Airpocalypse: expats flee New Delhi, where smog is even worse than Beijing’s
Why take years off your life by sucking in cancer-causing smog particles with every breath? That’s the question many foreigners living in India’s capital have asked, and their answer is to leave
Dhyan Summers, a Californian, used to enjoy her job in New Delhi. An expat, she counselled fellow expatriates on how to deal with the city’s poverty, dirt, beggars, and cultural differences. Working from her home in Nizamuddin East, a quiet, tree-lined neighbourhood popular with foreigners, she built up a solid clientele, often advising grumbling expats that “what you can’t change about India, you must accept”.
She ended up rejecting her own advice. In September, the pollution levels soared so high that Summers decided she could not accept this aspect of the city and packed up, returning home to the west coast US state of Oregon.
The pollution was so bad this year. I felt restricted about being outdoors, and even indoors it wasn’t much better.
“I knew I would be taking years off my life if I stayed. The pollution was so bad this year. I felt restricted about being outdoors, and even indoors it wasn’t much better. I decided to leave but continue with online counselling from Oregon City,” says Summers.
Her counselling sessions with Delhi expats reveal that many, particularly those with young children, are very concerned about the pollution. “Many embassy personnel, many multinational employees want to return to their home countries due to the pollution,” she says.
Many already have. When Summers left on September 1, she was merely joining an expat exodus that was already under way, prompted by the choking smog that by then had engulfed the Indian capital for more than a year.
Levels of particulate matter – the minute, carcinogenic particles that penetrate the lungs – soared. The World Health Organisation last year declared New Delhi to be the most polluted city in the world, ahead of Beijing. In September, the World Bank reported the air pollution in New Delhi was almost three times higher than that in Beijing.
