A festival in grey

Diwali, and Delhi is again awash in grey. Smoke from crop stubble and fireworks burdens the cold air, thick with emissions and construction dust.

arun

Arun Kumar | December 7, 2018 | Delhi


#stubble burning   #crop burning   #environment   #air quality   #pollution   #Delhi pollution  
Text by SB Easwaran
Text by SB Easwaran

Diwali, and Delhi is again awash in grey.

 
Smoke from crop stubble and fireworks burdens the cold air, thick with emissions and construction dust. Moods hasten towards the sombre, time slows to leaden dreariness. 
 
People breathe uneasy.
 

Delhi Pollution
A lone cyclist is punished for his mite against pollution: the poisoned air chokes him with every breath.(Rajpath)

Lodhi Road
A display board screams ugly words and figures.
Doctors murmur a grave analogy: to breathe in Delhi is to smoke 20 cigarettes a day.
Can the message be clearer?
Or darker?(Lodhi Road)

Rajpath
The glow of morning is sooted over like the panes of a streetlamp in a dirty yellow nocturne.
An early crow holds back a caw of doom.(Rajpath)

environment
(Faridabad)

Faridabad
Fireworks cackle, hiss, jeer and roar at the supreme court’s impossible two-hour restriction.(Faridabad)

Lodhi Garden
A morning walker risks his lungs.
Most masks are rip-offs, costing too much but doing little. (Lodhi Garden)

air quality
An apocalyptic smog defiles the cityscape.
People drift like ghosts.
The air robs them of years.(Rajpath)

Comments

 

Other News

Trump’s China setback pushes US to woo India

A week after Donald Trump’s visit to China – the first by an American president in nine years, US secretary of state Marco Rubio arrived in India on May 23 on a four-day visit aimed at resetting Washington DC’s relations with New Delhi and attending the third Quad ministerial meeting.

EU–India FTA 2026: A high‑stakes prescription for Indian pharma and healthcare

India’s pharmaceutical industry stands as one of the world’s market leaders of generic pharmacy with market valuation of USD 50 billion in 2026. Characterised by high volume, low-cost generic manufacturing, with an annual growth rate of 10-12% primarily propelled by exports and domestic demand,

Legends, vignettes and tales from the freedom movement

Robin Hood of Kathiawar and Other Extraordinary Stories from India’s Freedom Movement By The Paperclip  HarperCollins, 348 pages, Rs 499  

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta tells quirky tales from the world of law

The Lawful and the Awful: Quirky Tales from the World of Law By Tushar Mehta Rupa Publications, 336 pages, Rs 995  

Cabinet meet discussed `Ease of Living`, `Ease of Doing Business`

The Council of Ministers has deliberated upon valuable perspectives and best practices relating to boosting ‘Ease of Living’ and ‘Ease of Doing Business’, prime minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.   As he shared details of the Council meeting held the d

India should deepen energy partnerships with Africa

The vulnerability of Strait of Hormuz continues to influence energy politics globally. India is highly dependent on imported crude oil as a significant portion of its oil imports still come from the Gulf ultimately making such disruptions particularly consequential and has immediate economic ramifications


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter