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bit of an unecessarily long background story to go with this picture....
we had a bit of laundry disaster in t.v.malai. i have normally been doing hand washing, and one of the first things i look for on arrival at a new place is somewhere to attach my washing line! but in the hotel in t.v.malai there wasn't anywhere, except a very dubious balcony (completely open, no wall or railings or anything) above a very busy street, the washing would've come off the line dirtier than when i started!
so, i decided on this occassion to send some washing to the hotel laundry. a lot of laundry services employ a lady to do the washing by hand, by bashing it about on some rocks for a while, monica has used these services a few times and the washing always comes back lovely.
however this time, they gave the washing to some completely clueless young lad, who put everything all together in one load in a machine, evidently on a very hot wash. this included black trousers, pink knickers and my cream linen marks n spencers trousers and other light coloured items.
well, the trousers and two tops were ruined with colour run. this led to another slightly heated debate. i dunno if it's the heat or part of the tamil personality or what, but they seem to almost enjoy a good argument. they would have been well employed in that monty python argument sketch. the hotel manager insisted it was not his responsibility but the fault of the laundry lad. i explained that these trousers cost 1000rupees! true, they were about 12pounds, a bargain at home, but 1000rs for a pair of trousers is ridiculous to the average indian.
i was quite upset and considered crying, but i thought that would be taking it too far, and had to settle for 400rs "compensation' (i am not sure of the relevant sale of goods laws or the indian version of watchdog....!). as we were on our way to pondicherry, the tamil seat of civilisation, the hotel manager assured me that for 400rs i could send it to a dry cleaners in pondy and get it all sorted.
i spent the first afternoon in pondy going round all the dry cleaners only to be met with a sad disappointed expression as they explained there was no way they could fix them. i considered getting them dyed dark blue, but this would've taken a week apparantly. i considered sending the stuff home or carrying it with me and trying to get it fixed when i got home, but it's really not worth it. i mean right now, those trousers were 50% of my complete stock of trousers, but back home i can buy a new pair easy peasy.
so in the end i decided to give everything away.
i had noticed a homeless family living behind some shops close to our hotel. homelessness means something different in india i think. many, many people live on the streets. also, many people live at their place of work, staff in hotels live at the hotels, even at fancy places if you go to reception late at night you will see people sleeping on mattresses behind the desk. rickshaw drivers often sleep in their rickshaws, shopkeepers sleep amongst their stock on the shop floor.
even families you see literally on the street, often seem not that worse off than the average villager in a very basic shelter. even shops are often just made of bamboo poles and few bits of tarpaulin, cardboard, and other unspecified material.
at home, i would not normally give something directly to a homeless person on the street. i prefer to donate to charity shops etc, but there is not really the infrastructure here.
so, anyway, i approached this family a bit cautiously. they had some washing hanging up on lines, a few pots n pans and even some chickens roaming around! (i have even seen people milking their cows on the streets, you can have no home but still own a cow!).
there seemed to be millions of children so i approached who i thought was the mum and asked if she would like the clothes. she was very pleased and grateful, and the children immediately started squabbling over who got what. we left them to it and went and had a juice at a shop down the road.
a few minutes later this little girl came over to wash some pots at a tap by the shop.... wearing the top i had just donated! this top was already years old when i brought it to india (and ironically, all the stuiff i donated was made in india), and even before the laundry disaster it was getting really dirty and i was struggling to get it clean. somehow, on this cute little urchin, it was transformed. it looks like a really cute little dress and the girl was so pleased to have something new.
so there you go. in the end i was pleased about the disaster. makes you appreciate what you do have.
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marcia
non-member comment
laundry
well travelling really makes us appreciate the things we have in life. you should have taken me to do your laundry