No this is not a race (human or automotive) inspired blog but about the more mundane subject of doing laundry. This doing is part of every household who deigns to maintain a rinsed lifestyle.
To me its an interesting study of how cleaning a piece of cloth has come to symbolize globalization and mission impossible all in one.
Let me explain - pick a ready to wear garment of any color or fabric or dimension (and these days they also come in XXXL with Extra Tall - as a species we are growing or what?) and you will find that if you did not know the names of any of the third world countries you can easily master that in minutes. Just by walking down a clothes aisle at a department store and reading out the 'Hecho En' (or Made in) tag on the inside of the collar.. or in some strange cases along the inside right seam.
First I find it weird that the tag is only available in English or Spanish and not in other languages too - for example Afrikaans or Hindi or Peshtu or some such to go with the country of the Hechoing.
'Ye Kameej Bharat Ki Bhet Hai' would be an 'Incredible India' Tag Line (literally)!
So from Ghana to Jordan to Peru to Sri Lanka and India and Vietnam multiple businesses produce scores of shirts, lingeries, socks and other paraphernalia to scantily to partially to fully drape the species. This gives a novice at geography some amazing lessons about globalization. In the old days the only country associated with garments was Turkey and their Turkish towels. These days they sell more value added commodity called Coffee. Which oddly can leave stains on a Turksih towel but I digress.
Next comes the subject of how to tend to these imports. As in how to keep them clean for repeated use. Well of course - do a wash. Easier said than done in some cases.
I know there are households today who diligently sort their whites from their colors; their polyesters from their cottons; their undergarments from their outers and so on.. That is too much work for me.
I tend to buy monotonous clothing so that I do not have to deal with this downstream sort for one. But even if I did I am not about to embark on a sorting and filing exercise like a laid off librarian.
Next comes the machine that one can invest in to do the job. Some tend to marry to achieve that outcome, but I am talking about the modern world where you invest in what is called White Goods i.e. a Washer / Dryer affair with names like Maytag (what about if I did not want any tags?) or Whirlpool (and the clothes do come out?).
These contraptions today come with dials to rival the cockpit of a jet aircraft.
It is amazing that to wash your underwear you have to read a manual that came with it (sometimes on the garment too not just your washer) for as much time that you got a diploma in the olden days. Talk about Mission Impossible - yes that too - you could have finished watching all three episodes of saving the planet but not figured out what you will wear tomorrow.
So it is with life - its a matter of mostly rinse and repeat if only you can figure out the cycles.
To me its an interesting study of how cleaning a piece of cloth has come to symbolize globalization and mission impossible all in one.
Let me explain - pick a ready to wear garment of any color or fabric or dimension (and these days they also come in XXXL with Extra Tall - as a species we are growing or what?) and you will find that if you did not know the names of any of the third world countries you can easily master that in minutes. Just by walking down a clothes aisle at a department store and reading out the 'Hecho En' (or Made in) tag on the inside of the collar.. or in some strange cases along the inside right seam.
First I find it weird that the tag is only available in English or Spanish and not in other languages too - for example Afrikaans or Hindi or Peshtu or some such to go with the country of the Hechoing.
'Ye Kameej Bharat Ki Bhet Hai' would be an 'Incredible India' Tag Line (literally)!
So from Ghana to Jordan to Peru to Sri Lanka and India and Vietnam multiple businesses produce scores of shirts, lingeries, socks and other paraphernalia to scantily to partially to fully drape the species. This gives a novice at geography some amazing lessons about globalization. In the old days the only country associated with garments was Turkey and their Turkish towels. These days they sell more value added commodity called Coffee. Which oddly can leave stains on a Turksih towel but I digress.
Next comes the subject of how to tend to these imports. As in how to keep them clean for repeated use. Well of course - do a wash. Easier said than done in some cases.
I know there are households today who diligently sort their whites from their colors; their polyesters from their cottons; their undergarments from their outers and so on.. That is too much work for me.
I tend to buy monotonous clothing so that I do not have to deal with this downstream sort for one. But even if I did I am not about to embark on a sorting and filing exercise like a laid off librarian.
Next comes the machine that one can invest in to do the job. Some tend to marry to achieve that outcome, but I am talking about the modern world where you invest in what is called White Goods i.e. a Washer / Dryer affair with names like Maytag (what about if I did not want any tags?) or Whirlpool (and the clothes do come out?).
These contraptions today come with dials to rival the cockpit of a jet aircraft.
It is amazing that to wash your underwear you have to read a manual that came with it (sometimes on the garment too not just your washer) for as much time that you got a diploma in the olden days. Talk about Mission Impossible - yes that too - you could have finished watching all three episodes of saving the planet but not figured out what you will wear tomorrow.
So it is with life - its a matter of mostly rinse and repeat if only you can figure out the cycles.
The last line is a winner- washed, rinsed and ready to go!
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