IS IT SAFE TO USE HOTEL LAUNDRY SERVICES IN INDIA? IN VARANASI I'VE SEEN HOTEL LAUNDRY BEING DONE BY DHOBI WALLAHS IN THE GANGES, WHICH DOESN'T SEEM TERRIBLY HYGIENIC. ARE THERE ANY ALTERNATIVES?
G. BALES, MELBOURNE
Mark Twain described Indians as "people who break rocks with their clothes", and watching a dhobi wallah at work, whirling laundry items overhead and smashing them down again and again on rocks, is one of the peculiarities of the Indian experience. They also scrub them vigorously with soap beforehand and from personal experience, you're lucky if your clothes (and buttons especially) survive. Hygiene is another matter. After washing, the clothes are dried in the open air and sunlight is a wonderful steriliser. The river water the dhobi wallahs use might not be something you'd reach for when thirsty but I've never heard of anyone suffering Delhi belly or worse from their laundered underwear, or the sheets on their hotel bed. If you're staying in a hotel in India these days, it would be unusual if your personal laundry would be processed by a dhobi wallah. A washing machine, detergent and dryer would be far more common but if in doubt, ask.
