Rebecca Conway

Photographer in Delhi | @TEDx speaker | @Sahar_Speaks mentor | @Reuters @AFP @irinnews alum

rebeccaconwayphotography.com

Dhobi Ghat

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Location: Delhi, India

Nationality: British

Biography: Currently in New Delhi, India, Rebecca works between India and Pakistan, covering conflict, women and minorities. She has worked for the New York Times, The Guardian, AFP, AP, Reuters, Stern, The National and IRIN, among others. She is based in... read on

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1 of 15 © 2021 Rebecca Conway

Indian washerman Yogesh Kumar, 35, washes clothes at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on February 17, 2015. Yogesh has worked at the ghat for 15 years and says, "It's hard. The water gets cold and the clothes are heavy, and we make little money."

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2 of 15 © 2021 Rebecca Conway

Indian washerman Yogesh Kumar, 35, washes clothes at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on February 17, 2015. Yogesh has worked at the ghat for 15 years and says, "It's hard. The water gets cold and the clothes are heavy, and we make little money."

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3 of 15 © 2021 Rebecca Conway

Indian washerman Om Prakash (C), 49, and his wife Sunita (2R), 39, talk with their employees Rohit Kumar (L), 16, and Bula Kumar (R), 23, as they work to wash and dry towels used at a spa in the city at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. Together the couple run a business providing laundry services for hotels, beauty parlours and spas in the city, collecting and delivering towels and bedding. Om says, "I have been working here for 28 years, and I have been married to my wife for 26. She is my Agra, my Taj Mahal, my sunrise, my queen."

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4 of 15 © 2021 Rebecca Conway

Flip-flops belonging to Indian washerman Yogesh Kumar, 35, lie next to a stone bath as he washes clothes at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on February 17, 2015. Yogesh has worked at the ghat for 15 years and says. "It's hard. The water gets cold and the clothes are heavy, and we make little money."

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5 of 15 © 2021 Rebecca Conway

Indian washerman Dharmraj Kumar, 23, who lives and works at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry bathes before starting work in New Delhi on February 10, 2015. With no water supply available in the homes at the ghat, residents bathe outdoors and collect water from pumps and taps for cooking and washing.

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6 of 15 © 2021 Rebecca Conway

Indian washerman Prem Kumar (C), 50, talks to neighbours as he walks back to his home after performing a morning puja at a Hindu shrine in a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives wih his family in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. Prem leaves incense, carried in a small pan, burning at the shrine as an offering every morning before bathing and then starting work.

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7 of 15 © 2021 Rebecca Conway

Indian washerman Jagdiss Kumar, 60, rinses clothing as he works at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. Jagdiss works alongside his son Dinesh, 30, who collects and delivers laundry from neighbourhoods around south New Delhi and washes heavier items. On Tuesday and Fridays, Jagdiss does the same work at the US embassy. "We start at 6am, or before, maybe sunrise sometimes, and then I go to the embassy. I have worked there for many years."

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8 of 15 © 2021 Rebecca Conway

Fabric soaks in a whitening solution used to bleach stains at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in the Indian capital New Delhi on March 18, 2015.

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9 of 15 © 2021 Rebecca Conway

Indian washerman Babu Jan, 42, stands in stone bath as he beats items of clothing to clean and rinse them at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on February 12, 2015.

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Indian washerman Raaju Uddin, 20, stands on the edge of a stone bath used to wash clothes as he rinses fabric covers and curtains used during wedding celebrations at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 10, 2015. "I make around 4,000 INR per month and we start here early morning. We have to stand in the water to clean the clothes so we heat and add the warm water."

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Indian washerman Surej Kumar (L), 20, bathes at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. Surej and his father work as a washermen at the ghat in the early morning, and Surej then leaves for work at a sari shop in the city's Lagpat Nagar market, where he sells outfits for weddings. "The money is better there than here - here the wages every month are smaller so I work outside as well."

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Indian Hindu priest Pandit Madan Mohan Mishra, 42, offers a daily morning prayer during a puja ceremony at the Kalimata Mandir temple at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on March 18, 2015. "Kali is my god. The whole world is under Kali. I am not a rich man, but I am the priest here in this area. I do this puja every morning at 7am and offer prayers for my family and for all people here." Mishra offers prasad, or sweets used as temple offerings, that he has blessed to washermen working at the ghat after each morning ceremony.

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13 of 15 © 2021 Rebecca Conway

Indian washerman Sahamuddin, 52, and who goes by one name, hangs sheets to dry before sharing chai with other workers at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. "We don't make the same money every day, it changes with whatever work we get, but we only need five rupees for chapati (bread)."

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Indian washerman Abdullah Hassan (C), 54, irons an item of clothing as another worker takes freshly-ironed and packed clothes to be delivered to customers at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 17, 2015.

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Indian washerman Parmod Chattrati, 42, lays fabric tablecloths used during wedding celebrations out to dry near a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 10, 2015. With little space to dry clothes and fabric after washing, workers hang cleaned laundry to dry along nearby roads and set up washing lines on patches of ground between traffic lanes.

Public Story

Dhobi Ghat

Credits: rebecca conway

Updated: 05/18/16

Location: New Delhi, India

Archived as: Community, Documentary, Environment, Photojournalism, Water

Against modernisation and falling demand for their services, tiny corners of some of New Delhi's neighbourhoods are still given over to the work of the dhobi wallahs; the workers whose job it is to collect, wash and redistribute laundry across the city. Some 30-40 washermen work at the ghat in the centre of one of India's most affluent neighbourhoods, earning an average of 7,000 rupees ($110) per month.

Beginning work before sunrise the soft thwack of wet fabric against stone echoes around the ghat as washermen sift through laundry. Other workers painstakingly iron and fold immaculate parcels of newly-clean clothing. Warming tea breaks and the offering of prayers at tiny shrines dotted between the drying machines and washing lines pepper a shift spend standing in knee-deep water. Workers leave mid-morning to begin delivering washed and ironed clothes to customers, loading bundles onto bikes and scooters as they fan out across one of the biggest capital cities on the planet.

12,084

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