This writer still remembers how, around the same time last year, social media was flooded with posts showcasing Mumbai’s improved Air Quality Index (AQI). From stories of residents zooming in on the Worli Sea Link from higher floors to photographs of  unusually clear skies, the city’s cleaner air seemed almost unreal. 

But this year, things appear to have taken a turn, with Mumbai’s AQI at 173, indicating poor air quality and raising concerns about exposure to pollutants, particularly among children, adults and people with respiratory conditions, guess the joke is on Mumbaikars now.