Beijing had an AQI reading of 700+ in 2013.
It was called an 'airpocalypse'.
Schools were shut down. Flights were cancelled. Highways were closed. Hospitals overflowed. It was international embarrassment as foreign embassies issued health warnings and called Beijing “unlivable.”
But China didn't have a chalta hai attitude.
$100 billion were set aside and an anti-pollution strategy was put in place.
They banned coal in homes, shut 2500 factories, moved heavy industry out of Beijing.
Phased out old vehicles, limited car ownership, introduced electric buses.
Built ring roads lined with trees, cracked down on construction dust, and invested billions in clean energy.
Beijing's AQI in 2025 hovers between 30 to 50.
From 700 to 50 in 10 years.
It can be done. If China can do it, so can India.
All it requires is a national will and the ability to take tough decisions and execute. Do what needs to be done.
Treat it like a year-long crisis, not a seasonal nuisance.
No amount of development and prosperity is worth it, if our children can't breathe clean air in cities.
It must be priority number 1, priority number 2, and priority number 10.
My French manager was interested in Cricket world cups and how much of a big deal it is in India. I told him we just lost a home world cup and won a world cup in another format. If anything, I got him more confused than he already was.
Vaibhav bhai mai bachpan me bahot fake scenarios create karke shadow batting karte hue khud ko imagine krta tha chewing vagaira chaba ke mast. But maine imagination me bhi 35 pe 100 nahi thoka tha sirf is logic se ki naya player hu itna thodi maar dunga
While Australia had India by their neck in Brisbane, a part of me says that India would have chased this down. India is exceptional in this ODI-esque kind of setting. But we move onto the next one.