How Indians behave in Belgrade: They like curry, some are generous, others leave us speechless

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A large number of Indian citizens have been arriving to Belgrade in the past two months and their presence is still noticeable especially in the city's central area. All that contributed to Belgraders speaking about and looking at the travelers from India with a dose of reserve. However, the experience of a young man who spends time with them every day will surprise many who are "pointing the finger" at the inhabitants of a country that is struggling with the Delta strain of coronavirus.

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The Indians mostly stay in the capital's hotels and hostels, and Goran Duimovic (27) who works for a renowned Belgrade hotel, revealed for Blic how these unusual visitors are behaving, what they do, what their plans and the final destinations are.

"There's quite a few of them. At one point they were in 50 rooms! Also, it happened that there would be four or five of them in a room meant for two people. They are pleasant towards me, but my colleagues from the reception will certainly not tell you the same," says Duimovic.

Goran claims that most of them behave politely, use English well - but have one shortcoming - they like to complain, often unnecessarily.

"I know they are constantly complaining and whining at the reception, trying to get breakfast for free. They figured out how the hotel works, if we make some mistake then the guest gets a free breakfast that costs 20 euros," he said.

He is also used to large groups of Indian citizens coming to the hotel one after another.

India is currently on the list of countries with unfavorable epidemiological situation, which is why its citizens are prevented from entering some countries directly. But travelers from India can enter third countries such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom or some of the EU members if they first quarantine in Serbia, or another country on the green list.

That is exactly why a large number of them have arrived in Serbia in a very short amount of time. Judging by what Goran has seen, they are very satisfied with Belgrade, mostly because of the prices. However, they do not like the food, so the hotel serves them mostly Indian dishes. They had to put them in separate dining rooms during breakfast because the smell of curry is very intense.

"There have been a lot of them, so we didn't have time to chat. They don't like to leave a big tip, it only happened to me a few times that a girl would leave me a 2,000 dinars tip (17 euros), and I would just carry her suitcase and chat a bit. On the other hand, a family of five came to us, I worked hard to explain about the hotel and the city, plus I took 12 suitcases up and they just said 'goodbye' to me. As far as we have managed to understands, it all depends on the caste they belong to," Goran concluded.

As for the quarantine and the infected, Duimovic met only a few people who have had Covid. They don't stay here long and as soon as two weeks pass, they go to New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain or Germany.

(Telegraf.rs)