WASHING MACHINE Recently in some scenes seen in TV at Dhobi Thana in Mumbai, large washingmachines locally fabricated are installed. Most washing is done on them. Waterinlet was through GIpipes with T at each washing machine. In cases of dirt not goingonly washing stones and beating clothes are done. Similarly drying the clothesalso. Then it is spread on clotheslines of very lengthy spans. This made me tothink of my washing machine experiences. Probably the scene was on the rise ofCOVID 19 cases and congested living in the areas.
Nostalgic memoriescame to me. When I came to Trivandrum in 1991, one of my colleaguehad an assembled semiautomatic washing machine. Washing machine was not adisplay item in electrical appliances shop on those days. TVs had only twochannels Doordashan1 and 2. Only terrestrial antenna was there, transmissionwas terrestrial. However color TV had started appearing. Washing was done on a stone in bathroom. Squeezing byhand was the way to drain water from bed sheets, probably two joined, one squeezein clock wise direction, while the other in anti-clockwise direction the otherend of the bedsheet. Soap powder was known, liquid soap was not known. As I understood from my son, semi- automatic washing machine wasprovided in the official bachelor residences in the foreign country where hewas working. Probably availability could be more in Chennai, Iwrote to the North Indian shop for a semiautomatic washing machine kept ready,which I could collect on return from Jabalpur after a training in 1993. Onreturn, I went to the shop, but his machine was highly priced than my expectation. I hadspecified there should be drainer, not only washing. With many hurdles Ibrought the washing machine with minimum cash for food in hand to Trivandrum tocut short the trip to Trivandrum. Iasked my wife to be at Trivandrum central keeping money for expenses there. Itwas purchased on instalment scheme, payinga lump sum amount initially. In the somewhat congested quarters though newlybuilt one, I installed the washing machine in the dining hall providing a tapover the washing area of the machine. Itwas opened for washing and rinsing. Outletwas connected to the bathroom outlet. Clothes were transferred after wash and rinse to thedrier. Clothes were 95% dried on taking out. Having experience of no otherwashing machine, we felt this could be the washing machine drying. It was afact. On retirement I packed it to Chennai. While constructing new home,adequate provision was made for inlet and outlet. My son in 2010 when came on vacation pit forth theidea of automatic washing machine. We purchased Samsung 5 kg front load. SomehowI felt my old washing machine can be kept near the 1st floor bathroom.I provided tap provision, water exist provision, so that it could be used at leastoccasionally. I used to wash bedsheets in it. For repairing AC a technician came, he on seeingthe washing machine said, their company would overhaul the washing machine,replacing all parts required. I agreed. It was taken in a mini lorry and cameback as a brisk fellow. Payment was above Rs 2000-00 Though the new automatic was there, I found daughterand daughter in law use semi-automatic more than the fully automatic. Daughter in law said- Appa, itsqueezes more efficiently. Yes. Comparing to fully automatic, it was moreefficient. Daughter said- Ittakes less water, wash clean, I can add liquid blue to my son’s white garments,and drying is smart. Recently there was a problem with Samsung machineregarding display. We explained to him about while in more RPM, machine movesin the ground. After setting tight the problem, he explained- sir, reduce RPM, your movingproblem will not be there. While setting for duration,rpm, temperature was automatically set. He showed how to reduce RPM. Healso suggested to use liquid detergents instead of powder. If this would have been told earlier, so farrotation, damage occurred at one instance would have avoided. The corrosion near the detergent providingarea would have been avoided partially, if I knew about use of liquid detergentis better. My technicalmind asked me - why you did not studied the literature. Solely depend on thetechnician? I had noanswer. While making payment I asked the technician – you joinedafter diploma? His answer astonished me- Sir. I am BE Electrical engineering from Mylam EngineeringCollege. Having family and one kid he is in Samsung service for morethan 8 years. I just enquired- Are you paid more than diploma technicians? Hesaid no…. It was aside track to the topic. After some improvement in health condition I decidedto climb up and use the semi- automatic. I was not climbing upstairs for abouta year. I put my color dhotis for wash.I found they had a lot of dirt from the color of water. After rinsing anddrying I put in clotheslines for drying. I felt it was good I did not disposethe semi-automatic. My wife is happier with her Samsung serviced now. Nowshe has understood to keep in low RPM. Once I tried 10 minutes rinsing. Actuallyit was rinsing and drying. So after washing now we use 10 minutes rinse plus. The elder semi-automatic said- See still I amappreciated. Younger said - I am notproperly used and you have created wounds on my body. Now you understood how to make use of me. I recollectedthe old saying- The product is not satisfactory because there is bend in the wood and carpenter is alsonot efficient. Writer- R. GopalaKrishnan dated 7-4-2021. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/136591492.324297.1617806355179%40mail.yahoo.com.
