Shanti General Store

Shanti General Store is right here in Gurgaon Village 23/18. If you walk down the lane you will see us. It’s a tight squeeze in here because we try to keep everything people might need for their kitchens. Right at the front, we have big jars of biscuits so the kids can see them. The address 23/18 is just a small building but it holds a lot. Shelves piled high with soap and flour and lentils fill the space. Because it gets hot in the afternoons, the door stays open to get a bit of a breeze. People from the village come in all day. Some just want a single pack of matches and others buy their whole month of groceries. Most of the faces that walk through are familiar to us. It isn't a supermarket with carts and bright aisles. You have to ask us for what you want and we reach it down for you. From all the walking, the floor has gotten a bit worn. Decorations aren't something we bother with much. The stock is the decoration. Mornings are busy for us, unloading crates and putting things away before the sun gets too high. It’s a simple life running a store like this. Keeping the lights on and waiting for the neighbors to stop by is what we do. Sometimes the delivery trucks block the whole lane for a minute while we get the eggs inside and move things around.