The people who work in the Dhobi Ghat pick up laundry tied up neatly in sheets, stack them up on their bicycles, take them all back to this location, wash, dry, iron, and return the clothes in the same sheet bundle in which they were taken.

When I was growing up and visiting India, many of these dhobis (laundry workers) were unable to read-- meaning that when you handed them a bundle of various clothing, they returned every item to you the next day without being able to write, keep track, or catalogue who gave them which item.