I am back in Delhi and the rain clouds have blessed us with mild showers which actually made me see the city in a better colour once the dust got washed out. But alas! the dust is building up again.
I have been googling like i always do, mostly to find the best reads, best in Netflix and 5 minute crafts, only this time in a different route to find more about the air pollution. What i found out was very painful and shocking.
In a recent survey conducted by WHO, it is sad to find out that Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Last November Delhi hit a critical smog level in the city in which the PM2.5 and PM10 hit very high levels of 999 mg/cum when the optimum levels had to be between 60-100 mg/cum. Air pollution kills 1.5 million people every year in India. Do you know what happens to your body when its hard to breath ?
It reduces your lung capacity, leads to fatigue, sore throats, fever and lung cancer. The children suffer much more than the adults. Large number of children have irreversible lung damage due to poor quality of air. It lowers the IQ, increases the risk of autism, epilepsy and much more.
So how is possible for the pollution to reach epic proportions? The reasons are all over the internet which is flooding with studies and news reports. Everyone know the facts. Delhi houses the most competent NGOs and Environmental planning organisations (honestly i hope to work in one of them very soon) and the who’s who of the nations government lives in the capital city. Why are we so quiet then?
I was hopping at least in the lines of few usual measures like more trees and more green which is always the mantra of environmentalists and was shocked again to find out around 13 thousand trees were being cut in South Delhi for Union government’s redevelopment projects which i think is barbaric. Nothing would help contain the sand storms now if the trees do not remain in place.
Above is a shot from my home when the storm was building up two weeks back.
I cant help thinking about what i read few days back about Chanakya. Chanakya was an Indian teacher, philosopher, and royal advisor from the ancient times. He is identified as Kauṭilya or Vishnugupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise, the Arthashastra. According his text the death of a city begins when the water channels of the city begins to be polluted. The life around the city eventually dies with it. I guess i don’t have to say much about the state of river Yamuna flowing through the heart of Delhi.
Big cities of the world are always bound to be polluted . How do we handle it ? What little can you do sitting within the four walls of your office or your home or anywhere else for that matter? What can a common person do about this?
Think about this. I hope to come back with some answers !
What on EARTH am i doing ? 
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