Most urban cities in India struggle with pedestrian infrastructure. Actor Soha Ali Khan highlighted this very problem in her most recent Instagram post. On September 10, Soha posted a video in which she made a tongue-in-cheek commentary on how Mumbai is not at all a walkable city.
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Can Soha Ali Khan complete 10k steps in Mumbai?
Soha posted the clip with the caption, “I really try to get in my 10k steps every day, but after 2,467 obstacles, I give up 🤦🏻♀️ #willtryagaintomorrow.”
The video begins with Soha getting ready to get her 10k steps by walking near her residential area, as she says, “Today, I am going to get my 10k steps in.” She also compliments the ‘nice, pollution-free air’ of Mumbai, adding that getting out was a great idea. But, does she get to complete her walk? No.
Instead of completing her steps, after almost every few metres, some hurdle blocks her way. First, she finds dog poop on the footpath and decides to walk around it. Next, she finds a drain left open, with a pipe emptying water into it and adds sarcastically, “Someone seems to have left this open.”
{{/usCountry}}Instead of completing her steps, after almost every few metres, some hurdle blocks her way. First, she finds dog poop on the footpath and decides to walk around it. Next, she finds a drain left open, with a pipe emptying water into it and adds sarcastically, “Someone seems to have left this open.”
{{/usCountry}}After a few metres, she finds a man sleeping on the footpath, and adds, “Okay, can negotiate around this too…,” followed by a ‘murder of crows’. Ultimately, she finds a crane, construction material abandoned on the road, and a group of men emptying cartons filled with wires on the footpath meant for pedestrians.
How did the internet react?
Instagram users agreed with Soha and expressed their frustration in the comments. One user commented, “Welcome to India…even a basic, clean, hygienic walk in our country is a privilege, especially in Mumbai.”
Another wrote, “It is literally impossible in India to complete 10k steps unless someone does it on his/her home terrace; there is no proper footpath at all.”
Someone else commented, “An hour of padel sounds like a better idea instead.” A user expressed, “Sad state of our country.”
Are Indian cities not walkable?
A 2011 study of six Indian cities even found that India's streets routinely fail pedestrians because of "poor and unsafe" infrastructure. The report was released by the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia).
It evaluated pedestrian infrastructure across Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Indore, Pune, Rajkot, and Surat and highlighted severe systemic shortcomings in urban planning. The cities received a median walkability score of just 47 out of 100. Pune scored the highest at 54, which still lagged far behind global hubs like Hong Kong (70 out of 100).