Though established in 1975, the Dhobi Ghat has an interesting back story to it. It was during the British rule that the washing community here was formed. The officers got washermen to Kochi from villages in Tamil Nadu to do their laundry. These men and women were like nomads, with no definite place for work or stay. As their children grew older, they continued the same work, and thus Dhobi Ghat came into existence.“In 1973, the present place where Dhobi Ghat stands was a lake. But seeing a need to have a washing area, the lake was transformed into an extensive dry land,” says washerman Jayprakash. Now as you enter ‘Dhobi Khana’, the name given to it, the first thing you see is a longish old hall, with bundle of clothes all around. The room is slightly dusty, with wall paint chipping off. This is where its hard-working Tamil staff, consisting ladies can be seen ironing clothes with the heavy coal iron press on the long stretch of slab. They seemed lost in a dream world listening to old melodies of MGR.At dhobi khana,it is the men who do the washing, while their wives join them to dry and iron the clothes. Each family is allotted with their respective concrete wash pens and water tanks. Officially they aren’t permitted to use their neighbour’s wash pen, unless the later is not using it.The 30 wash pens built at dhobi khana are lined in row, each pen separated by walls. The two tanks at the washpen cubicle are filled with water the previous day. Within the premises they have a well from which water is pumped into the tank and this is used for the washing.The city’s clothes get an elaborate washing treatment at the dhobi khana. They are first soaked in a bucket full of detergent water, knead and then dipped back in fresh water.To remove stains a pinch of chlorine is applied after which clothes are rinsed in the enclosed tank for the final wash. All the while the dhobi remains standing in the soapy water. Once he steps out of the tank, his wrinkled feet starts to resemble a prune.To whiten fabrics, clothes are dipped into a bucket of water mixed with Ujala and Tenopol. For starching, rice is soaked in water the previous day and then boiled the next day. The pulpy solution obtained is used in starch to make clothes crisp. The clothes are then squeezed and left on a white cloth spread next to the wash pen. The washer-man’s wife picks and hang them on their allotted drying lines. To prevent clothes from flying off, the dhobis have devised their unique way of using their forefinger to tuck clothes in-between ropes.The clothes are dried for about five hours, after which the ladies take them for ironing. They are then neatly folded and kept at their store rooms ready for it to be returned.During the rainy season, when sunlight is scarce, spinners running on electricity is used. The number of hours used by the dhobi on the spinner is jotted down in a book and then calculated at the end of the month while paying electricity bills.On most days, including Sundays, their work begins at 6 am. The only time they take off in a year is to attend a wedding or some such ceremony at their native place. A fairly religious group, they clean their entire working area and perform rituals during festivals.After a hard day’s work, you see tiring faces lifting their cloth bundles and walking back home in groups chatting with their co-workers in Tamil. Most of them reside at ‘Dhobi Street’, which is barely 10 minutes away from ‘dhobi khana’.
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