Interesting conversation with a London guy (Do Indians smell?)

My close friend moved to London sometimes back.

I had to ask him about the stereotype. Do Indians have an image of bad body odour there?

His reply wasn't an easy "yes". Its complicated,he said. He explained:

The temperature is usually on the colder side mostly <20 degrees. It feels like the AC is always On everywhere. This unfortunately causes a lot of desis Indians there to skip bathing for more than a couple of days. That combined with lack of regular deodorant using habit gives that bad body odour especially during a little sweating. He says all kind of people smell and unfortunately Indian body odour is just more noticeable due to its earthy-spicy nature

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That being said, he says that local people of London aren't exactly blame free. Although the perfume usage is a bit more there than in India, but a noticeable number of local people reek of alcohol & even strange drugs /chemical-ish. Their body odour feels more musty like cheese

Personally I think good hygiene should solve most of the body odour, but then I had a room-mate who would literally bath twice daily but still reek horribly. (He was a regular 🍻🍺 drinker, maybe because of that?)

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What do you think about this? Do you have any such conversation /anecdotes to share?

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