‘Paying crores for holes in wall’: Mumbai woman’s video on skyscrapers sparks debate

A Mumbai woman’s video showing rows of towering residential buildings and commenting on the city’s growing population has sparked a debate online about migration, real estate and urban planning.The clip has garnered nearly 2 million views and more than 32,000 likes. (Instagram/@jayantikaa)In the Instagram reel, user Jayantika filmed construction activity around her and pointed to multiple high-rise blocks. She noted that there were “easily around a thousand people living in that block alone,” with another thousand likely to occupy a new tower under construction. She said that the view made her realise “how overcrowded Mumbai really is”.Criticising the steep cost of housing, she remarked that people were “paying crores and crores of rupees for just a hole in the wall” – a statement that quickly caught the internet’s attention.The clip has garnered nearly 2 million views and more than 32,000 likes.As the video gained traction, a section of users began attacking her, accusing her of being a migrant with no right to comment on the city’s culture or real-estate landscape. Several even urged her to “go back” to her hometown.Responding to the hostility, Jayantika clarified her roots. “Guys, stop telling me to ‘go back’. I’m a Maharashtrian from Mumbai, for god’s sake. This is my ‘back’,” she wrote.(Also Read: ‘Full-time content creator’ reveals jaw-dropping rent for 2BHK in Mumbai)Social media reactionsNot everyone agreed with her assessment of Mumbai’s housing crisis. One user argued, “No, you aren’t paying crores for a hole in the wall. You are paying crores to live in a city that gives unparalleled opportunities. If you haven’t secured that opportunity, life will be hell for you. This city is for the people who want to make it big and have the drive to achieve the heights in their life.”Others, however, defended her observations and said they reflected deeper economic contradictions. “This is not a population problem, this is a dribution problem,” one comment read, blaming affluent buyers for hoarding property and turning housing into long-term rental assets.Another user echoed the affordability concern, writing, “It is literally crores of rupees for a pocket of air. No land value.”Some commenters broadened the discussion to infrastructure and urban expansion. “Need other cities to develop. Mumbai is fully saturated,” one person wrote, while another said migration was “getting out of hands” in a city with limited housing space and strained transport systems.