Hold on to your breath. Don't inhale. Stub that cig off. On way to Nehru Place, New Delhi's cluttered hi-tech hub, my lungs were emitting distress signals. Cigarette? But I did not have one between my fingers. Never ever smoked in life. So, why were my no-tar lungs in a tizzy today? The air outside is so polluted, it is equivalent to smoking 40 cigs a day. In the world's smoggiest city, I could hear my lungs bawl.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that Delhi has the world's dirtiest air (WHO surveyed 1,600 cities in 91 countries); the smog nearly three times worse than Beijing's. With naked eyes, I could see the smog but not the tiny particulates (PM2.5; particulate matter particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres called 'fine' particle) that could wriggle deep inside my lungs and trigger acute lower respiratory infections and cancer.

I could feel my lungs crack in despair. Facts were drilling death into my head. The WHO global burden of disease estimates that air pollution is the fifth largest killer in India (killing 6,27,000 annually, according to WHO). I had no face mask to fend off Delhi's filthy air. I pulled the beanie over my nose. And exhaled.......Read more

Source web page: The Economic Times