'Saans Lene Ke Bhi Paise Lagte Hai': NRI Woman Sparks Debate On Why Meeting Friends In India Always Comes With A Bill

(MENAFN- Live Mint) For most urban Indians, catching up with friends is practically synonymous with ordering coffee or booking a table at a restaurant -“Milna hai toh pehle decide karo coffee kahan peeni hai.”

Somehow, this fairly common practice irked a NRI woman visiting from Australia, who highlighted that this routine social habit is like an unavoidable“social tax”-cabs, drinks, cover charges, dining out, and incidental spending just to share the same space as your friends-adding up invisibly in the moment, only to hit like a ton of bricks once you look at the total.

This sparked a social media debate about why metro cities make you a“customer before you can simply just be a person”.

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In a viral Instagram Reel, Smidha, a desi expat from Australia, noticed that meeting friends in India always comes with a bill.

“I realised how much money I spent just trying to hang out (in India),” she said.“I was in Mumbai and generally wanted to explore the city, and somehow every plan either became about a cafe, restaurant or a mall.”

She said that before moving to Australia, she never even noticed this cafe culture because, like every Indian, it seemed normal to her.

The contrast becomes stark for Smidha because she had experienced a culture with functional public infrastructure in Australia, where simply sitting in a park or wandering by the beach came without a mandatory transaction.

“In Australia, you can meet a friend for a coastal walk, sit in a park for hours, or spend an afternoon in a public library without spending a dollar. You don't need a receipt to justify your presence,” she said.

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But in India, Smidha said,“Milna hai to pehle decide karo coffee kahan peeni hai.(Decide where to have a coffee if you want to meet).”“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.”

“Saans lene ke bhi paise lagte hai,” she captioned her viral reel.

Later in the comment section, Smidha asked if consumerism is an Indian problem, or“did we just get so used to cafes and malls that we forgot how to hang out for free?”

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The viral post struck a chord with social media users who felt frustrated by socialising, which felt more like an expensive transaction than a meaningful connection.

“India is about malls and shops.. no community spaces left anywhere,” a user said.“Going out to eat or drink is somehow the only concept of socialising nowadays (in India),” added another user.

Another added,“Indian cities are not built for quality of life. They are built to mint money.”

“Summer heat, non-existent nature and public infrastructure in the cities force us to limit ourselves to indoor spaces only!” a user said.

“Public spaces, Infrastructure is such that only money can give you a space to sit with someone outside your home. India needs to work upon this, but wait, politicians do have their farmhouse, and they don't care about this issue at all,” added another user.

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