Latest edition : 09 April 2018
It’s impossible not to stop and watch these men making bricks. They didn't quite understand what was so interesting about it!
In these equipped basins, people brought their laundry to be washed. Customers are scarce, young people come to brick their motorcycles!
In the city of Cochin, there is the last "laundromat", Dhobi Khana, of Kerala. This is where members of the Vannar community bustle. About forty families have each a washing box.
There, in water up to their knees, the men wash the laundry brought by hotels, hospitals and private individuals. The clothes are soaked in water with a stain remover, resistant fabrics beaten to the stone. To starch cotton clothes, they are immersed in rice water.
After being rinsed twice in clean water, the women hang it in a large meadow to dry, without using clothespins. And yet nothing flies away!
With old irons, the men iron, using newspaper as a wet mop. Observe the electric wires!
An old iron filled with charcoal is reserved for silk sarees.
Shirts, pants and dobis are neatly folded.
With the arrival of washing machines, it is a profession that will eventually disappear.
Coconuts are precious. And not just for their juice and their pulp. The fibers of the hard shell are used, among other things, to make ropes (see Namaste-3) and doormats.
In this cooperative, the fibers are first spun into a strong twine.
This thread is wound on large spools.
On huge looms, men then weave rugs which are then finished by hand. They are found in hotels that make sure to use artisanal and natural products.
But these coconut threads are also transformed into doormats. Needless to say, I have a fond thought for these men every time I wipe my feet on a doormat!
The work is hard, and the men take turns resting on the spot.
The image is idyllic for us tourists: women and men are busy in the fields to cut the cane by hand, while their children play nearby.
The cane is loaded onto carts pulled by oxen. They then even use the highway. Which is not so disturbing since cars can't go very fast anyway!
By the side of the road, in an artisanal sugar factory, the cane is processed.
The fibers are immediately used as fuel to heat the large pots in which the squeezed cane juice boils.
The juice is then poured into concrete "channels" to cool before being cut into small squares.
Trip organized by Définition Asie
www.definition-asie.com
Tél.: +33 (3) 89 36 10 64
