Every morning, Rammaya Rajak leaves home for Dhobighat near Jawalakhel, Lalitpur. She takes along with her a bundle of dirty laundry. Rammaya´s oldest son Raju Rajak has also been making a living washing clothes.
Rammaya, who is now head of her 12-member joint family, can´t say exactly when her family started in this calling. But it is now clear that the next generation of her family will not be washing other´s clothes.
Living near Dhobighat, five adults of Rammaya´s family have followed the footsteps of their forebears, doing other people´s laundry. But when Rammaya and her son Raju go to Dhobighat, her grandchildren go to school. Unlike their fathers and grandfathers, Rammaya´s children study in prestigious schools like St. Xavier´s, Jawalakhel.
PHOTO: RIWAJ RAI
Along with modernity, this family of washerfolks -- or dhobi in Nepali -- has evolved and embraced education as well as other occupations beside dipping their hands in soapy water. Rammaya´s grandchildren say they will not wash clothes as an occupation. They say they are studying hard to become doctors.
Ramamaya recalls that she was just seven when she first started washing clothes at Dhobighat.“"My grandparents did it. My parents did it and I followed suit. It never occurred to me that it was a menial job”" says Ramamaya.
However, her grandchildren shy away from this calling; and have embraced education as a big priority. In this, she supports them wholeheartedly.
"When I see my grandchildren leave for school, I feel proud," says Rammaya. "We were not as lucky as them when it comes to education."
Raju Rajak, now 50 and with an intermediate level of education, is a full-time washerman. He also says that his children feel awkward about becoming washermen, and he finds this very logical. "I never wanted to see my children wash other people´s clothes. This work doesn´t bring you any respect, and to my delight they have taken a road we hadn´t," says Raju.
His youngest son goes to St. Xavier´s School at Jawalakhel and his daughter teaches at a reputed school. His niece is a third-year Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS) student.
Raju wanted to join government service. White-collar work was what he craved for. But responsibility for his family drew him into the traditional calling. "After I finished my intermediate level, I tried to get a job as a non-gazetted officer," says Raju, "But I ended up working as a washerman."
According to Raju´s sister Ganga Rajak, 40, they wash around 300 pieces of cloththing every day. Clothes and linen come from various schools, hostels, private houses, apartments, hotels and even various organizations are washed, informs Ganga.
"Winter days are the hardest for us," adds Ganga. "During this season, the sources of water nearly dry up and the water is ice cold. And, this is when more people send their laundry to us."
PHOTO: RIWAJ RAI
Many of her relatives have already given up this traditional calling for other kinds of work. "My cousins are working at hotels. They now own their own restaurants, and some have gone abroad," Ganga says. "We are the unfortunate ones, stuck in this job for a lifetime and with nothing but unsatisfied customers all the time."
"They will never understand how hard this work is," quips Ganga.
With rapid urbanization, the open spaces in the Valley are fast disappearing, and this is adding to the woes of washerfolks. A wide open space near Dhobighat, which the Rajak family uses to dry laundry in the sun, is also on the verge of getting swallowed up by urbanization.
"Earlier, we had a lot of open spaces to dry clothes," says Raju. "Today, there are very few open spaces. The space where we have been drying clothes for so long will also be gone one day. We will have no alternative then."
"The days ahead are bleak also because the sources of water are depleting," says Raju. The only thing that Raju and the whole Rajak family find satisfaction in is that their children are getting a better education.
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