World’s Largest Laundromat

The Dhobi Ghat at Saat Rasta (Seven Roads) near Mahalaxmi Station in Mumbai, is perhaps the world largest outdoor laundromat. If you send your clothes for cleaning in Mumbai, chances are that they’ll end up here at the Dhobi Ghat.

But you won’t find any machines here. Instead, close to 200 dhobis and their families wash clothes by hand in row upon row of concrete wash pens, each fitted with its own flogging stone. The clothes are soaked in sudsy water, thrashed on the flogging stones, then tossed into huge vats of boiling starch and hung out to dry. Next they are ironed and piled into neat bundles.