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Mumbai, Maharashtra Mumbai is the largest city in India with a population of 13 million.
The dawn of Mumbai breaks with the sound of Dhobi Ghat.
Dhobi Ghat. Dhobi Ghat is similar to Laundromats, but all the work is done by people.
The people who do the laundry are called Dhobi Wallah.
India is home to a diverse population as diverse as the regions.
Overhead is still cheaper than using laundry machines
so Dhobi Wallahs are common throughout the nation.
In some states, over 6% of the population work as Dhobi Wallah.
Dhobi Wallah eat and sleep in Dhobi Ghat.
They don't have separate sleeping quarters so they usually sleep on top of the roof.
All they do every day is to eat, sleep and do the laundry.
Isn't it simple?
The dirty laundry comes from hotels in Mumbai, trains, and factories.
But they don't just do the laundry anyway they want to.
Everything has a system here.
The first phase when a piece of laundry makes its way to a Dhobi Ghat
is to mark where it came from.
Then it is prewashed for an hour in soapy water.
Once the washing begins in earnest, the labor is divided in greater detail.
One man will spend the whole day applying soap and scrubbing.
Another will beat the laundry on top of a rock.
People in India do their laundry by beating the soil out on top of a rock.
Another man will rinse the laundry all day.
What's inside that giant bag?
Let's see.
It looks like it's a stage of doing the laundry, too.
Let's follow him up the ladder.
Yes. This man spends his whole day hanging the wet laundry on the clothesline.
From marking the origination to drying and ironing,
the entire laundry process has a total of 10 phases.
The Dhobi Ghat is efficiently run by a strict division of labor.
As a matter of fact,
the Caste system itself is a method of effectively dividing up labor.
We only know of the Caste system as dividing people into four categories
but there are more the 3,000 Caste categories that assign people to different jobs.
These people doing the laundry just happen to be a part of the Dhobi Caste.
Manohar (Dhobi Wallah) My grandfather and father have wall worked here.
When my grandfather died, my father picked it up
and when my father dies, his sons will take up the work.
This is because we are a part of the same Caste.
From 4 a.m. in the morning, they work 16 hour days
dealing with harmful chemicals and their daily wage is about 3 dollars.
They must wash over 1,500 articles of clothing each day
but for those people who were never able to benefit from good education,
this is one way to make a living.
The finished laundry is handed over to the Dhobi
who is in charge of transporting the laundry.
Mohamed, who has done nothing but carry the laundry back to the city for the past 30 years,
is also from a family who has done this job for generations.
The cart has been designed long and skinny to carry
as many loads as possible through the busy roads of Mumbai.
The wide road doesn't even have a decent line to direct traffic
but the cart is not intimidated.
It's not afraid of trucks or buses either.
The destination is a clothing factory which is two hours away.
The roads lack any crosswalks or stop lights
so he must make quick judgments while on the street.
After being processed by so many hands
and brought back by this dangerous delivery process,
don't you wonder how much laundry costs?
Brace yourselves.
The total cost for 100 pieces of clothing is about $2.50.
I expected his trip back home to be lighter but I thought wrong.
The second part of his job is to bring back loads of dirty laundry.
The giant loads look heaving, their weight bearing down on the fates of Dhobi Wallah.
Brahman, who are the highest class within the Caste system,
usually work in the religious sector but there are Brahman who cook.
The white rope worn by this man symbolizes his status as a Brahman.
In the Hindu religion, cooking is a sacred activity.
Only Brahman are allowed to make the food used for rituals.
- Are you a Brahman? - Yes, I am.
As times change, their roles have changed as well.
The cooks usually open up a restaurant or catering services.
Some business savvy Brahmans have become rich by managing restaurants
that advertise the fact that the food is made by Brahmans.
On the other hand, also included in the Caste system
are people whose job is to clean other people's ear wax.
A one time service fee is 10 Rupee, the equivalent of about 25 cents.
His tools are simple, just a bottle of glycerin and cotton swabs.
However, times have changed and the Caste jobs need not be handed down
from generation to generation anymore.
Jagannath Temple, Orissa
There is a Caste who works at a temple, too.
He only makes an appearance when night falls, though.
The man begins to climb the temple without hesitation.
The peak of the temple measures at 65 meters.
At the top, the man takes down the flag and puts up a new one.
That's right. His job is to put up flags at the top of the temple.
His name is Navena. People call him the Flag Man.
He has been performing this task for the past 32 years,
ever since he turned eight years old.
This is because he is from a family of Sewahs,
people who are in charge of putting up flags.
The flag man's wife is worried because he has gained too much weight.
So she has made a smoothie for him to drink instead of his meal.
Because he has to climb up to the top of the temple,
he cannot let his body become lazy.
He's not even free to eat as much as he wants but that is his fate.
His son will become a flag man after his father, too.
Every flag stands for something.
Red symbolizes sacrifice, the yellow stands for love.
Ravena 20 years ago, It was pouring incredibly hard.
The walls were so slippery that I fell 20 feet down to the ground.
I'd never made a mistake until that day but it was just too slippery.
Fortunately, I wasn't hurt.
The flag man climbs the temple again today.
He has put up new flags every single day for the past 32 years.
If he fell sick, he went up after taking medication.
It takes about 30 minutes for him to climb up a temple standing 65 meter high.
But despite his extensive experience, there is one thing that he is scared of.
The wind.
On top of the roof, the power of the wind becomes fierce.
On days with strong winds, he says it's hard just to stay up there.
When he has to hang on one hand to replace the flag,
he is leaving his fate up to the hands of God.
Besides, the flag can only be taken down after dark.
Although he could spend his days cursing his fate,
he thinks a bit differently about this.
He considers himself blessed by God
that he is able to work as a flag man for the rest of his life.
No one seems to notice that
someone is risking his life to change the flag at such a late hour.
A red flag symbolizing sacrifice was hung over Jagannath Temple today.
Dahi Handi
The Caste system is comprised of over 3000 job descriptions
that range from the flag man to the cooking Brahman.
India is a country which depends on the symbiotic relationship
among such well categorized laborers.