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‘I’m a Gujju and you guys need to stop’: Indian tourists hijack Austria street with loud music and Garba, face backlash
A video of tourists from India sidelining local street performers and performing Garba in Austria has left social media users furious.
A few Indian tourists are facing backlash online after a video showed them insisting that two street performers in Austria play an Indian song on their speaker so the group can perform Garba. This enthusiastic display of cultural pride by 43 people prompted a wave of criticism and raised questions about travel etiquette.
“Have you ever thought of playing Garba in Europe? Well, I had and now I can tick it off the bucket list,” an Instagram user wrote while sharing a video of the dance.
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In her video, the woman says that they saw two street singers in Austria and requested that they play Indian music so that the group of "43 Gujrati-Marwari" people could perform Garba.
In the video, the woman says that the musicians were reluctant, even claiming that they might get warnings from the police. However, the group kept insisting. “We weren’t ready to leave without doing Garba,” the woman continued. The rest of the video shows the group dancing.
How did social media react?
“I am a Gujju and love garba, but I'm sorry. I just don’t get the obsession with doing it on foreign streets and being proud of something. I mean, we don’t even do that in India on a random day and random street!” one individual posted. Another added, “I'm a Gujju, and you guys really need to stop this nonsense of playing garba anywhere, anytime.”
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A third expressed, “This is the reason foreigners hate Indians! As a flight attendant people often come to me & ask me only one question about Indians & that is, ‘Why you Indians are so demanding’, and now I know why they have mentality like this about us. I mean, come on… Why do you even have to force them to play Indian music?” A fourth remarked, “Is this something to be proud of? They were uncomfortable, but still you made them do this?? No wonder why Indians are not respected abroad!”
“This is just embarrassing and the precise reason why Indian tourists get a bad name. Being obsessed with doing this and being forced to do this on foreign soil is just plain ridiculous. Even in India, nobody does this randomly. Please think of other Indian tourists when you do such stuff,” wrote a fifth.
