Blame game over foul air

When it snowed in Shimla, Delhi used to catch a cold. That was in the olden days. These days, when a farmer in Ferozepur lights a fire, Delhi breathes hard.

- R. PRASANNAN

In the olden days, we gauged the day in fahrenheit and centigrade. These days we gauge the day in suspended particulate matter.

In the olden days, we in Delhi decided whether to sweat or to shiver after reading the weather column in the morning paper. These days, we decide to breathe easy or breathe fire at our neighbours, after checking the air quality index in newspapers and television news.

In the olden days, we talked about the weather to start polite conversations. These days, we talk about the smog to breathe fire at the farmers in Faridkot and factories in Faridabad.

Delhi had always put the blame for its discomforts at others’ doorsteps—the snow in Shimla for the cold, the weirs in Haryana for the Yamuna floods, the fires in Faridkot for the foul air in autumn. So it was this autumn, too.