When talking about pollution is the 'problem'

THROUGH ROSE-TINTED GLASSES

- ANUPAMAA DAYAL

T used to be almost romantic. A soft rolling mist that reminded us of Himalayan mornings. To weather-hardened Delhi people, pollution is just one more thing that newspapers mention. Never really featuring in our own Maslow need hierarchy. Food, security, survival in the demonic summer and cruel winter are enough to consume our energy. Then there are traffic jams, housing problems, home loan repayment stress, and every kind of stress that oozes out so abundantly from Indian urban living. Every Westerner I meet, and indeed even people from other cities, ask me how the Delhiite is so numb to this 'life in a gas chamber'. But we are! It's kind of a non