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Comment by anon291 | Hacker News Reader

This is honestly incredibly wrong. My family is from Mumbai. Like literally the indigenous people of Mumbai and I grew up in CA and lived many years in the bay. The idea that anywhere in India is remotely comparable to the bay area (except for gated communities) is honestly the sort of deranged take that many online Indian nationals make. But for people who have actually been to both cities the difference is obvious.

There is nothing like Dharavi in the bay area. There is some visible poverty in the bay, but it's not at that scale at all . Not to mention the functioning animal control, flood control, etc.

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I live in Mumbai City. I've walked inside Dharavi and Matunga Labour Camp many times.

I've visited the Bay Area. The only time I've been scared for my life is when I wandered the streets of San Francisco.

I agree with you that Mumbai has many problems, and you may call me deranged all you want, but trying to diminish the very obvious problems the Bay Area has (some much worse than Mumbai) is not going to do you any favors.

Yeah sure Mumbai is safer than America when it comes to crime. All India is, contrary to popular belief (India has a very low homicide rate compared to the USA). But when it comes to accidental deaths or preventable deaths due to infra, it's not close and you are more likely to die a preventable death in India.

Rent in Dharavi is $4/month[1]. Not $4000 - $5000 for pretty much the same square footage and nearly identical neighbourhoods. If you are a resident of Atherton or Los Altos Hills, you probably never noticed how the rest of Bay Area is. Dharavi also has functional public transport. Bay area has 'bullet' trains that take 1 - 2 hours to go 30 miles. Almost all of bay area is in the mobile home parks/zones, which is for all intents and purposes considered slums anywhere in the US and are pretty far off from the main city and suburbs (and horrible school district). Usually, rent at these places is a couple of hundred dollars, but in bay area, these are a few thousand dollars.

Source: I lived in the bay area (all 3 bays). I also lived in ~20 other cities all over US.

[1]From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/world/06/dharavi_slum/...

Today's Dharavi bears no resemblance to the fishing village it once was. A city within a city, it is one unending stretch of narrow dirty lanes, open sewers and cramped huts.

In a city where house rents are among the highest in the world, Dharavi provides a cheap and affordable option to those who move to Mumbai to earn their living.

Rents here can be as low as 185 rupees ($4/£2.20) per month. As Dharavi is located between Mumbai's two main suburban rail lines, most people find it convenient for work.

Even in the smallest of rooms, there is usually a cooking gas stove and continuous electricity.

My grandparents bungalow is literally a block away from Dharavi. Guys... You are completely off base on this one. Everything you say is right about cheapness and such, but let's be honest about where you'd rather live. The increase in bay area prices is from the fact that it's a nicer place to live due to the infrastructure

> The increase in bay area prices is from the fact that it's a nicer place to live due to the infrastructure

Is it because the high speed trains for public transit? Or is it the mobile home parks + landfills + sewage processing plants? https://www.reddit.com/r/SanJose/comments/orsaky/why_does_mi...

This claim is understandable for NYC, NYC has a subway. The money you don't spend on car payment + insurance + gas, plus the convenience helps justify the higher rent/mortgage.

The jobs, the buzz, the popularity... That's all part of it. Mumbai has some of that appeal within India obviously. In SF you are competing with the world. I'm not sure why there is such an unwillingness to admit Mumbai and SF are on different levels of desirability. Mumbai also has a lot less infrastructure. Many people don't have 24/7 water. The crosswalks in SF and San Jose exist and work. The sidewalks are usable and not falling apart. Why is this even up for debate.

> Why is this even up for debate

There was a time when this wasn't. The thing is that it _is_ now, especially for people in the upper-middle class and above, who can and do live a WAY better life in Mumbai, however much you try to deny it. There are people who've told me they wouldn't bother living in the Bay Area had it not been for the money, weather and inertia. I am now also seeing a lot of NRIs who are grasping at straws to justify their living in California, something which they didn't even need to bother with 20 years ago.

> The crosswalks in SF and San Jose exist

I find it funny that you have to reach all the way to crosswalks to make a point. The places where you cross the road? What makes you think they don't exist in Mumbai? What about so many places in the US where you cannot even walk on the road if you don't have a car?

You can try and convince people who haven't been to Mumbai at all, or don't live there regularly. People who are well-off, have lived in both places, and especially those who might _now_ consider starting a life in the States: you'll pretty much need to provide a utopia or an extremely high-paying job to convince them to move there. Mumbai is hell, there is no denying that, and even locals will not fight you on it; I personally would not try to convince a non-local to consider Mumbai as a place to live. The problem is that the Bay Area is not the heaven, perceived or real, it used to be any more.

I mean perhaps fair enough. Mumbai is looking really nice these days. Legitimately to the point where i think it would be fun to visit (as opposed to our visits growing up which I dreaded).

> What makes you think they don't exist in Mumbai?

Attempting to walk in Mumbai lol.

> The problem is that the Bay Area is not the heaven, perceived or real, it used to be any more.

Fair enough. It has a lot of problems but the class of problems is different. You are probably correct that those working in tech probably live better in Mumbai than the bay area. I mean having any money at all means having domestic staff and such.

> having domestic staff and such

You need to realize that it's far more than this.

Current status of transport is... quite good. Metros have been built, more are incoming. Sea Link and Atal Setu mean that it's a lot easier to get to the office areas. Taxis, Rickshaws, Buses, Uber/Rapido solve last-mile issues. Populace has genuinely started to fight for cleaner air and better quality of life (Gen Z is publicly calling out companies with a bad work culture). Almost every new home >= 2 bedrooms will have a washer, dryer and a Roomba (some will also have a dishwasher) - significantly reducing the need for most of domestic help (who are increasingly demanding higher wages to offset cost of living). RERA making things at least a bit more transparent when it comes to real-estate activities, RBI in general doing good regulation for at least consumer-oriented finance. The biggest laggard in moving things online (the government) is moving many operations bit-by-bit to online/mobile. There's an explosion of entertainment, food and shopping options. I see a lot more luxury cars on the road than before. Online shopping and payment options are way better than anything in the US. There are enough career options to lead a good life if you're talented - no need to leave the country for that [1]. And I'm talking only about what's already happened, not some imagined future.

> working in tech probably live better in Mumbai

For tech maybe not - you need to go to Bangalore/Hyderabad/NCR for that. Mumbai is better for business and finance-related stuff.

> Attempting to walk in Mumbai lol.

Well, at least one can walk, and can find options to see/shop/do within walking distance. The times I visited the US, outside of NYC, Boston, Chicago and a few college towns, everything else required a car to reach anything important. There were many roads with no sidewalks.

> to the point where i think it would be fun to visit (as opposed to our visits growing up which I dreaded).

I hear you. Not being from this environment for a few years can be a bit overwhelming for people's senses. But locals are used to it.

[1]: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-15/india-s-i...

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