An Indian man's video of a puddle-filled street corner in New York's Times Square is drawing attention for showing the city's flaws. Gaurav Mishra, a digital creator who shared the clip on Instagram, opens it with a stroll through the busy streets of Manhattan before turning the camera toward a large puddle on a corner of 42nd Street.
He said, “The roads here aren't very good either, there's water collected at the corners, and look, the condition of the roads isn't very good.”
As the video ends, a text overlay reads, “Even the best city has some flaws.” Mishra shared the post with the caption, “New York is all glamorous and spotless?”
The video soon went viral.
A user wrote, “Isse accha India ki road hai. Sahi na bhai.” (India's roads are better than this. Right, bro?)
Another wrote, “New York City is the largest city in the US, in-fact New York City has over $1 trillion in GDP. Despite all the chaos I love this place.”
“New york me toh pollution bhi bhot hai, or dusri city and rural area bhi dikhao bhai,” a comment read. (There's a lot of pollution in New York too, show other cities and rural areas as well, bro.)
A user wrote, “Abhi main wahan khabi nahi jaunga, wapas ajau.” (I will never go there now, better I return.)
“First fix your city,” someone said.
New York City's road network is mostly in decent shape, but persistent issues like potholes continue to challenge its infrastructure.
According to the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), in Fiscal Year 2024, 77.5 per cent of city streets were rated “Good” on the Pavement Condition Index (PCI), while less than 0.5 per cent fell into the “Poor” category.
Despite this relatively strong overall rating, potholes remain a major problem. In FY 2024 alone, the DOT repaired 154,898 potholes across local streets and arterial roads, though this was a 12 per cent decline from the previous year.
