'Feels Like Needles In My Lungs': London-Based Indian Techie 'Leave Delhi' Advice Over Toxic Air

A London-based Indian techie has set social media ablaze after asking people to “leave Delhi, even if you have to go into debt”, calling the capital’s spiralling air pollution nothing less than a public health emergency. Kunal Kushwaha — senior developer advocate at CAST AI and founder of the WeMakeDevs community — who landed in Delhi for a brief visit recounted his experience on X. Having spent years in London’s cleaner environment, the shift in air quality hit him. I could “literally taste and smell the pollution," he said.

Kushwaha, who grew up in Delhi, admitted he never fully grasped the extent of the city’s toxic air until he moved away. “You see people walking without masks, going for morning runs... I thought, how bad can it really be?” he wrote.

"Even an AQI hovering around 200 felt suffocating. Sore throat, and a feeling like needles in my lungs. I could actually feel the pollution entering my body,” he wrote, adding that he was cutting short his stay and flying out the very next day.

Netizens react

Kushwaha’s post sparked fiery debates as many echoed his alarm, calling Delhi’s chronic pollution a slow-burning public health catastrophe. But others countered that “leaving” was a luxury only a privileged few could afford.

One user argued, “‘Leave Delhi’ is great advice for the tiny percent who can. The rest of us need the air fixed, not a relocation plan.”

Another user wrote, “Leaving isn’t an option for 99% of us. Most of us are stuck here because jobs, family everything is tied to this city.”

A third user added, “It’s extremely worrying to see what’s happening in Delhi. But millions can’t just relocate. By all means protect your health—but the solution has to be systemic.”

Delhi Chokes as AQI Nears ‘Severe’

Delhi’s air quality dipped further on Sunday, hitting an alarming 391 on the edge of the ‘severe’ category. A mix of stagnant winds and dropping temperatures trapped pollutants close to the ground, blanketing the city in a suffocating haze.

Despite years of warnings from environmental experts and public health specialists, Delhi remains shackled to its annual winter pollution fuelled by vehicle emissions, relentless construction dust, waste burning, thermal power output, and stubble smoke drifting in from neighbouring states.