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NRI returns from Australia, questions Mumbai's costly socialising culture: 'Saans lene ke bhi paise lagte hai'
The woman recalled being in Mumbai and wanting to explore the city, but found that "somehow every plan either became about a cafe, restaurant, or a mall."
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An Indian woman based in Australia has sparked a discussion online after sharing her experience of returning to India and realising how much money she would spend simply trying to socialise or explore Mumbai. In an Instagram video, user Smidha compared the experience with her life in Australia, where she said people can spend time together at parks, beaches and libraries without necessarily having to spend money.
"I recently went back to India and realised how much money I spent just trying to hang out there," Smidha said in the video. She recalled being in Mumbai and wanting to explore the city, but found that "somehow every plan either became about a cafe, restaurant, or a mall."
What struck her was that she had never questioned this before moving to Australia because it had always seemed normal to her. "But here in Australia, I can meet someone at a park, walk by the beach, sit in a library, or just spend an afternoon somewhere without ordering anything," she said.
Comparing the two experiences, she added, “Back home, milna hai toh pehle decide karo coffee kahan peena hai.”
Smidha said that the experience made her think about how several Indian cities have evolved into places where people often need to spend money to socialise. "Somewhere along the way, a lot of our cities became places where you have to be a customer before you can simply just be a person," she said.
"Saans lene ke bhi paise lagte hai," she wrote in the caption of the post.
How did social media react?
The post prompted a range of reactions, with some users agreeing that a lack of comfortable public spaces pushes people towards commercial establishments, while others argued that Mumbai and other Indian cities offer several free places to spend time.
one user wrote, "This is true. I've another theory though - India is very hot, which requires third spaces to be cool. We can hang out in the beach or park but it gets very uncomfortable very quickly. So we're forced to be indoors if we want to be comfortable - maybe we should bring back hanging out at each others houses."
"Summer heat , non existent nature and public infrastructure in the cities force us to limit ourselves to indoor spaces only!" commented another.
"Its choice you might have made to go to a cafe. I also came across a similar reel about pune. However, mumbai has priceless places to spend entire day and same goes for Pune. But the problem is with us looking for 'Instagramable spots,'" wrote a third user.
"This is so true!!! India has lost its simplicity what abroad still has," said another.
"This is such an interesting take! I absolutely see this for India. But as an Aussie as well, all we do is plan to meet at a cafe or restaurant- chilling at each other's homes, for example, is much less common," wrote one user.
