This article and image were submitted to Edge of Humanity Magazine by Blogger Rukmini Krishnan.
India is a land of villages, tradition and culture. Agriculture is the chief occupation of the people in India. Often women in villages go to the nearby fields and help the men in their agricultural activities. In their spare time, the women also tend to the young ones, cook and keep the house warm and neat. One of the jobs that they need to do, as a daily household chore is washing of clothes.
Today, we are in a technological age, but the average Indian woman still relies on her physical capacity to keep the clothes in her house clean. She still takes a basketful of clothes to the nearby pond, river or lake and washes them on the banks and dries them in the hot sun. This according to science, is the best way to wash clothes as it keeps the clothes, free from bacteria and germs.
However, we are in modern apartments and ready made bungalows today where we do not have the facility to wash clothes in a river or a pond. We rely on washing machines. The natural washing machine is still surely one that is dubious and ingenious.
The adeptness with which the women here in the photo are seen washing their clothes shows their experience and reflects their attitude towards life. They are undeterred by any kind of hard work and also do not really have to go to any management school to manage their schedule. The effortless ease with which they are seen washing their clothes also shows how well they have learnt all about work life balance.
While the two women are actively involved in their activity, a third women in the photo, prefers to take a break and seep in the beauty of Nature, or maybe contemplating how to go about the rest of the day fruitfully. These are the divas of Indian villages and these are the very same women who would surely make it to the top given an opportunity and a chance to prove themselves. The culture of washing clothes in river banks is fast disappearing in India. Educational and technological developments are taking people from the villages to the cities and bringing technology from the cities to the villages.
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