Farmers Movement Archive

Duo from Faridkot take on the ‘dirty’ job

They belong to the opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum, but these two men from Punjab’s Faridkot, camping at Tikri border since late November last year, have more in common than just the district they come from and their support for the farmers’ cause. With three washing machines each on the opposite sides of the road, placed around half-a-km from one another, Raju Dhillon, an ex-kabaddi player from a small land-owning farmers’ family, and Gurtej Singh, who gets by as an agricultural labourer, are providing on the spot laundry service to countless protesters for 10 to 12 hours a day . “When we first came here, a few of my ex-athlete friends and I started doing the laundry by hand. Then my uncle from Canada donated one washing machine to us, after which a friend’s family and one more did the same,” Mr. Dhillon said. “We begin around 7 a.m. and the machines then work non-stop for 11 to 12 hours. People come with their clothes and we wash them in front of them before handing them over. Someone donated a tank to help us with the water supply, while others keep donating washing powder now and then,” he also said. Team work While Mr. Dhillon has a team of around half-a-dozen, including himself, on his side of the street, Mr. Singh, who got the machines from a charitable institution in his village, goes at his own service solo. From filling the machines with water pipe in a bid to save time as well as rinsing them of soap suds before dropping them in the dryer to handing them over to their owners, Mr. Singh’s service more or less follows Mr. Dhillon’s schedule and pattern. “I came here the day the protest started. The machines were provided by the sarpanch of my village. I just took charge of them, reached here, set them up and started washing clothes. It has been 70 days since,” he said. “The machines run for 10 to 12 hours every day. They do most of the work, I just do whatever I can to be able to wash as many clothes as possible. The only issue I face is an electric shock because of my wet clothes every now and then but they are not too serious,” he also said.

The Hindu

2021-02-05

New Delhi