The Early Morning Wake-Up Call (standard:non fiction, 854 words)
Author: Juggernaut	Added: Jul 22 2013	Views/Reads: 2828/1892	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The noise from beating wet dirty clothes on a hard surface while washing was early morning wake-up call to Juggernaut growing up.

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bare footed on the mud carrying the loads on their head as if living in 

a rainforest. 

In the afternoon, the workers iron the clothes with a heavy 

steel or brass iron each weighing at least 10 pounds.  Burning hot coal 

was placed into the iron by opening its top compartment.  The hot 

temperature and heavy weight of the iron in combination was necessary 

to straighten out the wrinkles on rough cotton fabric. In front of each 

wooden shack was an open iron pot with burning coal to supply hot coal 

for the iron. It was common to see some pedestrians on the street stop 

by to light their cigarettes on the burning coal in the open pots. 

At one corner of the property was a small temple with village 

deity Yellamma, the namesake for many women in the area.  The 

washerwoman Yellamma was named after the deity. Once a year, believers 

gather to celebrate the deity of Yellamma. Folk singers and dancers 

perform in front of the temple to please the crowds, merry go-round and 

other rides provide entertainment to the children and vendors sold 

everything from colorful clay figurines to paper dolls.  The open air 

laundry turns into fair grounds with crowds walking up and down.  In 

the evening, the washermen and some women drink Toddy brew Kallu to get 

drunk and quarrel.  Yellamma, the matriarch love to drink; she was a 

habitual drinker though never gets drunk; one can smell alcohol in her 

breath all the time.  A conversation with her was like a shouting 

match; not that she was an angry person but she was loud.  She got used 

to shouting at her men and women from a distance all day long and with 

her customers she spoke with same loud voice.  With muscular shoulders 

developed from carrying big loads and unruly grey hair falling all over 

her face flushed red from chronic drinking, she looked more like a 

ferocious lioness. Customers seldom argued with her over the laundry 

charges or a missing piece of their laundry. With no customer dare to 

question her, on occasions she randomly pick and choose to wear 

beautiful saris belongs to her customers. 

After decades of running laundry business from her property in 

the urban area, Yellamma cashed in on selling her land to the land 

developers eager to build a shopping center. She moved her operation to 

the town's out skirts near a water stream. The people in the area 

missed the early wakeup call, the synchronized sound of washing and 

evening loud brawls between the drunken washermen. 


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