Đorđe Čvarkov

Đorđe Čvarkov is one of the three main characters in a popular Serbian TV comedy show, Državni posao (Public Service).

Early life

Born in Titel, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia, Čvarkov grew up in the nearby village of Vilovo where he was raised by his grandmother with whom he has since developed an Oedipal relation. Grandmother's close friend and next door neighbour Frau Šilovička (Mrs. Shilovich) along with family friend Žika and granddad Ignjat also played an active role in Čvarkov's childhood. In his early childhood, the Čvarkov family moved to Pejićevi Salaši, where they still live today.

Many things about Đorđe's childhood are mentioned in the series. In one of the episodes, he mentions that Žika raised him in the spirit of Chinese philosophy. As a child, he used to get into all sorts of mischief. He witnessed Grandma winning money on poker, losing his first pet (which got run over by Žika on his motorbike), saw aliens, and much more.

Đorđe attended the school for talented children in Perlez. Some of his school friends include Pura Moca, Beautiful Jela, Steva (Stevica), Pera (Perica), Fat Sava and Đorđe former best friend, now worst enemy, Bela Mihaly. In the times of the "Index" affair, Đorđe got a degree at the Law School of University of Kragujevac.

Đorđe has a cousin Stevica, with whom he grew up. Stevica Čvarkov now lives in Ruma, with his wife Jadranka.

Career

Čvarkov worked in many different companies, before joining the public service. Those jobs include the work in the Venac sausage factory, Večni Počinak (Eternal Rest) funeral home, and Tiski Cvet (The Tisa Flower) restaurant on the banks of Tisa river where he was employed as waiter and rowing instructor.

Venac sausage factory

Čvarkov's first job was in the Venac sausage factory where he specialized in smoked meat. He often recalls memories from those days.

Public administration

Being a staunch supporter of the Vojvodina autonomy within Serbia (autonomaš), Čvarkov easily found work in SAP Vojvodina's provincial public sector during the time of its high autonomy within SR Serbia in Socialist Yugoslavia. During this time he befriended Marjanović, an ambitious and clever techno-manager with plenty of influence and connections within the Vojvodina provincial political and business milieus; Marjanović is a Serb from Lika though a steadfast supporter of Vojvodina's autonomy nonetheless.

Personal and business relationship Čvarkov developed with Marjanović proved to be enormously advantageous for Čvarkov's future employment prospects. He was able to land a chief financial officer (finansijski direktor) position at an unnamed state-owned enterprise working under chief executive officer (generalni direktor) Marjanović. While in the posts, the two engaged in numerous dubious practices for personal financial benefit including authorizing damaging contracts on company's behalf and foregoing the official hiring process in order to bring friends and close family members into the company. When covering their tracks they were known to employ all sorts of creative techniques including temporarily switching their posts to avoid getting caught.

With the fall of the autonomists in 1988, Marjanović got forced into early retirement, while Čvarkov got demoted to the company's archive department. His boss there was Lazar Malinački a.k.a. Laza Masni (Greasy Laza), until the retirement, when Đorđe became the chief archivist.

On this job, Đorđe faces a lot of challenges. Cases are not being solved and the most famous ones are the case of Kornjača Rade, the case of Mitar Mitra Mitar and the case of Anka Kurotresina. The case of Mitar Mitra (son of Mitar) Mitar needed 37 years to be solved and was delivered to him posthumously.

Other jobs

Čvarkov and Grandma, together with their neighbors, Frau Šilovič and Žika, had a lot of business adventures. They used to make sports equipment, particularly for "Banatske Šore", the forerunner of baseball, according to Đorđe. The Čvarkov family also owned a bookmaker, made umbrellas, etc. Every of their business ventures was followed with a series of comic events, like making umbrella handles from Swedish steel that they caught off from Žika's Volvo, so that every handle weighted about 15 kilograms. They umbrella manufacture run out of the business in the 90's when Chinese shops started emerging.

Still, the most profitable business of the Čvarkov family is the chicken farm. Chickens, as well, are a part of many comic situations from Đorđe's life. These stories include the one about Žika making the hen-house, for which he stole railway tracks, while working for the Serbian Railways. Other funny stories involve chicken trade with Đorđe's Russian and Macedonian partners, as well as doing business with Hristo Bonev, the chicken king of Bulgaria.

Personal

According to Đorđe himself, he used to be a real Don Juan in his youth. He was the greatest charmer in the city, hence the nicknames Žorž (Georges) and Žorž Papadubi.

Đorđe's biggest love was Mrs. Bugarski, a lady whom he met in the office. Everything was ready for the wedding of the two, when Grandma debunked Mrs. Bugarski in front of everyone, saying some incriminating things about her, like Bugarski's refusal of picking up Grandma's set of false teeth every time when she drops it, not feeding her while she watches TV, and the cold feet of Mrs. Bugarski, which bothered Grandma during winter, when she comes to Đorđe's bed.

Đorđe is a typical Lala (a man from Vojvodina), friendly to everyone who's friendly to him. At least that's the image he has of himself, but the truth is that he doesn't like people who are not from Vojvodina, especially those who relocated to this area recently. He has a beef with people from inner Serbia, Lika, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, China, etc. He's also not quite fond of people from other regions of Vojvodina, like those from Syrmia and Banat. Đorđe's main feat is a tendency to overstate and fabricate, although in many cases, his unrealistic claims prove to be the truth.

The Gajdobra case is often mentioned through the series, although no one is certain what it it. Only a handful of people, Including Dragan Torbica, know what happened there, but one thing is certain - Đorđe was involved in something illegal.

Đorđe often cites poets and popular singers like Branko Radičević, Mišo Kovač, Ceca, and Riblja Čorba.

Čvarkov has a strong relationship with Grandma, Žika, and Frau Šilovička, his chickens and some people, mostly from Vojvodina. He has a massive respect toward Habsburg Monarchy and Austro-Hungarian culture.

The favorite singers of Đorđe Čvarkov are Đorđe Balašević and Demis Roussos, who saved him in a bar fight. "Una Paloma Blanca" is the favorite song of Đorđe and Grandma and the singer's death upset both of them.

Đorđe is a profound athlete, according to him. There are lot's of sports in which he excelled. His favorite breakfast meal is cherry pie with fruit yogurt. That is often the stake in many games he plays, like chess, poker, etc.

Only four years have left before his retirement, which Đorđe just can't wait for as he's tired of the "Dinaroid" and the fledgling, which is how he calls his colleagues Dragan Torbica and Boškić, respectively.