Delhi v Mumbai is not a debate anymore
Genesia Alves | Dec 12, 2025, 04:00 IST
Mumbai is running out of parks and community spaces while the capital struggles with poisonous air and toxic rivers
One of the greatest losses of modern times is the end of the friendly fire we know as the Delhi vs Mumbai debate. Their food vs our food, their clothes vs our clothes, their wide avenues vs our piles of rubble, their centres of power vs our stands of vada pao-er. In the old days, aka five years ago, you could still rustle up a ruckus by simply stating a love for a particular paani-puriwallah’s wares. All of Delhi would hustle up to your Twitter handle insisting us common folk of Mumbai “couldn’t possibly know anything about food! And anyway, it’s called ‘golgappa’.” It was always a gentle reminder that Delhi likes to argue and they love their words phono and photo-semantic. (Please see ‘gedi maarna’, ‘chep’ and my personal favourite, ‘falana dhimkana’)
Those Mumbai vs Delhi debates burned bridges and calories. But is it all over now? Maybe. For one thing, some of our new best friends are from Delhi. Occasionally we will spar about the quality of butter chicken or art, but the humidity leaves us all equally frizzy haired and too tired to really care. And the truth remains that they’ve tempered their criticism of our city because they’re very cognisant of the irony of telling you about Mumbai’s inferiority while err, living in Mumbai.
A couple of months ago, a man named Deshav Kumar wrote a LinkedIn post that went viral. He had moved here for work but after 100 days in Mumbai, he returned to Delhi. The post wasn’t comparative – Mr Kumar was just stating that the hype about ‘stepping out of your comfort zone being good for you’, wasn’t universally applicable. In his opinion, it was easier to “focus, build and scale” his career when he wasn’t battling to assimilate in a new environment.
The story sent many of us off on a nostalgic Google search for those old Delhi vs Mumbai Reddit and Quora threads. And there’s been a change in tone. Several posts saluted our autowallahs for adhering to the meter without a fuss. There was consensus that Mumbaikars were helpful but also non-intrusive, generally law abiding and had no time to discuss who one’s daddy was. You could hold hands with your significant other, go for a run or have a cry in a taxi without attracting unwanted attention. The tiny, too-expensive flats were suddenly great launchpads into the party scene in Mumbai, the heaving crowds made the city feel safe at all hours, and while us ladies were no ‘South Delhi girls’ (patent pending) we did alright despite our lack of (visible) makeup and flipflops. Yay for us, I guess.
The Delhi lexicon takes some getting used to. A lot of posts used the term ‘humble’ to describe Mumbaikars. But there’s an anecdote to help explain Mumbai’s general disinterest in posturing and displays of power. The proprietor of a neighbourhood clothes store is a born and bred Delhi man. He once said the difference between the cities was that in Delhi his customers looked at the label first, and in Mumbai they looked at the actual clothing first. I quote verbatim here. I’m not trying to stir the pot.
Mumbai is running out of parks (but not roads), egalitarian community spaces (but not high-rises), improved quality of life (but not development) and we’re still looking good. While the capital struggles with toxic air and toxic rivers, the recent reports about heavy metals in their tap water makes our occasional E Coli warnings seem positively charming.
If your Delhi friends are still adamant that their city is better, it may help to remind them of Delhi’s most beloved son, Mr Shah Rukh Khan. In an old video that resurfaced last year, he talked about his childhood in Delhi, playing hockey and ‘going to jail after getting into fights’, while folks in Mumbai ‘inko gaali bhi deni nahi aati’. It’s not the flex he may have thought it was then. And now? Well, he’s the proud daddy of three Mumbaikars.
Even if they fix the uranium in the water and the 1000 AQI, Delhi will win only when SRK returns to them. And it’s unlikely. Even Deshav Kumar admitted he wasn’t leaving forever. His post closed with “Comfort zone isn’t always the enemy. Sometimes, it’s the soil you need to grow stronger roots before you branch out again.” I think he’ll be back.
Genesia Alves is a journalist and Mumbai is her ancestral village
Those Mumbai vs Delhi debates burned bridges and calories. But is it all over now? Maybe. For one thing, some of our new best friends are from Delhi. Occasionally we will spar about the quality of butter chicken or art, but the humidity leaves us all equally frizzy haired and too tired to really care. And the truth remains that they’ve tempered their criticism of our city because they’re very cognisant of the irony of telling you about Mumbai’s inferiority while err, living in Mumbai.
A couple of months ago, a man named Deshav Kumar wrote a LinkedIn post that went viral. He had moved here for work but after 100 days in Mumbai, he returned to Delhi. The post wasn’t comparative – Mr Kumar was just stating that the hype about ‘stepping out of your comfort zone being good for you’, wasn’t universally applicable. In his opinion, it was easier to “focus, build and scale” his career when he wasn’t battling to assimilate in a new environment.
The story sent many of us off on a nostalgic Google search for those old Delhi vs Mumbai Reddit and Quora threads. And there’s been a change in tone. Several posts saluted our autowallahs for adhering to the meter without a fuss. There was consensus that Mumbaikars were helpful but also non-intrusive, generally law abiding and had no time to discuss who one’s daddy was. You could hold hands with your significant other, go for a run or have a cry in a taxi without attracting unwanted attention. The tiny, too-expensive flats were suddenly great launchpads into the party scene in Mumbai, the heaving crowds made the city feel safe at all hours, and while us ladies were no ‘South Delhi girls’ (patent pending) we did alright despite our lack of (visible) makeup and flipflops. Yay for us, I guess.
The Delhi lexicon takes some getting used to. A lot of posts used the term ‘humble’ to describe Mumbaikars. But there’s an anecdote to help explain Mumbai’s general disinterest in posturing and displays of power. The proprietor of a neighbourhood clothes store is a born and bred Delhi man. He once said the difference between the cities was that in Delhi his customers looked at the label first, and in Mumbai they looked at the actual clothing first. I quote verbatim here. I’m not trying to stir the pot.
Mumbai is running out of parks (but not roads), egalitarian community spaces (but not high-rises), improved quality of life (but not development) and we’re still looking good. While the capital struggles with toxic air and toxic rivers, the recent reports about heavy metals in their tap water makes our occasional E Coli warnings seem positively charming.
If your Delhi friends are still adamant that their city is better, it may help to remind them of Delhi’s most beloved son, Mr Shah Rukh Khan. In an old video that resurfaced last year, he talked about his childhood in Delhi, playing hockey and ‘going to jail after getting into fights’, while folks in Mumbai ‘inko gaali bhi deni nahi aati’. It’s not the flex he may have thought it was then. And now? Well, he’s the proud daddy of three Mumbaikars.
Even if they fix the uranium in the water and the 1000 AQI, Delhi will win only when SRK returns to them. And it’s unlikely. Even Deshav Kumar admitted he wasn’t leaving forever. His post closed with “Comfort zone isn’t always the enemy. Sometimes, it’s the soil you need to grow stronger roots before you branch out again.” I think he’ll be back.
Genesia Alves is a journalist and Mumbai is her ancestral village