Shops but no shopkeepers in Mizoram?

In Mizoram: Nghah Lou Dawr, shops Sans shopkeepers

Just a few hours away from the capital city of Aizawl, along the highway of Seling in Mizoram, a local community practices a culture which is solely based on honesty, trust and faith in humanity, where there are shops but no shopkeepers.

The culture is known as ‘Nghah Lou Dawr‘ which etymologically means shop without shopkeeper.

Well, it is not as bizarre as it sounds.

All the shops in the small town of Seling work on the principle of trust. People can take whatever commodities they need and keep the money in the deposit box. If they require change, they can collect it from the change counter or the ‘Paisa bayom‘.

This system has been continuing in Seling for years altogether. People buy whatever vegetable, fruits and food items that they need and put the money they owe to the shop owner.

Shop owners residing in this part of the state are primarily farmers, who come to their respective shops to put their day’s produce in the shops for consumers to buy. Thereafter, they go ahead with jhumming on their farmlands and gardens.

These shops have today become a way of life for the farmers who could not spare any family member to sit in the shops. So, poor they are. 

However, although earnings through these shops are not upto the level of their expectations, customers never fail the farmers as far as trust is concerned.