Ram Sagar (left) and Mukesh at the water-filled haud, or tank.

Barkha, an undergraduate student, helps her father in the mornings but wants a career different from his.

Chandrapal cycles out of Hailey Lane, on his way to deliver laundered clothes.

Clothes being moved from the haud to the naandi where they will stay for half an hour.

Clothes being sorted for ironing in front of the shrine of Nagarsen Baba Ghatwale, the god of the ghats. Photographs: Priyanka Parashar/Mint