
What It’s Like to Live in the World’s Most Polluted City - kamaal
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160425-new-delhi-most-polluted-city-matthieu-paley/
======
nagarjun
Bangalore is no different. I hate to sound stereotypical and complain about
the utter lack of infrastructure here but I have no choice. I grew up in
Bangalore and only a decade ago, things a were a lot better.

The city drew millions of people from across the country in the last few years
and simply hasn't keep up. Add to that an incredibly unstable state government
and you have a city that can no longer service its residents. There's garbage
everywhere, rude people, broken roads (which when left that way, attract more
garbage because no one really cares anymore) and a complete lack of civic
responsibility. The monsoons have made it worse! People get stuck in traffic
jams for hours. Even in nicer neighborhoods, we lose power for half a day
because of the rains.

I'm a proud Indian but I lose complete hope when I observe the current state
of Indian cities.

~~~
tapan_k
I call myself a Bangalorian now, but I have been here for 16 years. Not born
and brought up in Bangalore, so some of you will cringe at my claim at being
Bangalorian. I love this place because it gave me a career. There is no other
place in India that I would be willing to move to. BUT, I am now worried about
this city and the future my children have here (if they choose to continue to
live here). Just yesterday, after a dinner with a couple of friends, we ended
up discussing if there is a better place to go to in India. The answer, as
always, was -- no. If I want a better life (which includes decent job
opportunities), the only way out is to move to a place outside of India. I
wish this was not the case.

~~~
beachstartup
curious, what are the regional options? singapore comes to mind but is
extremely small and i presume therefore limited/difficult. are
malaysia/indonesia/vietnam open to skilled immigrants?

~~~
tapan_k
I am into software product development and hence malaysia et al don't look
promising. The alternatives I have considered are: Australia, Luxemburg, US,
and UK, in that order. However, these are not regional options.

~~~
skrebbel
Wait, Luxemburg has a software industry?

------
yyyuuu
I have been living in Delhi for around one year now, and as one of the other
comments pointed out, this city is filthy and extremely polluted even by
Indian standards (Note: I am an Indian and have traveled to and lived in many
Indian Cities).

Here are some things that in my opinion make this one of the worst places to
live:

\- Filth, Garbage, lack of sanitation. Most of Delhi is filled with garbage.
There is Garbage lying everywhere. People throw in out of their cars on roads
while driving. People dump plastic bags filled with garbage to nearby streets
on a daily basis.

\- Pollution. Its monsoon season here in Delhi right now and for the first
time in a year, I was able to spot a few stars in the sky last night. The rest
of the year, the air is filled with a haze of noxious gases. I have seen
vehicles emitting large plume of white smoke and no traffic policeman cares to
stop them and ask for their pollution certificate. Garbage dumps mentioned by
the OP are literally like mountains with smoke emanating from various parts
all the time.

\- Lack of space. Ok. There is no space in Delhi. For one to walk or jog.

\- Angry culture. I am sad to say that I have never seen more road rage
incidents anywhere else. People have very little patience and respect for
fellow individuals seems to be missing more often than not.

~~~
puranjay
Delhi resident here. Last winter, I developed severe breathing problems and
had coughing fits. The doctor flatly told me "get out if you want to live
well".

------
hackaflocka
Also: limping, injured cows and dogs (with broken legs and bashed in skulls)
hobble along the middles of the roads, red lights usually have no meaning,
there is literally no concept of a stop sign. Life is cheap. The population is
excessive. There's a basic break-down of order. At night cars with wealthy
"gangsters" roam to pick up street children to rape them and then drop them
off at some random place. The children often don't know what happened (think
Slum Dog Millionaire).

Source: from there originally. Been there once in the last 10 years. Saw
little had changed. Vowed never to go back.

~~~
ajamesm
Never heard about the gangster / street children phenomenon. Do you have
something I can read up on, or an extended anecdote to share?

~~~
webtechgal
Lived all my life here in (various parts of) India but never seen or even
heard about the gangster / street children phenomenon. Some more info on this
would certainly be useful.

~~~
hackaflocka
I shouldn't have written "gangsters." I meant "people." I've been listening to
too much rap music.

India is a pervert's paradise. There are 10s of street children on any large
street who will let you do anything in exchange for a meal. Sadly, for a short
while, I lived at a place near where these kids were regularly dropped off.
That's how I learned about it. The police won't talk about it (it'll make them
look bad, plus they may actually be facilitating the process). The press won't
talk about it I don't know why.

Everything in Slum Dog Millionaire is true. It happens. But before that movie,
50% of India didn't know it (the "better" half).

Women are raped inside police stations every day in India. By policemen. Who
often get promotions after the act. There will still be Indians who will claim
ignorance.

I was once in a commercial truck, and we were stopped in the middle of the
road by the police. All our permits were in order. We still had to pay off the
police to be allowed to move on.

The last time I was in India, the day I left the country, 50 people were
killed by some group somewhere. In the news headlines, there was a statement
from the Chief Minister of that state, from the Home Minister of India, and
that's it. The news then moved on to what the Bachchans were up to that day.
There were no names of the people killed. No clue who did it. There's no
wikipedia page mentioning the massacre. If 10 people are killed in a Western
Country, you can bet there's a wiki about it. With their names. And with a lot
of closure on the incident.

It'll change. It'll take time. I'm hopeful. The internet will make a
difference. Hopefully people will slow down breeding (my grandparents
collectively had 20 cildren, I'm childfree for life).

------
sandGorgon
I'm Indian and I live in Delhi. Yes it's pretty bad and it's a consequence of
the massive population that exists in Delhi. Having said that...we are trying.

Delhi has much stricter vehicular pollution norms than other Indian
cities...and it adopts them first. All public transportation in Delhi runs on
compressed natural gas. The first city in India to introduce Singapore style
partitioning of vehicular traffic (the odd-even scheme was accepted
enthusiastically By the common man at the cost of inconvenience). The Delhi
Metro rapid rail is a feat of engineering having covered the entire city in
record time under existing buildings that are hundreds of years old. There is
general acceptance of traveling in the metro (where seeing people working on
laptops is common).

In general as opposed o places like Bangalore the drive to create sustainable
civic infrastructure is a commonly held belief and translates into local
politics.

It will take time...but we are getting there.

~~~
manmal
Did they also add sewer and fiberglass lines alongside the metro lines? Just
curious.

~~~
gruez
>fiberglass lines

*fiber optic

~~~
sandGorgon
Yes I figured. Which is why I was replying about bandwidth

------
refurb
The article mentions waste water treatment plants, but no sewer system to
transport the waste.

Anyone know why?

I've heard people say "too many people", but too many people means a huge
labor force that is low cost.

I would think that building a sewer system would be pretty straightforward.
Massive countries like China have pretty good wastewater treatment (relatively
speaking) in the cities. So do other developing countries.

Why is it such an issue in India?

~~~
ajamesm
Some of it is cultural. (I can't speak to their engineering practices or
limitations, anyway.) Toilets aren't a given in India. They're generally
available in cities. But, for example, on some locomotives, the toilet is a
literal shithole cut in the floor, for you to you void directly on the tracks.

source: was tourist

relevant article picked at random:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-
is-b...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-is-building-
millions-of-toilets-but-toilet-training-could-be-a-bigger-
task/2015/06/03/09d1aa9e-095a-11e5-a7ad-b430fc1d3f5c_story.html)

~~~
furyg3
This is actually pretty common, worldwide. The trains in the Netherlands
technically 'flush', but they flush right onto the tracks.

~~~
huuu
Yep. Thats why there are signs telling you not to use the toilet at stations.

On the other hand the streets in the Netherlands are littered with dog poo..

~~~
gajjanag
Same in India, there are signs and rules against such usage.

But like many such things in India, very few actually care:
[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/you-may-
be-f...](http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/you-may-be-fined-for-
using-toilets-at-stations/article7510828.ece).

------
manish_gill
Having lived in Delhi all my life, I can confidently say that it's really as
bad as it looks. There's a huge divide though. Like, the middle class (to
which I belong) and the rich live in relatively cleaner areas, go to places
where there are no piles of trash lying around (and if there are, ignore
them). I think the city can't fix unless it keeps ignoring it and make the
poor suffer. There is no sense of community here. "It's not my problem" is the
prevailing attitude.

~~~
denzil_correa
> There is no sense of community here. "It's not my problem" is the prevailing
> attitude.

In Hindi there is a saying, _Apna Kaam Banta, Toh Bhaad Mein Jaaye Junta_.
Translation - If my work is done, I don't care - the rest can go to hell.

~~~
einrealist
I wonder how much of this attitude spreads into work mentality. In my time as
a consultant, I heard a lot horror stories about failed offshored IT projects.
(My own experience with offshore service centers is quite good though.)

------
fareesh
I've had a lot of difficulty talking to people here about the climate change -
specifically people from business communities.

There seems to be a prevailing attitude of "We are now in a phase of
development as an economy. First world countries had an opportunity to grow
without regulating pollution. Regulating us will inhibit our ability to catch
up".

For some reason the literal end of the world isn't a strong enough argument
for them. When I mention it, I am frequently told that it doesn't matter
because no matter what is done, the outcome in terms of climate change is
going to be the same at this stage.

~~~
legolas2412
Climate change occurs because of greenhouse gases, not because of particulate
matter, which is the kind of pollution in delhi. More advanced countries like
USA and china still produce the same percentage of energy from coal as India.
They produce an order of magnitude more of greenhouse gases. 25% of human
produced greenhouse gases is just USA. India hasn't even made a mark in the
environment. Yet India is unfairly criticized, somebody talk to climate change
ignoring China and climate change denying USA first.

------
weeksie
The pollution there is a nightmare. I spent maybe four days in Delhi and had a
cough that followed me for almost a week afterward. Even by Indian standards
the place is filthy.

------
bogomipz
Its not even just the industrial waste and litter in Delhi though, the city is
streaked with red spit from Paan(betel nut) chewers. It is everywhere, its
disgusting. Then there is also the fact that around half the population don't
have access to a bathroom on the subcontinent, so people urinate and defecate
outside everywhere. You are never not far from bodily fluids in Delhi. More
people have access to cell phone than bathrooms in India. All this aside
though it is truly an amazing and fascinating place to visit. It's unlike
anywhere else.

------
Fej
Puts in perspective our problems.

Not that our problems aren't worth fixing, it's just a stark reminder that
some places in the world remain uncivilized.

------
negamax
All the pictures are from the dumping ground! Guys, it's an official dumping
ground for the whole city. Many years ago it was far away but Delhi kept on
growing. Current state is result of swallowing many villages/farms and
neighboring cities for decades. This article takes a part of Delhi and paints
it entirely like it.

I am surprised by other commenters are well.

~~~
yyyuuu
Well, if you leave out the Lutyens' Delhi, pretty much all of Delhi is like
that.

What shocks me the most is that how people here just accept the despicable
state of their surroundings and just go on with their lives. I know of folks
that own Audis and Mercs, but live next to a dumping yard. Now what is the
point of having all that money, when you get see/smell only filth most of your
life.

I had visited Delhi for the first time around twenty years ago, and it seems
that despite of all the measures like CNG driven public transport and Metro,
the situation has only gotten worse.

Unfortunately the political will here is too weak to effect a disruption to
the current state.

~~~
gajjanag
> I know of folks that own Audis and Mercs, but live next to a dumping yard.
> Now what is the point of having all that money, when you get see/smell only
> filth most of your life.

The point is that one gets to compare it against the general population and
thereby satisfy one's own ego. Generally, cars are a nice instrument for
showing off wealth: they are highly visible. Homes are another excellent
example.

You highlight very well the absurdity of valuing such monetary wealth in a
context where it makes little sense.

------
omegaworks
>“There have been times I've had garbage in my hands and I've had to carry it
with me all day, because there are no bins anywhere,” he remembered.

Boo hoo. Tokyo has no public trash cans and it is immaculate. The people there
just care about the place they live in and don't burn shit to heat their
houses.

~~~
sctb
This comment is an example of something we desperately need less of on Hacker
News. It's predictable, racist, and has a complete lack of intellectual
curiosity. Please do not do this here.

~~~
omegaworks
I was painting with a broad brush, and for that I apologize. It was a swift -
perhaps too pointed - response to an exasperated whine from someone with an
expectation of luxury when none was necessary, or deserved. "Why isn't there
someone else to clean this up for me?" just wreaks of entitlement. Japan has
its share of problems, but their culture teaches the importance and value of
clean common spaces, and the individual citizen's part in keeping them that
way, from childhood. [1]

1\.
[http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/04/04/396621542/without-...](http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/04/04/396621542/without-
janitors-students-are-in-charge-of-keeping-school-shipshape)

In India, dung is used as fuel, sometimes out of necessity, sometimes
ritualistically.[2]

2\. [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/Indias-Newest-
Inter...](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/Indias-Newest-Internet-
Sensation-Cow-Dung-Patties-180957650/?no-ist)

Politics in india pits ethnic group against ethnic group, caste against caste,
in order to keep power and accomplish as little as possible. The economy is
improving, but it appears to be stratifying, with radical divergence between
the lifestyles of the richest and poorest. The wealthy are able to live in
bubbles of luxury private development, blissfully unaware of the suffering
just outside the gates. [3]

3\. [http://ideas.ted.com/skyscrapers-but-no-sewage-system-
meet-a...](http://ideas.ted.com/skyscrapers-but-no-sewage-system-meet-a-city-
run-by-private-industry/)

I'm bringing a lot of baggage, coming from a country where labor isn't cheap
and the population isn't over a billion, but there is something to the value
of human life here that I thought was universal. Maybe the expectations flip
around when there are so many people that it would be cruel not to offer more
garbage pickup jobs.

That smells a bit like a broken window fallacy though.

