Seven 11 Pan Shop

Karve Road is never quiet, not even late at night, and Seven 11 Pan Shop is right in the middle of all that noise. It’s a small space, really just a booth when you think about it, but we manage to fit a lot into it. We have the jars of candy lined up and the different types of tobacco and leaves all ready to go. People pull up on their scooters and don't even get off; they just shout their order over the sound of the traffic. We’ve been here for a long time, and we’ve seen the buildings across the street get torn down and rebuilt more than once. The wooden counter is worn smooth in the spots where people lean their elbows while they wait. We get the morning crowd looking for cigarettes and the evening crowd coming for their pan after dinner. It’s a long day, standing on your feet for ten or twelve hours, but you get to talk to so many different people. You hear all the local gossip and the complaints about the roadwork that never seems to end. The light hanging from the ceiling flickers sometimes, but we’ve gotten used to it. It’s just a small part of the city, but it feels like we’re right at the heart of everything happening on this road. We stay open until the last few cars have passed by and the street finally starts to feel a bit empty. Then we lock the shutters and do it again.