Update: This is a really old post from 2007 and the observations below are now out of date in 2026.
Shops in Pelling are small and colorful. They mostly sell local goods, I saw no branded outlets there (but there are a few in Gangtok). The highest numbers of shops are obviously travel related. Next comes the corner liquor shops of Pelling.
The corner liquor shops are quite disreputable in Gurgaon. If my male friends have to pick up beer from such a shop, they make sure I am not left alone in the car, particularly at night. They would of course not let me go and pick up a beer from such a shop (it is a different matter in pubs and malls, there the atmosphere is different and if one chooses to have a drink particularly in a group, no eyebrows are going to be raised).
Coming back to Pelling, my eyes almost fell out of the sockets when I saw a lady peacefully running a corner liquor shop. No wonder, I feel so much more safer in hills than in big cities. A lady running the corner liquor shop without getting any trouble is something quite unimaginable in Gurgaon.
well, I have also heard of some tribes/communities in north-east where women completely dominate men. May be this lady belongs to one of them …Any inspirations? he he..
My plans on this front are a secret, top secret, I must sat 🙂
Very true about Gurgaon around the corner liqour shopes ..one of my friend also had a really really bad experience there … He just happened to question the owner why he is charging more than the regular price. The owner hit him in the face and ended up in a fight …… What can I say ….
Aah and I thought only women were unsafe around these shops. It is really sad, what your friend had to go through.