In India, dhobis are often considered the forerunners to today's professional dry cleaners. Dhobies usually collect dirty clothes from the houses. They wash these clothes (often at a river bank), dry them, and more recently starch and iron them. Despite the existence of dry cleaners, the dhobis are still popular with many Indian households as their charges are much lower than their professional counterparts. Dhobies can also come to the house, clean garments there and iron them. |