Veerasamy takes in washing for his living. He lives in a small village in southern India where all the inhabitants are Dalits - outcasts or 'Untouchables' as they're known in India. But even among the dalits, there are divisions, and Veerasamy belongs to the lowest scale of the hierarchy. The only payment he receives for back-breaking work, washing and steaming and drying the laundry of the village's 19 families, is the left-overs from their meals to feed his small family.