90. A washing machine like none other

I still recall how excited my mother was when she had loaded a washing machine for the very first time in her life. Unlike an unavoidable contraption now, it was considered a luxury item then. In a mini celebration with a handful of neighbors in attendance and lots of washable clothes scattered all around, the machine was switched on with its gurgling sound. Her life transformed thereafter, she had not to hand-wash laundry anymore for the five of us. She could hardly believe the change due to her.

Loading the machine and watching it swirl dirty clothes remained a spectacle for quite a while before it got turned into a domestic ritual. Although electric washing machine came into existence in early 1900, my mother got to use it almost a century later. There are billions like her still in queue to get hold of a washing machine. For those who survive on less than 2 dollars a day, hand washing the laundry remains a drudgery.  

But laundry technology has continued to evolve with new machines and products offering improved efficiency, convenience, and sustainability. High efficiency washing machines claim to use less water and energy, reducing the environmental impact of laundry while lowering utility costs. Yet, not more than 3 billion people can afford to wash their laundry in electric washing machines. Washing machine is every woman's demand, yet gendered inequity persists.      

Not sure why laundry as a task got assigned to women, who clean clothes by pounding them on rocks after rubbing some cleansing stuff and draining the dirt away in streams or rivers. In colonial times, the most common way of washing clothes was to boil them in a large pot, then lay them on a flat board, and beat them with a paddle. Laundry was often a communal ritual along rivers and ponds where women did the washing. 

Ever since first patent was awarded for a washing invention in 1797, the history of laundry has gone through fascinating transformation. From its ancient practices in washing with hands to the present-day use of innovative technologies, the focus has remained on methods for keeping clothes clean and fresh. New technologies have promised to keep laundry even more efficient, convenient, and environmentally friendly.

If the virtues of a washing machine are too many to list, why it has yet to become an electoral issue? Every woman may vote for washing machine, but none would dare to 'wash dirty linen in public'. Keeping one's dirty linen especially away from prying eyes has been the preserve of the more affluent and genteel sections of society. It’s a reminder to maintain discretion, best to handle issues privately rather than airing them publicly.

Of late, washing machine has acquired a political dimension. As the act of washing dirty linen in public gets negated, the washing machine has instead been put to use to laundry the person clean (of his/her dirty attire) for the ballot box. The electoral value of a laundered candidate is worth an important place in legislative governance. One only has to pass through the right washing machine to be held neat and clean in the eyes of the public. 

First published as a diary piece in the Outlook magazine, issue dated May 11, 2024.