It’s unfortunate that the diligent, hard working ‘washing machine’ has today acquired a negative ‘political’ connotation with aspersions on the yeoman services it’s rendering. While other utilities have been spared the heat of the conundrums in TV prime time debates, the ‘washing machine’ has been subject to ridicule by the political parties against the opponents, rightly or otherwise. In ‘Macbeth’, the Bard had also said ‘All the perfumes of Arabia, won’t sweeten..’. But back then washing machines didn’t exist !
However, let’s get to basics and the difference this wonderful item makes to our lives, since so far it’s greatness has been ignored except when it stops working (like you know who !). In fact, I’m surprised that in school we knew about great inventors, Bell, Edison, Franklin etc. but we weren’t aware that James King in 1851 created the first washing machine to use a drum, Hamilton Smith in 1858 patented a rotary version, and in 1868 Thomas Bradford, a British inventor, created a commercially successful machine that resembles the modern device.
Being born in the era of 50-60s and long before ‘W-M’ came into our lives in India, I recall what cleaning the large joint family’s laundry was like then. It demanded hot water, strong soap and washboards, paddles or plungers. It was backbreaking labor, mostly performed by our women. There was an old family ‘dhobi’ who’d take ‘chaddars’ for washing & ironing, and there were few ‘dry cleaning’ shops for the affluent. When our two Sons started going to school, there was the added pressure of keeping their uniforms spotless & devoid of stains, never mind ‘daag dhabbas’ from school fights.
In the 70s also came the competitive edge in middle class families, with ad campaigns of washing powders asking ‘Uski Kameez Zyada Safed Kyon’. White sari clad ‘Lalitaji’ became a household name selling ‘Surf Excel’ and another big success story was of ‘Nirma’ soap ! Finally, we got our first W-M sometime in the 1990s but over the years, the brands have changed for us. Basic to automatic to higher end ones with dryers, all available now !
Well-trained, domesticated men know that washing ‘kapdas’ isn’t simply dumping clothes in the W-M tub. For one, they first have to learn how to operate the machine – putting timer, mixing water, adding right amount of soap, running dryer are processes to be followed. Not all our apparels can be machine wasted, some need gentle hand wash with good soap ! The job is over only after clothes are put up for drying & later folded & pressed …
In 1980s, I’d heard a line (from a Prestige Cooker ad) ‘Joh karte hain Patni se pyaar, woh kaise kare inkaar’. The intent should be to liberate the home-makers from the daily back-breaking, time-consuming drudgery of multi-farious house-keeping jobs by offering to humbly assist in some ways. Like the tireless ‘W-M’ does, let’s try to be useful at home, noiselessly !
Working on Living 