Beginning work before sunrise the soft thwack of wet fabric against stone echoes around the ghat as washermen sift through laundry. Other workers painstakingly iron and fold immaculate parcels of newly-clean clothing. Warming tea breaks and the offering of prayers at tiny shrines dotted between the drying machines and washing lines pepper a shift spend standing in knee-deep water. Workers leave mid-morning to begin delivering washed and ironed clothes to customers, loading bundles onto bikes and scooters as they fan out across one of the biggest capital cities on the planet.
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Indian washerman Yogesh Kumar, 35, washes clothes at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on February 17, 2015. Yogesh has worked at the ghat for 15 years and says, "It's hard. The water gets cold and the clothes are heavy, and we make little money."
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Indian washerman Yogesh Kumar, 35, washes clothes at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on February 17, 2015. Yogesh has worked at the ghat for 15 years and says, "It's hard. The water gets cold and the clothes are heavy, and we make little money."
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Indian washerman Om Prakash (C), 49, and his wife Sunita (2R), 39, talk with their employees Rohit Kumar (L), 16, and Bula Kumar (R), 23, as they work to wash and dry towels used at a spa in the city at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. Together the couple run a business providing laundry services for hotels, beauty parlours and spas in the city, collecting and delivering towels and bedding. Om says, "I have been working here for 28 years, and I have been married to my wife for 26. She is my Agra, my Taj Mahal, my sunrise, my queen."
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Flip-flops belonging to Indian washerman Yogesh Kumar, 35, lie next to a stone bath as he washes clothes at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on February 17, 2015. Yogesh has worked at the ghat for 15 years and says. "It's hard. The water gets cold and the clothes are heavy, and we make little money."
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Indian washerman Dharmraj Kumar, 23, who lives and works at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry bathes before starting work in New Delhi on February 10, 2015. With no water supply available in the homes at the ghat, residents bathe outdoors and collect water from pumps and taps for cooking and washing.
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Indian washerman Prem Kumar (C), 50, talks to neighbours as he walks back to his home after performing a morning puja at a Hindu shrine in a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives wih his family in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. Prem leaves incense, carried in a small pan, burning at the shrine as an offering every morning before bathing and then starting work.
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Indian resident Pushpa Binjari, 50, offers prayers over a cup of chai towards a poster bearing an image of a Hindu god before having breakfast in her home at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where she lives with her family in New Delhi on February 17, 2015. Pushpa performs this ritual every morning before starting chores and preparing meals for her son and his wife, with whom she lives following the death of her husband.
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Indian washerman Jagdiss Kumar, 60, rinses clothing as he works at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. Jagdiss works alongside his son Dinesh, 30, who collects and delivers laundry from neighbourhoods around south New Delhi and washes heavier items. On Tuesday and Fridays, Jagdiss does the same work at the US embassy. "We start at 6am, or before, maybe sunrise sometimes, and then I go to the embassy. I have worked there for many years."
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Indian washermen Bula Kumar (L), 23, Rupesh Kumar (2L), 22, Parmod Kumar (2R), 22, and Pardeep Kumar (L), 24, and who are not related, talk and drink chai before starting work at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. None of them attended school, and work for a family who wash towels and bedding for hotels, beauty parlours and spas in the city, unloading spin-driers, collecting and delivering laundry, and using bicycle-carts to transport and hang items to dry along the roadside near the ghat area.
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Indian resident Pushpa Binjari (L), 50, starts chores around her home as her neighbour Usha (R) washes dishes at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where they live with their families in New Delhi on February 18, 2015. Pushpa is supported by her son, who she lives with and who works as a washerman at the ghat. Pushpa starts chores and preparing meals for her son and his wife, with whom she lives following the death of her husband, every day after breakfast.
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Indian schoolgirl Kushi Kumar, 8, and whose father works as a washerman, washes her face at a communal tap at the dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where she lives with her family in New Delhi on February 18, 2015. With no water supply available in the homes at the ghat, residents bathe outdoors and collect water from pumps and taps for cooking and washing.
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Fabric soaks in a whitening solution used to bleach stains at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in the Indian capital New Delhi on March 18, 2015.
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Indian washerman Babu Jan, 42, stands in stone bath as he beats items of clothing to clean and rinse them at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on February 12, 2015.
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Indian washerman Raaju Uddin, 20, stands on the edge of a stone bath used to wash clothes as he rinses fabric covers and curtains used during wedding celebrations at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 10, 2015. "I make around 4,000 INR per month and we start here early morning. We have to stand in the water to clean the clothes so we heat and add the warm water."
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Indian washerman Surej Kumar (L), 20, bathes at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. Surej and his father work as a washermen at the ghat in the early morning, and Surej then leaves for work at a sari shop in the city's Lagpat Nagar market, where he sells outfits for weddings. "The money is better there than here - here the wages every month are smaller so I work outside as well."
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Indian Hindu priest Pandit Madan Mohan Mishra, 42, offers a daily morning prayer during a puja ceremony at the Kalimata Mandir temple at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry where he lives with his family in New Delhi on March 18, 2015. "Kali is my god. The whole world is under Kali. I am not a rich man, but I am the priest here in this area. I do this puja every morning at 7am and offer prayers for my family and for all people here." Mishra offers prasad, or sweets used as temple offerings, that he has blessed to washermen working at the ghat after each morning ceremony.
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Indian washerman Sahamuddin, 52, and who goes by one name, hangs sheets to dry before sharing chai with other workers at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 12, 2015. "We don't make the same money every day, it changes with whatever work we get, but we only need five rupees for chapati (bread)."
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Indian washerman Abdullah Hassan (C), 54, irons an item of clothing as another worker takes freshly-ironed and packed clothes to be delivered to customers at a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 17, 2015.
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Indian washerman Parmod Chattrati, 42, lays fabric tablecloths used during wedding celebrations out to dry near a dhobi ghat outdoor laundry in New Delhi on February 10, 2015. With little space to dry clothes and fabric after washing, workers hang cleaned laundry to dry along nearby roads and set up washing lines on patches of ground between traffic lanes.