Women washing clothes in the shallows of the Mahananda River using the river water

A group of saree-clad women was gathered at the riverside of the Mahananda River, which flows through the suburbs of Malda. A large stone was placed in front of each of them, and the women repeatedly hit their clothes against the stone. They were using the river water to wash their clothes. The place where the women had gathered looked like a laundry room.

Seeing so many women gathered together, it seemed that washing machines were not common in this area. Perhaps they are still too expensive to be found only in wealthy families, and women from families without washing machines gather in the shallows of the river to wash their clothes.

Although the women were gathered together, they were not talking or humming some kind of labor song but were washing in silence. As I watched them hammering their laundry against the stones over and over again, I wondered how well their clothes would be cleaned in the murky river water.