It is a roadside tea stall that also sells vegetables and leafy greens, tea, paan, bananas and biscuits. It is called the "Shotota Dokan" (honesty shop), and some call it the "Bhorshar Dokan" (shop of trust). This unusual shop has no fixed seller: those who come to drink tea or buy goods are the sellers.

The shop is at Charatala bazar in Harinakunda upazila of Jhenaidah. Its owner is Shamser Mondal, 67, of Bhalki village in the upazila. He has a family of five, and the household's expenses are met from the shop's income.

On a visit, the shop was running with no seller or shopkeeper. A young man named Shamim came in for tea, made it himself and served other customers, then drank his own, put money in the cash box and left. Soon after, another customer, Alam Hossain, came in, bought what he needed, left money in the box and went.

That is how the shop works, with no fixed shopkeeper. Locals say it trades 24 hours a day entirely on mutual trust and faith in the Creator. Customers make their own tea and paan or pick what they want, and afterwards leave the price in the cash box. Every day they weigh out vegetables, tea, paan and other everyday goods themselves and pay into the box.

Local former Union Parishad member Alam Hossain told Jagonews: "There is no shopkeeper in this shop. There is an owner, but he doesn't sit in it. The shop is open 24 hours and the customers run it. They are both buyers and sellers. Whatever they buy, they put the money in the box and leave. The shop has run like this for many years."

Shishir Parvez, a resident of the upazila, told Jagonews: "I heard about this unusual shop and was amazed when I came to Charatala bazar. There is no fixed seller. The customers are the shopkeepers and the buyers. You wouldn't believe a shop could run 24 hours like this, relying entirely on Allah, unless you saw it. I have never heard of anything like it."

The owner, Shamser Mondal, told Jagonews: "I have never held a halkhata in my shop. There is no credit either. Customers shop as they like and leave the money. I just buy the goods and hang them up in the shop."

Asked why, he said: "Humans are the best of creation. You cannot survive in this world if you distrust people. Not everyone in the world is bad; most people are good. What the Creator has written in your fate will be yours. So the shop is run trusting in Allah. I earn well running it this way and have never made a loss. Trust is the biggest capital."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.