If you live in Delhi, you're probably fed up of the pall of smog that hangs persistently over the NCR region; obscuring the sun and making us all feel gloomy. Add to this the fact of our constantly scratchy throats and burning eyes; Delhi’s disastrous air quality is something we have grown accustomed to living with. The Tweeple had a lot to say about the city #Smog as #DelhiChokes.
The air quality of Delhi and surrounding areas is not just unhealthy or hazardous, it is a crisis. There is no denying this.
Not only does the pollution cause health problems, it lowers life expectancy of citizens.
While crop stubble burning, auto emissions and the cooler weather mean a sharp increase in pollution around this time of year, there is no doubt that firecrackers exacerbate the pollution problem.
Many of the tweeple feel that crackers add to the air quality problem and worsen respiratory infections and conditions such as asthma and allergies.
News publications as well as citizens have shared before-after photos such as these to demonstrate the very real impact of crackers on air quality.
And this is what we see.
While some liken living in Delhi to being in a gas chamber, others claim that breathing the air is like smoking 40 cigarettes each day. Even superman would have it tough here!
Hashtags such as #Smog, #DelhiPollution, #DelhiChokes and so on acknowledged how serious the problem is.
However, others acknowledge that if traditions are harmful, they should evolve in a way that embraces positive change.
Then there are those who believe that the anti-cracker movement is a liberal, ‘anti-India’ conspiracy. By this convoluted logic, bursting crackers is a ‘surgical strike’ on this ‘agenda’.
While the firecracker ban means that crackers are no longer available easily or openly, the sound of crackers was still very audible on Diwali. Clearly many chose to flout court directions.
Many defiantly encouraged people to burst more crackers, while others tried to spread the word of reason.
#DelhiChokes and #CrackersWaliDiwali were both popular hashtags. The strange rationale seems to be that since 'most' of the pollution is caused by other factors, it's ok to add a 'little bit' more to it. It is quite a bizarre justification.
Diwali is over. Kids are back in school and we are all back at work. Right now, the sky is still gloomy, my throat scratchy and my eyes still burning.
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