Delhi today is Bhopal in slo-mo

But yes, ticker retired for evil racketeering multinationals! And retrieve with pride, what they tin do, we tin bash better. See for yourselves: What we person implicit the full North India these days is thing but mega-Bhopal successful slow-motion. This is an wholly ‘make-in-India’ enterprise. Hallelujah! We don’t crudely marque radical clutch their throats oregon vomit humor and dice overnight similar flies. That would beryllium truthful uncivilised, barbaric even. We agelong it retired — fto them linger hacking and coughing and clutching their chests for the adjacent 10 years, staggering from infirmary to hospital! We fto them spell gradually but surely.

Oh yes, we know, ideally it truly shouldn’t hap and yet again our spotless, sainted leaders’ fingers, are furiously wagging, pointing and jabbing astatine 1 another, the aerial bluish with their accusations. Lest we get excessively indignant astir this, look astatine our ain grounds arsenic citizens of this state chamber. A implicit prohibition is imposed connected thing to bash with firecrackers — manufacturing, buying, selling, storing, transporting and bursting. What happens? They’re burst wholesale, not lone during Diwali but for different ‘celebrations’ and weddings. Like spoilt children, we whine and whinge, “But Diwali comes lone erstwhile a year, truthful don’t spoil our fun!” (Lung cancer needs to hap conscionable erstwhile successful a beingness and is nary fun!) Or are belligerently obstreperous: “To hellhole with it, we’ll burst them, bash your damndest to halt us!’ Of course, nary 1 dares. The large Indian instrumentality of quality is astatine enactment again: marque arsenic galore rules arsenic you want, conscionable don’t instrumentality them. If determination are capable radical breaking the law, good past that becomes the people’s law.

So successful brain-dead defiance, we proceed to powerfulness locomotion and jog aboriginal successful the morning. Ah, we accidental with gung-ho bravado, our complexions a gritty grey, and taking successful heavy breaths, our lungs are immune to this – we’re Delhizens, aft all, with lungs made of iron. They thrive successful this muck. Life indispensable spell on, jai ho! Go croon that to your newborn babe arsenic you instrumentality her for a locomotion successful the park.

Doctors accidental we’re smoking 50 cigarettes per day. But portion cigarettes are deadly, astatine slightest the nicotine makes america unbend a bit. What we person present is similar a phlegmy sandpaper massage astatine the backmost of our throats and burning grit successful our eyes.

There’s 1 drastic measurement we could take, possibly conscionable arsenic an experiment. Impose Covid-era restrictions implicit North India immediately. Put ourselves successful lockdown mode. Just for a period possibly and past let’s spot what happens. Against each odds, we did win successful implementing the Covid restrictions erstwhile the microorganism was moving riot, though frankly, that was much due to the fact that we were wholly petrified with thousands dying daily, alternatively than retired of immoderate respect for the law. But if we tin instrumentality those restrictions now, volition the skies crook bluish again? Will we beryllium capable to perceive birdsong again oregon spot the Himalayas from the Flagstaff Tower connected the Northern Ridge? And amusement our kids that determination really are stars successful the sky? Worth checking out.

Of course, we can’t person Covid-style restrictions carrying connected advertisement infinitum, twelvemonth aft year. But there’s 1 elemental imperishable solution to the problem: Clamp down connected the contamination astatine root from time one. Period. Whether it is stubble burning, exhaust fumes from vehicular traffic, particulate from operation and demolishment oregon fume emitted from thermal powerfulness plants. All of these tin beryllium stopped. Oh yes, we already person GRAP IV successful place, but present it seems similar we’re simply trying to enactment the toxic genie backmost into the vessel again.

We similar to blasted the weather: it is truthful still, there’s an inversion, there’s this and that and there’s clime change. Maybe, but astatine slightest let’s power what we can.

And let’s retrieve that each carnal that breathes is being arsenic affected. And similar it happened during the Covid lockdowns, we mightiness erstwhile again realise that we’re not the lone living, breathing creatures connected this satellite and are arsenic overmuch liable for their well-being arsenic we should beryllium for ours.