Little known facts about the dhobi ghat in Mumbai, a Guinness World Record holder

The dhobi ghat in Mumbai is a Guinness World Record holder - the plaque at the entrance says - "The most clothes that people hand-washed simultaneously at a single location were 496. This feat was achieved by the Dhobi Kalyan and Audyogik Vikas Coop Society on March 8, 2011."
Located at Mumbai's Mahalaxmi, its annual turnover is of the order of Rs 100 crore.
The dhobis (washermen) numbering over 7000 work for 18 to 20 hours each day. They flog, scrub, dye and bleach clothes on concrete wash pens, dry them on ropes, neatly press them and then send them off to different locations in the city. It is estimated that over one lakh clothes are washed every day.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 26 February 2017.

It seems a private laundry will charge a customer Rs 50 to wash a pant or shirt and send the clothes to the ghat where each piece is washed for as little as Rs 5.
Similarly, garment dealers bring second-hand clothes in bulk and get them scrubbed at the Ghat. These clothes are then sold as brand new. Same with sarees which arrive in bulk. Each dhobi washes at least 400 sarees a day, most of them old and meant for second sales and the charges are Rs 4 to Rs 5 per saree with guaranteed delivery the next day.
Their biggest clients are neighborhood laundries, garment dealers, wedding decorators and caterers, mid-sized hotels and clubs. One of our largest clients used to be the Indian Railways, but they now have their own equipment.


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This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 13 January 2017.

A total of 1,682 crocodiles, including the albino species, were counted. The corresponding figure for last year was 1,671 - the census operation of crocodiles was conducted from January 3 to 8.
Ten crocodiles with whitish patches on their bodies were spotted living along the creeks and the animal's latest census figure reveals an encouraging trend of rise in the number of estuarine crocodiles.
The enumerators have seen three giant male crocodiles measuring more than 20 feet. One of these, a 21ft crocodile, has found a place in the Guinness World Records as the world's largest living crocodile. In addition, 18 large crocodiles measuring between 16 and 18 feet were identified during the annual headcount operation.


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Dhobi Ghat in Mumbai is an iconic structure spread across a sprawling 23 acres of land. It was constructed in 1890 to meet the needs of the British and Parsis living in Mumbai and is located adjacent to the Mahalaxmi station in south Mumbai. It consists of rows of open air concrete wash pens numbering 731 and a heavy flogging stone.
There are roughly 25,000 washermen who work here and they will move out from here and occupy tall towers, courtesy of a slum rehabilitation project.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 26 November 2016.

'Dhobi Ghat`, the scene of scores of Bollywood movies and the world`s largest open air laundromat, has entered the Guinness Book of World Record in 2013 for the largest number of people washing clothes simultaneously. It is as unique to Mumbai as are the dabbawallahs who pick up and deliver lunch boxes on time to lakhs of Mumbaikars daily.
The washerfolk live with their families in tiny slum dwellings surrounding the Dhobi Ghat. The century-old heritage site is also a major tourist destination.
The link of Dhobi Ghat with Bollywood is not new - director Kiran Rao (wife of Aamir Khan) had directed her first film named "Dhobi Ghat" (2011). And it had featured in movies like "Munnabhai MBBS", and Amitabh Bachchan`s "Don".


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Brendan Blake or Bundy, as he is better known, owns barbershops in Auckland and Wellington. He has been barbering for 18 years and is now getting together a team to achieve the world record for the most haircuts given by a team of 10 barbers in eight hours. The present record is 375 and he plans to break it with his team.
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This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 1 August 2016.

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This has been reported in zeenews.com dated 21 June 2015.

The two records were for 'Largest number of participants' at 35,985 and 'Most number of nationalities' at 84. The earlier figures were 29973 and 49 respectively. The awards were presented to the Ministry of AYUSH by the representatives of Guinness World Records Ms Victoria from UK and Mr. Marco Frigatti from Italy.
The previous Guinness record was held by Vivekananda Kendra which organized a yoga event in Gwalior in 1995 in which 29,973 people had participated. Rajpath breaks that record after 20 years.
AYUSH is the acronym for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy. The Ministry of AYUSH was formed in 9th November 2014 for providing more healthcare to the public.
Incidentally – there are a couple of other exercises like aerobics and pilates that also help to keep people fit and are equally effective. Read more about this here.
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#InternationalYogaDay #UN4Yoga #GuinnessWorldRecord #Rajpath Designating the 21st of June as the International Yoga Day by the United Nations was a feather in the cap of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and, efforts to celebrate it in a befitting manner in India and enter the portals of the Guinness Book of World Records would be the icing on the cake.
On the occasion, reps of Guinness Book and Ernst & Young auditors are likely to be present during the 35-minute demonstration and, the record could be assigned to only one category even though three categories had been proposed.
This has been reported in dnaindia.com dated 4 June 2015.

The Ayush ministry had approached the Guinness Book on three counts – (i) maximum number of people performing yoga at a single venue, (ii) maximum number of people from different nationalities doing yoga at the same time and (iii) maximum number of people doing yoga at the same time across India.
Guinness has rejected the second and third proposals since it would be difficult to assess the number of people doing yoga across the country or in different countries.
The venue would be on the Rajpath in New Delhi and people from all walks of life are expected to join in the event – the presence of celebrities of the silver screen and politicians would make for an interesting photo ops session. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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