Brooms Dating Back to 2000 BCE? Why Do Indian Towns and Cities Still Use Them to Clean their Streets?

Every time I visit India, and my hometown of Bengaluru, the fifteen million plus megalopolis, I am struck by the sight of mostly women, using brooms made of reeds, bending from their torso down, sweeping the city’s streets. That we still use these kinds of brooms at home also goes to show either our unwillingness to change or our apathetic attitude towards those who do such cleaning of our houses — who are mostly housemaids.