‘I slept on the same bed as Sania Mirza’

After being confined to a government quarantine guest house for not carrying his yellow fever certificate, Dino Morea’s now enjoying his freedom on foreign shores.

Dino Morea has been through hell and back, literally, all thanks to his recent visit to Suriname in South America. “Gosh! That was traumatic.

I landed at Mumbai airport and the immigration guys asked me if I had my yellow fever certificate for Suriname and I told them that no one told me that I needed one before I left the country.

When I told them that I should have been informed before leaving the place, they passed the buck on to the medical authorities. By World Health Organisation (WHO) law, if you don’t have the certificate with you, you have to be in quarantine for three to six days as it is a very dangerous kind of fever.

In spite of giving them a letter from a minister in Suriname and telling them that I had taken an injection for the same there, they did not relent. Apparently, the injection takes effect only after 10 days,” says Dino.

The actor is obviously very bitter about the experience. “No one guides you and you have to be careful when travelling to these countries.

At one point, I felt targeted when the press came to know about my situation at the airport. I was in a so-called government quarantine guest house, sleeping in a bed that Sania Mirza slept on about a year back!

That’s what the people there told me. Whether you are an actor or a top sportsperson, when the immigration authorities want to get you, they do,” he says. But now, the actor has put the gruelling episode behind him.

“I am totally enjoying my freedom in New Zealand. It’s wonderful to be free, even if it’s in another country. The memories of my ghastly quarantine period are much dimmer now,” he says.