First, the obvious. Delhi is polluted. Most Indian cities are, but Delhi probably trumps them all. Its 25 million residents are by now habituated to all forms of pollution – land, water, food, and air. But with air pollution, because most times we cannot “see” it – given that its most dangerous form is PM2.5 (Particulate Matter of size less than or equal to 2.5 microns) – we tend to ignore it, or mumble that, like the first snake bite provides us protection from the second, we are only strengthening our immunity by waiting at a Delhi bus stop, allowing all those fluttering PM2.5 fairies to wave their magic wand on our lungs. In reality, what we are doing is hammering nails into our decrepit coffins, one by one, day by day. But we have our excuses ready. Economic growth has found its friend in the shortened life span of philosophers, as it did for the West a century or more ago. Yes, let us all join hands and die slowly for posterity’s sake.