'Mumbai meri jaan': Viral post makes visitors share how helpful strangers made them love the city

People walk through a flooded street during heavy rains in Mumbai. (File Photo)

An X user's thread on how kind strangers she came across during her visit to Mumbai made her fall in love with the city has been winning hearts on the internet and prompting other users to share similar heartwarming tales about the Maximum City. Almost all of the stories highlight how Mumbaikars went out of their way to help those who weren't familiar with the city.

It all started when X user @yappy_hour declared that people in Mumbai are "the nicest strangers" she has ever met. "They're basically the opposite of 'don’t talk to strangers' advice." Although she did not reveal the city she was from, the user said that she met a girl on a train to Mumbai who became her "unofficial tour guide" when she came to know that the user had about eight hours to kill before her flight. "She’s showing me where to street shop, booking local train tickets for me like I didn’t just meet her two hours ago..." the user said.

"Then this other girl saw that I was lost in the Mumbai local and didn’t know when Andheri station was coming. So she offered to not only tell me when to get down from the local, but also help me book a metro ticket from Andheri train station to Airport Road and drop me off at the metro platform."

The helpful streak did not end there.

The user was confused after reaching Airport Road because she did not know how to get to the airport two km away from the metro station. That's when another "kind stranger" stepped in.

"This uncle saw U was lost, bargained with the auto driver to take me to the airport for Rs 40 instead of Rs 150, came with me till the airport and even bought me coffee because he wanted someone to celebrate the fact that his son finally called him after eight years," @yappy_hour wrote on X.

At the airport, she got upgraded to a window seat for free and later at a store, an attendant offered to fill up her water bottle instead of insisting that she buy another bottle of water for Rs 150. "Mumbai really knows how to treat people man," she concluded.

Her thread received more than eight lakh views and soon other people joined in with their tales of helpful strangers in Aamchi Mumbai.

The Mumbai skyline.

"I dropped my wallet in a rickshaw when I used to work near MIDC Seepz. It had money and most importantly my driving license. A kind mom and her daughter got it, but instead of giving it to the driver, they called Citibank. Next day, Citi called me for verification," wrote X user Julius Nagendranath Wilfred Singh (@abhjtc).

Sayan Goswami (@Sayan_Gos) shared, "Decades ago, I lost my wallet while getting on a local train from Andheri and thought it was a case of pickpocketing. I was a student then so it was pretty distressing. Got a call from a man the same day who found it, he came to my place the next day and handed it over to me."

"I left my tablet in the backseat of an Uber, another passenger informed the driver, and the driver drove back the next day to return it," added (@cheeztoung).

"One auto guy had returned the brand new Blackberry Z10 (Rs 30,000 price a princely sum in 2011) of a colleague... almost a week after he had lost the phone.... refused any reward," wrote @Nitin93363262.

"The trust levels are extremely high here," added (@pandatechie_). "I bought an Rs 80,000 phone from a seller on OLX. UPI transaction failed and I of course didn't have an additional Rs 80,000. Amazingly, he just let me walk away. He said if money is reversed, do reach out. Else we are good. Insane!"

My favorite Mumbai story. The city is just something else. https://t.co/5eeCWIreKIpic.twitter.com/kk4Pjm6o4P

Gokul (@gokulns) October 5, 2024

"True... In my initial days in Mumbai, when I tried to get on a local train and almost fell due to the crowd, one of the girls inside the train caught my hand and pulled me in. I don't remember her face now but will be thankful to her forever," commented Ekta (@Triishaa05).

Stills from a viral video of a Mumbai local train's ladies compartment.

"I remember being stuck in the 26 July rain almost a decade ago. I saw people helping each other. Holding each other to wade waist height water. Arranging food and water to drink. It took me 6+ hours of walking on the roads that day and all I saw was plain humanity and kindness," shared Swami (@imswami).

On July 26, 2005, Mumbai received a staggering 944 mm (37.17 inches) of rain in just 24 hours, marking a 100-year high in rainfall for the city. It was the eighth heaviest rainfall ever recorded in 24 hours globally.

Sharing a similar incident, Arati (@Arati1411) wrote, "Auto guy at Andheri station agreed to take me to my exam centre, on a day when the streets were flooded and could have damaged his auto. When I got down at the exam centre he mentioned his daughter too has an exam in a college in Nerul and he hoped a stranger was kind to her too!"

A rickshaw driver pushes his vehicle through waterlogged streets after a heavy downpour in Mumbai. (File photo)

Safe late-night commutes "The first time I landed in Mumbai, we went to Juhu at 2 am. The auto wala dropped us back to a friend’s hostel at 3 am on meter rate," commented X user Nikhil V K (@doc_nik_heal).

Kshiti Jain (@Kshitijainnnn) said, "Never has a auto/cab ever rejected me in Mumbai."

Sanjeev Chauhan (@IndiaForGlobe) wrote, "The city never asked to learn Marathi but pick up anyways because people are so wonderful."

"I concur," wrote user @EstherLeihang. "My sister and I roamed around Mumbai for two days. Didn't know the local language. We met really helpful strangers as well."

Meanwhile, the entire thread also left several people feeling emotional.

"This thread made me so emotional I love this city with my whole heart," wrote Sam (@daydreamingher). "That's the reason Mumbaikar don't want to live anywhere else, we could get better infra, bigger house but it's the people that makes Mumbai, and you cannot find that anywhere else. Mumbai is where my heart is, Mumbai is home #MumbaiMeriJaan," added Sylvia Fernandes (@sylviafernand).

"There's something about Mumbaikars that makes them stand out - their warmth, generosity, and willingness to help," commented (@MeenMekh). From strangers offering directions to locals sharing their food and stories, Mumbai's energy is infectious. The city's fast pace and diversity haven't diminished its people's kindness, making it a truly unique and welcoming place."