subject: The Strange Indian Washing Machine [print this page] During our stay in Kovalam Beach, India, I always wondered what happened to our laundry after the laundry wallah pedaled it away on his bicycle, balancing the basket of laundry on his head. It really did not seem likely that there were any washing machines around at that time (though there may be now), and so I wondered how the clothes always came back smelling so fresh and clean of any speck.
One day I happened to be taking a walk around the interior of Kovalam Beach, and had tea and fruit at several villages along the way. I was a young man at the time and rather embarrassed by the high school girls poking their heads out the huts windows and pointing and giggling at me. Their elders would scold them and their pretty black braids and flashing white teeth would disappear- but only for a few minutes.
On the way back I crossed a bridge over a beautiful blue stream and there I saw the wallah! Well, not actually the wallah himself but about a half dozen women and several dozen baskets. So this is how they did laundry- they simply whacked it to death against the river rocks. Apparently they used no soap- just river water and stone. With rippling muscles they would smack each garment against the rocks a good ten times and inspect it to see if it was clean. If it was, they hung it up on the higher rocks to dry in the sun. If it wasn't they whacked it some more until it got clean. Well, they get it clean all right, I thought. But I don't know if my shirts could stand more than two weeks of that abuse.
