I am lying on the bed, thinking about the meetings that I can skip today. I decide to skip the one scheduled between 4 pm to 5 pm. “Can we do this after I go back to Bengaluru? It’s the weekend anyway,” I text on the WhatsApp group and switch off my internet. I am staying at my friend’s place in Gurgaon. The wedding season is on. It’s 11 am. I should go out of the guest room and plant myself in the living room. “What’s the AQI today?” I ask my friend, who is making some coffee for both of us. “It looks like 350,” he replies. “I think it’s 275,” I tell him. We check. It’s 387. He wins. I close the balcony door to get some fresh air. Such a weird sentence to write. We turn on the air purifier. And the AC. Global Warming is outside the window.
It’s evening. After canceling the 4 to 5 meeting in the morning, I have now also canceled the plans I made for 4 to 5. There are levels to my laziness. My friend’s wife is back home from her office. In my two days of staying in their house, I have realized that she is extremely sensitive to the pollutants in the air. “How do you manage?” I ask her, “with all this AQI?”
“I keep the windows of the house closed all the time, call the cab directly at the house, keep the windows closed inside the car, get down ten meters before the office gate, then stay inside for eight hours, with windows closed, of course. And and and, also keep the air purifier on everywhere,” she tells me in an ironically excited tone. I nod. Makes sense. Or does it? I don’t know. I remember the time when we used to check only the weather on the phone; now the first thing people check after waking up is the AQI. Is it worth going out today? They ask themselves and then go out anyway. Momos are important. Like most people, I too don’t think about the causes of this terrible climate. Who has that much time? I toh even burst crackers on Diwali, however few they may be. I never used to, but I have started doing this in the last couple of years. They are fun to watch; my wife loves watching me when I get scared by the sound of them, everyone is bursting them anyway, so why not? Sadly, I know the answer to why not.
On my flight back, I take out the magazine from my backpack. The cover story is about the Amazon rainforest. It is dying, the editor says. Droughts, fires, and floods, all happening at the same time. Over a few million people are getting affected. Fishes are dying. Too dramatic. I turn the page. Some positive news is there. Farmers in Bihar have started breeding different types of cows and buffaloes, which can sustain the changing climate. They are all excited about the results. It’s a win. Win! Is it, though? How is this a positive story? Are we already living in the post-apocalyptic world? I hope not.
Are flights safe for the environment, I wonder. I know they aren’t. I start reading a bit about the carbon footprint until I get distracted by the word footprint as that reminds me of the sneakers I had added to my cart before going for the wedding. I order them. Express delivery by flight. It should arrive by tomorrow. I need my three pairs of sneakers urgently. It’s a crisis. They have to come by flight. Otherwise, the new socks that I purchased will feel lonely. They also travelled by flight by the way. Where was I? Yes, carbon footprint. Too boring. I close the tab. I check the AQI of Bengaluru. It’s in the 50s. We can breathe finally, I exclaim on my Instagram story. My plans for living in Delhi post my retirement are a bit shaken now. Will we be wearing masks all the time? I can’t, I conclude. I need to find a different location.
Mountains are too dangerous because of landslides. The coastal cities will be gone. The landlocked cities will be unbreathable. This chain of thought reminds me to check where we are with that Mars thing. Still some time, I guess. “I have reached,” I text on the WhatsApp group. I am still 30 minutes away from my home. Two trucks in the front of my cab are emitting black fumes. These fuckers will take the AQI to 60. One of them has the Punjab number plate. This guy must be driving for 3-4 days, I wonder. He has left his carbon footprint in every state. Balle Balle. I conveniently take the moral high ground about climate change and blame this truck driver for not getting his truck fixed. It’s all his doing, I conclude. A notification on my phone pops up. My sneakers have boarded the flight. They are the expensive ones, and if they fit me as comfortably as I think they would, I might just burst some more crackers in happiness. My home is fifteen minutes away. I ask the driver to lower the volume of the radio. Noise pollution, you see.
It's so funny and sad at the same time. You are great🫡
It's too all over the place. Like SamBahadur maybe. Great performance but lacks flow & coherency. But I love your writing anyday. :)