The Fine Print Special Issue - Dhobi Strike | Page 2

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Chief Warden refuted this promise claiming that the SU President and GenSec were not
agreeable to fulfilling the conditions. This caused the strike to resume.

Of all the dhobis consulted for their views on this subject, opinions differed on whether the Laundromat
The dhobis have made two demands of the institute, contingent on which the strike shall
was truly a threat to them or not. While some demand its complete removal from the Pilani laundry
be called off. The short-term demand is that the Laundromat be stopped from collecting
scene, certain others feel that they may indeed work with it, if it does not intrude upon the speciality of the
and delivering laundry. The long-term plan of action is that the lease of the Laundromat
dhobis - transport of clothes to and from the doorsteps of the students. However, with the failure of even
system, which expires at the end of August 2015, be allowed to lapse.
multiple rounds of discussions, all dhobis agree, vehemently, upon the fact that it is high time for the
There was a brief period when dhobis were seen returning to the Students’ strike to end, and for the disruption to their daily lives to cease. On the one hand, there are the worried
hostels to collect laundry. What caused this withdrawal and then, the subsequent frowns of the dhobis and the threat of their rehabilitation, while on the other there is the allure of a
resumption of the strike?
modern and arguably more convenient lifestyle. One can only hope that there is a swift resolution to the
Having received a promise midway through the strike from the Chief Warden that all problem at hand, for the airing of dirty laundry is benefiting neither set of stakeholders.
their conditions would be met, all the dhobis resumed work. However, the next day, the

The President of the Students’ Union, V. V. Sai
Praneeth, is in the thick of things, trying to get the dhobis
to resume their services, while simultaneously ensuring
that the Laundromat Service doesn’t breathe an early
last. The English Press Club managed to interview him
on the matter; the same has been excerpted below.
Explaining the situation, he highlights his helplessness.
“We have made no changes to the system since last
semester,” he says, claiming that the strike blindsided the
Students’ Union. “Their demands have been vague. They
said that the laundry system shouldn’t be here, and that
the same be removed as soon as their contract ends,
which is in about a year’s time.”
The Laundromat currently services 400 people. This,
along with a few machines in the Malviya and Meera
Bhawan visitors’ rooms should be enough to cater to the
entire student population in the institute, says Praneeth.
When questioned about the feasibility of this venture, as
well as the time that would be needed, he replies, “This
should take three days to a week.”

The recent conflict between the Laundromat
Services and the Dhobi Union has given a new
definition to ‘washing your dirty linen in public’.
Ready to battle it out for every BITSian’s pile of
stinking laundry, the two parties are leaving no
stone unturned, with strikes and delay in washing
clothes marring the everyday life of all students. We
wanted to know what the public thinks and what
they hope is the outcome of it all. In our quest of
this knowledge, one thing became quite apparent not too many people knew about the strike and its
motivations. This resulted in further strengthening
of our belief in the need for a pamphlet such as this.
We felt that most people are siding with one of the
below:
A few feel that we should abide by the demands of the
Dhobi Union, leading up to completely eliminate
Laundromat. Only a few Dhobi-loyalists, who want to
help preserve the fabric of this hamlet-specific
ecosystem, are party to this. An enlightened young
gentleman, talked about the need to behave unselfishly
in an interdependent society such as ours, where, us
moving away from the system will render the dhobis almost 120 families - unemployed. He agreed that the
dhobis were lax and at times more expensive than the
Laundromat, which can be included in the terms of

Truth be told, we find it mildly incredulous to hear that
it’s going to take merely a few days to expand an existing
400-strong operation to 4000. But, the President backs it
up with experience from the initial establishment of the
system, “We managed to setup the