Hell's laundry

The washing area is like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock's films. To reach it one has to tread over stones, shards of glass, uncleared rubble, garbage, dead leaves, dog and cat poo.:

by Carol Aloysius

The narrow twisting lanes that ascend and dip, roofs topped by clay chimneys, quaint houses with trellised windows and open verandahs down Wasala Road, Kotahena. They all belong to another era, when Ceylon was under Colonial rule.

Today, we are heading towards another colonial building down the same narrow lane. It is not a grandiose structure such as the Colombo Municipal Council which runs it. Rather, a much humbler place inhabited by what we used to call the dhobis during the British era. In fact, it was the British who built it way back in around 1922, according to the present workers there.

As the largest and oldest clothes washing complex in the city and perhaps the island, photographer Sarath Pieris and I expected to see a neat well maintained laundry manned by workers in clean clothes busy washing piles of dirty linen in sanitary surroundings.

Nothing prepared us for the shocking and sad sight that greeted us when our office vehicle pushed its way through a half-open rusty gate, to stop outside a row of small lime washed buildings.

At first sight they could have been mistaken for the line homes one sees on a tea estate. The difference was that instead of rooms occupied by families, the 7 by 14 foot rooms of this ancient CMC laundry contained clothes. A peek into the thirty rooms that completed the line, revealed newly hand washed linen in some, while others had clothes that had already been ironed and folded. Each room had a number. Inside each were men and women ironing, folding, packing clothes to be distributed to the hundreds of clients who visit them daily. "Each of us employed here has a different task to perform- some of us do the washing, others iron the clothes and the rest fold and pack them. Since many of us are very old, although thirty are on duty, sometimes we have no more than a handful working here", says Jagath, 72.

Clients

Where do the clients come from? we wondered.

"From different parts of the city: practically all the hospitals in Colombo including the Colombo National Hospital, Colombo South Hospital, the Minuwangoda Hospital as well as one private hospitals who sub contract with us. In addition we have big mercantile firms who deal with Navy personnel.

They send dirty laundry from seafarers who are their clients to be washed by us." However the numbers have dwindled drasticaly from the past," says V. Armugam who has spent a quarter of his life working in the laundry. While he attends to the nitty gritty business at the laundry, his wife keeps a record of each client who visits them.

As we talk a large black Pruis hybrid car stops outside and a well dressed man gets out. He has come to collect his clothes, which we are told were originally handed to a private laundry in the Pettah which in turn sub contracted the order to the CMC laundry. "It is because of our very cheap prices", says Armugam's wife Saku. "We only charge Rs 30 for ironing, and Rs 75/- for washing and ironing a shirt or trouser", says Armugam.

Many of the laundry hands are in their fifties, sixties, seventies and even eighties. - The majority having grown up when their fathers and grandfathers worked there back in the 19th century during the British era.

Like B.S Gamini 65, who has never known a life outside the laundry business. "My father and grandfather worked in this same laundry during the Colonial days. I myself have been here for fifty years starting as a helper at the age of nine years."

Unchanged

"Nothing has changed from that time. The building has never been refurbished or renovated except for an occasional lime wash which we workers give it. Nor the way the clothes are washed and ironed. We use the same heavy charcoal irons we used in the past".

Guiding us to the area where the washing is done, he points to the crumbling roof with its Sinhala ulu tiles now propped up with pieces of wood and says "Even this roof and the timber used is the same though we would welcome a change as our lives are at risk". The washing area is like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock's films. To reach it one has to tread over stones, pieces of glass, uncleared rubble, garbage, dead leaves, dog and cat poo. - Surely be one of the filthiest environments for a laundry to operate.

The cemented tanks in which the water is collected via a narrow pvc tube, have somehow withstood the test of time and inclement weather. Not however the drains built to allow excess water to flow. Only one, on the side leading to the open quadrangle where the clothes were hung, is free of dirt and leaves.

The other has long since been in disuse blocked with dead leaves, stones, pieces of charcoal used for the irons. While thirty tanks line the single room, only five have working tap lines.

How much soap, washing powder and other washing ingredients are used for one wash? I wanted to know. Premawathi 68, who has been a washerwoman for over thirty years at this laundry answers. "It depends on the number of clothes you wash. If the wash is small we may need about 1-2 kgs of washing powder, along with washing blue and caustic soda to whiten the clothes. If it is more, the amount is double." To make sure all the dirt is removed, the clothes are beaten on the sides of the cemented tank or on the floor.

Having worked at the laundry for over 25 years, Sundari says she can't recall a time when the laundry had electricity.

How do you expect a laundry to function without lights?" she asks. She points to the kerosene oil lamp she carries in her hand and says, "This is our only sources of light when it gets dark. How can we give our clients a good professional service by ironing under this feeble light?"

Water bills

While the absence of electricity may mean the laundry does not need to foot electricity bills, it does have to pay for the water it consumes. For each room the owner pays his own water bill. The prices vary from Rs 3, 800 to as much as over Rs.12,000 a month depending on how many washes are done per room.

Another glaring shortcoming is the lack of space to store dirty linen. The single room that stands adjacent to the washing room is already overflowing with clothes - priority being given to hospital linen.

Even a place to sort out the clothes before putting them inside this room has not been provided, and there are days when she has to spread the bundle on the sandy ground says a washer woman .

Invisible authorities

So where are the public health inspectors, the maintenance inspectors, the overseers if there was one, who were supposed to be running this long standing laundry business in the heart of the city?

"They only come when there's an election to get our votes. So do the electricity officials who make all kinds of promises but keep none", says another unnamed employee.

He says, "Earlier during British days, there was an overseer to put on and off the lights as we had electricity. I remember how dedicated the overseers of the past were; never allowing a single leaf, let alone rubble and garbage to remain on the ground. We have been told we still have an overseer but upto now we have never seen him. We have appealed to the CMC authorities several times to send someone to clean these premises, but as we mentioned earlier they only come at election time to get our votes".

"We buy our own ekel brooms and coir brooms. No one helps us. All we get is our monthly salary with no ETF or EPF. So we have nothing saved when we retire", Sundari, 50, who has spent thirty years working at the laundry says.

Uncertain what the future holds for them, the employees are keeping their fingers crossed that the talk the laundry will be shifted elsewhere may not be true.

"We have lived our entire lives here and are used to this place. But till such a time can't the authorities at least help to keep it clean?" they plead.

Will somebody listen to them please?

Over to the CMC.