Image source, Hindustan Times / AFP via Getty Images
Well, that time of the year has come when there is a daily competition between Lahore and Delhi as to which side's air is more poisonous.
With winter comes smog, the air becomes poisonous and breathing becomes difficult. Scientists have also created an index to measure it.
According to this, if it reaches 50 then it poses a threat to health. In Lahore and Delhi this figure has reached 300 to 350.
People of both cities are very proud of their cities and should be so. Here there are forts, mosques and gardens built by the Mughal emperors.
There are also many historical buildings and monuments. Well, there are about three months of the year when breathing becomes difficult.
"The wind needs neither a passport nor a visa."
Image source: Mohammed Hanif
People in Pakistan say that this poisonous air has come from India. The same thing would probably be said there too. Our borders are closed. There is a fence with electric wires.
If even a pigeon flies away from there then we say that it is a failure of intelligence. But Hawa needs neither a passport nor a visa.
Whether there is anything else in common between the people of Lahore and Delhi or not, this poison in the air is shared by all of us. If you look at the list of cities with the most poisonous air in the world, you will see your own city in the top ten.
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Delhi and Lahore are generally at first or second place. But recently Delhi won. Kolkata is at second place, Dhaka is at third place and Lahore is at fourth place. Whereas Mumbai's name is at number five.
One day I saw that Multan was ahead of all the cities in this list. We have been hearing all our life that Multan is a city of gardens. The air there should have been clean.
There is a big industrial city of China, whose name is Chengdu. He was also included in the top ten. But it was below the Pakistani city of Gujranwala. I had only heard the name of Hisar city of India. Don't know what has happened there that it has also become one of the most polluted cities in the world.
We will keep breathing this poison...
Image source: AFP via Getty Images
Delhi and Lahore are really big cities. Many kings attacked them and destroyed them. Many kings ruled here and resettled them. But these cities have been inhabited for centuries.
But now how many of our generations will be able to live here, breathing the poison that has dissolved in the air, and how many will leave these cities?
But where will she leave? We have already told you about the condition of Multan and Hisar.
But as long as our car's tank is full of petrol, we will keep inhaling this poison and also releasing it out.
'We don't yet have the technology to stop the wind at the borders'
Image source, Hindustan Times via Getty Images
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We were already selling water in plastic bottles in the name of mineral water. By holding the remote of the air conditioner in our hands, we keep controlling the nature's weather as per our wish. Now people who can afford are looking for air purifiers.
But no one tells what to do with this common poison dissolved in the air. Let us just say that this poison has come from across the border. We do not yet have any technology to stop the wind at the borders.
I asked a boy studying in eighth class, what will you do when you grow up? He said that you guys have done everything.
Even if we grow up, we will work in a data center and with the money we earn from there, we will buy oxygen to breathe.
God bless.
(Note: These are the personal views of the author)
Published by Collective Newsroom for the BBC.
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