It was the year 2011 when I first shifted to Delhi, the city of djinns or others may say ‘city with the highest level of pollution’ in the world. I was told by my friends that it took them 2-3 hours to travel from one place to the other within the city itself due to traffic jams. And I guess it was normal for me as well at that time since I used to travel for 1.5 hour for my office daily. Well, if someone asks, how much was the distance, it was only 22 kms. I was used to getting stuck in traffic on a daily basis, my office journey was filled with extreme noise pollution due to honking and it was my daily schedule. Did it affect me then? No!
I guess I simply adjusted myself with the fast pace of life and got busy in making my first career there. I used to read facts on pollution in Delhi but never realized I could contribute to making it a better place. Life took a turn and I happened to stay in the UK for around 1.5 year. Though I could not find the same warmth among people there, but there I could ‘feel the air’!
My stay there made me understand the difference in life I could observe with just having clean environment. I used to get sick less frequently, my food was more delicious, I felt healthier and my mind was more creative. The impact of less pollution was clearly visible on my skin and after one year, everyone could judge that I have been to a ‘new’ place.
Well, I came back to Delhi and that was the time I felt how polluted our environment was. There were vehicles all around, so many shared autos releasing thick black smoke, four wheelers with single riders, Ola and Uber cabs with a maximum of 2 occupants, incessant construction going on and above this, private buses which clearly do not fulfil pollution measures. I saw for three consecutive years that the government had to in fact release water on the roads to curb the pollution. This was the time when I realized there was a problem and that was simply an awakening call, where are we leading ourselves to?
It made me question-
‘Are all of us simply trailing towards our environment’s death just for the sake of comfort?’
‘Even if we forget what our future generation will get, are we so blind to not take care our surroundings for our own benefit?’
‘Old people say that even a dog sits after cleaning his surroundings, when will we understand that keeping pollution under control is more in our hands than the government?
I understand that it’s difficult to just drop our own vehicles and rely on public transport completely due to lack of services, but at our end we can take simple steps to curb pollution.
If corporate sector segregate their timings and we distribute the office hours, we can significantly curb the traffic jams, the wastage of fuel and pollution when vehicles are not even moving forward. Why not to make a law on this?
Well, at my end, I travel to my office early at around 7:30am when the roads are empty, and air feels cleaner and I come back before 5:30 pm. At least I am saving my fuel consumption and giving my own cents to saving the environment within my means!