An Ahmedabad resident who moved to Mumbai for a three-month internship has triggered an online debate after sharing why the city left them disappointed despite its massive popularity.
The intern compared
Mumbai with Ahmedabad and Delhi, saying the city felt crowded, exhausting and difficult to adjust to, especially because of high rents and packed roads.
Mumbai Felt Overwhelming From Day One
In a Reddit post titled “Delhi > Mumbai”, the intern said their experience in Mumbai did not match the image people often create online about the city. They explained that they had earlier lived in Ahmedabad and also studied at Delhi University, so they were already used to living in different cities.
The user wrote that they arrived in Mumbai around one and a half weeks ago for a three-month internship but struggled to connect with the city from the start.
According to the post, the first impression itself felt uncomfortable during the cab ride from the airport. The intern said the city looked crowded everywhere, with small apartments packed closely together, old buildings, narrow roads and buses that made the surroundings feel tiring.
“Everywhere looked cramped. Tiny apartments stacked on each other, barely any balconies, old buildings, dirty roads, old crusty buses, the whole city just felt visually exhausting,” the user wrote.
The intern added that they finally felt some relief after entering Navi Mumbai because the roads appeared wider and the surroundings felt more open.
Housing Costs Shocked The Intern
The user also spoke about Mumbai’s expensive housing situation. They said the rent being asked for very small rooms felt unreasonable and difficult to understand.
According to the post, many apartments looked old while open spaces were hard to find. The intern described some rooms as “pigeon-hole rooms” and said the entire experience of searching for housing felt “genuinely insane.”
“Here in Mumbai, people are asking 30k for tiny pigeon-hole rooms that literally look like storage units,” the user wrote.
While criticising the city overall, the intern admitted that Marine Drive was one place they genuinely liked. Still, they said they did not understand why Mumbai receives so much praise online.
Social Media Users Join The Debate
The post soon attracted reactions from people who either agreed with the intern or defended Mumbai. Many users compared Delhi and Mumbai while discussing quality of life, traffic, housing and public spaces.
A user wrote, “So true, Delhi is really a great budget-friendly metro city as compared to Mumbai.”
Another commented that Mumbai may have been far better years ago but had now lost its advantage over cities like Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
A person who had earlier lived in Mumbai also shared their experience, saying the city had become harder to manage because of constant construction, traffic and overcrowding.
“Mumbai is hyped up by generational wealth spoiled kids who have never stepped out of Bandra and never travelled on public transport,” a user claimed. Another person wrote, “Mumbai is famous for its vada pao and Marine Drive only.”
