Dhobi on the Ghatt

Only after visiting Varanasi and seeing one of the many activities on the ghatt (bank) of the Ganges River, I now know why and where the name of an area in Singapore, Dhoby Ghout came from. Some time ago, before modernization of Singapore, an area on the bank (ghatt) of Singapore River was for washing clothes (dhobi). Hence, the name Dhoby Ghaut.

Besides the cleansing rituals by bathing in the Ganges River, another very interesting sight every morning is laundry. In Malaysia we call it dhobi (verb) which is not quite what it means.

Dhobi is a cast group in India whose traditional work was washing clothes. Dhobi roughly means “Washerman”.

The traditional way of washing clothes is still very much alive here. From the type of fabric that they wash, i.e. white towels & bed linens, I assume that many of their clients are guest houses in Varanasi. Or they work for the guest houses.

All done by hand. They apply solid detergent, followed by brushing, vigorous beating a few times againts the concrete made specially for the dhobi, rinsing, squeezing the excess water and drying either on the clothes lines, bamboo sticks or on the steps of the ghat.

For extra quick drying of bigger fabrics, two persons hold 2 ends of the cloths and run back & forth a few times. It’s like blow drying lah…