An India-Specific Washing Machine Was Launched With A ‘Curry Button’

Remember all those hours spent scrubbing furiously at red-stained cuffs, all the while praying for a miracle to erase that telltale remnant of your indulgence? No? Neither do we. But for those of you who do have the motivation to do housework (and have found yourself trapped in the curry driven soak-scrub cycle desperately screaming ‘Out damn spot!’) a solution is on the horizon. Based on feedback from customers, the Japanese company, Panasonic, has decided to introduce a washing machine targeted at an Indian audience with a specific setting to remove curry-stains.

During the two years they took to develop the product, Panasonic experimented with various factors that would affect the removal of a typical curry stain. They found that most curries contain turmeric which contains the chemical curcumin which isn’t water-soluble and is the most likely culprit for those hard-to-shift stains. After some tinkering, they determined the optimal combination of water temperature and pressure to remove those stains in one wash without the pesky business of pre-soaking or scrubbing your clothes.

The India-specific design is said to have five settings aimed to solve everyday stain grievances including one to remove traces of hair oil. There are also rumours of similar machines designed to tackle country-specific stains across South-Asia. Washing machines aren’t a common appliance in Indian homes with only about 10 per cent of the population owning a personal machine. But that’s still a large enough number given our population size to be taken seriously. Perhaps this new design, priced slightly above the market standard at Rs. 22,000 will encourage more families to make one part of their lives? Or maybe they’ll go...”err, is this racist? I’m not even sure anymore.”