Sometimes I feel that the common man should not even attempt to think about the problems caused by air pollution. Do we have the luxury to leave the city and stay in a hill station or lock ourselves up at home on bad air days? The answer is a big NO. Every day lakhs of people like me are forced to venture out on the roads to earn our daily bread.
This poisonous air is an integral part of my workplace, and I cannot stop and think about it. I left Jharkhand seven years ago and took up odd jobs to survive in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Then soon I started my chai shop near Rajnigandha crossing. A large number of people board the metro or the bus to travel to Delhi –opening a tea-shop here made good business sense.
I start my shop at 6am in the morning and continue till 9pm in the night, all this hard work fetches me Rs 300 a day, on an average. For 15 hours I battle air pollution silently, negotiating extortionist policemen, who threaten to evacuate street vendors and demand free food. Over the years, I have learnt how to deal with them. In the fight to survive on the street and to cater to customers, these are tricks of the trade that I have had to master.
Dealing with air pollution is something that I haven’t mastered, neither do I have the capacity to do it. Simply because I do not have the time. However, at night, before I go to bed, I can feel a kind of heaviness in my chest. I do not have the guts or the money to get it checked. What I earn is just enough to run my household, paying medical bills is something that I have not included in my monthly budget.
I left Jharkhand because I had no job there. Some of my friends there work in factories, but their lives are even worse. And some worked in thermal power plants and mines. They not only have to deal with air and water pollution as a result of the mining, and the thermal power plant, they are also paid very less. Their bodies have grown hollow from inside. Here, at least I have a better life.
My kids are the only silver lining in my life and I try to shield them and keep them safe as much as possible. They go to school and are learning about environmental protection and hygiene. I make sure they learn and do what I failed to do in life.