Dhobi Ghat in Mumbai: Working in the World’s Largest Open-Air Laundry (Documentary, 2001)

The sensitive portrait of Bombay’s washermen depicts a society in transition. India caught between charcoal irons and Siemens washing machines. The Mahalakshmi Dhobi Ghat is the largest “laundry” in the world. Around 10,000 washers, known as dhobi wallahs—a lower caste—still do their work the same way their ancestors did hundreds of years ago: with soap, brushes, chemicals, and their bare hands. Meanwhile, their strongest competitor, the washing machine, has long since entered the middle-class and wealthy households of the city. But the dhobi wallahs remain undeterred. “God created our hands,” explains Ravi (46), a unionized washerman. “How could a machine compete with this divine gift?” Yet Sachin (21) belongs to a new generation. Bombay, India’s most westernized city, seems to promise him a way out of his karma—of being a dhobi wallah forever. Far from the rundown washing grounds built by the British, with their primitive hand wringers and charcoal irons, he searches for a new life. Chapters ▷ 00:00 – Soap, Soda & Sweat ▷ 02:38 – Mumbai’s Hand Washers ▷ 07:17 – Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar ▷ 09:22 – Breaking Out of the Caste ▷ 12:26 – Charcoal Irons ▷ 15:00 – Chemicals ▷ 17:00 – Bhatti ▷ 20:27 – Alcohol ▷ 25:11 – Washing Machine ▷ 20:27 – Alcohol ▷ 43:43 – End Credits #documentary #india #bombay #laundry #tradition ------- Subscribe to wocomoHUMANITY: https://goo.gl/5Sp36B Follow us on Facebook:   / wocomo   ------- Original title: Soap, Soda & Sweat A film by Carolin Reiter 2001 © Licensed by Magnetfilm ------- Documentaries about people and cultures from around the globe: wocomoHUMANITY offers high-quality content which is produced by leading production companies. Check out our other channels to watch high quality documentaries: ▷ wocomoDOCS:    / wocomodocs   ▷ wocomoWILDLIFE:    / wocomowildlife   ▷ wocomoHISTORY:    / wocomohistory   ▷ wocomoTRAVEL:    / wocomotravel   ▷ wocomoCOOK:    / wocomocook   Wocomo HUMANITY is part of the Wocomo channel network by NIKITA VENTURES. Wocomo - wonderful content in motion.