Four hundred boys from across the city came together at St. Stanislaus School ground in Bandra (West) on Friday to learn the basics of laundry, and entered the Guinness World Records for the largest participation in a laundry lesson.
The ‘largest laundry lesson’ was part of the #ShareTheLoad campaign spearheaded by detergent brand Ariel to promote gender equality in the household, and encourage sons to do household chores and not be dependent on their mothers or sisters.
Actor Anil Kapoor was on hand to encourage the participants to learn the right way to do laundry on their own and help their mothers, sisters and future wives as well.
“I have been a very big fan of this movement and the way it has caught on with the public,” Mr. Kapoor said, while talking about his own upbringing. “I would like to thank my mother for raising us right, which is why when I married Sunita, supporting her came naturally to me. Together, we have tried to inculcate the same values in our children as well,” he said.
The record-breaking event saw participants diligently pay attention to the instructions given to them. “It is not always girls that should be doing the chores. We should also give them a helping hand,” Siddhesh, a college student from Khar, said.
Sameer Siddiqui, another participant, said the event helped participants learn an important chore that their mothers do at home. “I would love to help out in future,” he said.
The laundry lesson was divided into eight sections, such as knowing the right detergent to use, sorting white and coloured clothes, soaking and scrubbing clothes based on the type of stains, rinsing the soapy water from the clothes, and wringing and drying them the right way.
The event was completed in around 30 minutes, after which an official from the Guinness Book of World Records presented a certificate of the record. The record was earlier held by Lion Nanox Team in Japan, where 318 participants took part in a laundry lesson on November 29, 2017.
