what their father and grandfather did before them.

However, the technological revolution that has been sweeping through the developing world over the past two decades is slowly changing these traditional socio-economic relations. The dhobis of Mumbai have, over the passage of time, seen fewer and fewer dirty clothes come their way resulting in a reduction in their earnings. This is because their work is now executed by the washing machines which have proliferated the households of Mumbai over the past decade.

Historically it used to be a widely popular tradition in the Indian neighborhoods to send clothes to the ghat for washing. Now, however, the trend is for every household to have a washing machine of its own. From the perspective of the richer classes, the machine is more convenient for it allows clothes to be washed at home. In addition there is a lesser chance of them being lost in the hustle bustle of the dhobi ghat.  It also allows for a greater flexibility in the timings on which the clothes are washed which can be determined individually by every household. These considerations ignore the effort and sacrifice made by the dhobi for his work which cannot be measured on any scale. The nature of his work is back-breaking requiring extensive hand and arm movement. He has to stand in water for hours and hours bending after every three to five minutes to smash the clothes on the concrete and remove the dirt from them and then stand up again to resume the process. Because these men have been washing clothes all their lives, this is the only skill they know. It is quite unfair that the only means that they have of earning their livelihood in a socially acceptable way is slowly being taken away from them.

There are a couple of solutions to this issue but they require some hard choices to be made. The city government in Mumbai must put this issue on the agenda and plan for providing some relief to these dhobis either in the form of placing restrictions on the purchase of washing machines or allocate funds to provide alternate training and employment for the dhobis.

Mumbai is home to some of the world’s richest individuals and it will not be too difficult to pressurize them into getting involved in schemes that offers assistance to the dhobis. The only way that the state of India or rather any state in the world can successfully function in the long run is for its rich to take some measure of responsibility for the well-being of its poor. The relationship between the core and the periphery in states with huge income disparities has to be reorganized in a way that it is mutually beneficial for all sections of society before this difference rips societies apart. With the increasing use of technology the dhobis would not be the only manual laborers being laid off work and requiring assistance. Therefore the least that can be done at this point is to have a plan of action regarding the future.

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