Sabeela, 50-ish with an easy smile, might not know what the AQI is or even what the letters stand for, but she does know this much: There are no off days for her. The math is simple. No work equals no earnings.
“Everyone has to eat, whether the air is clean or not,” the vegetable vendor tells me. And so, heatwave or cold spell; unseasonal rains or air crisis, her routine never changes: Wake up at 4 am, stock up on the day’s supplies at the wholesale vegetable market at Ghazipur and tend to her thela (cart) from 8 am to 8 pm.
Pages: 1 2