Part of our series of pieces inspired by the Democratic Party’s 2024 platform.
“The United States rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement on day one of his presidency, and President Biden set an ambitious goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with climate science. He used the restored power of America’s example to press other nations to do more, persuading 155 countries to agree to slash methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas, by at least 30 percent by the end of this decade.”
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The season’s first chill embraces walkers as they cover the mud paths in the middle of the lush, green forest that is the Arun Jaitley Park in Delhi. Under a thick green canopy, a peacock spreads its feathers and saunters on the green cover—oblivious to the phones going up, capturing his beauty and grace with a click that breaks the silence.
Two men huff and puff. “This is all right. I can manage so much. Getting more business is out of the question. Goli khakar to nahi sona maine.” (“I am not getting hooked on sleeping pills for more money.”) The voices trail behind.
The sun’s rays slant through between trees, creating a diagonal shaft of light. The birds chirp, the squirrels scamper, the mongoose chase. Today, the air has a smoky smell. The farms in Panjab have begun burning the crop residue to prepare for the new harvest.
The apocalyptic Delhi skies are all set to make a comeback as they do every October through January. Children cough, wheeze, inhale the gas, and rub burning eyes in the capital city through January. Inhalers are in demand. The government talks about creating artificial rain to clear up the sky.
People walk and talk.
Looking up at the sky beginning to be muddled with haze, a woman in a yellow top turns to her walking buddy and murmurs about the planet Jupiter’s moon Europa, “There’s an ocean beneath Europa’s surface, you know!”
This is also the season when the Yamuna River in Delhi turns white. A deathly frothy foam—a mix of untreated sewage and industrial effluents covers the river, causing havoc on the ecological balance. In schools, teachers coax children not to burst firecrackers, because they worsen the deteriorating air. A prayer floats before the burning flame of Diwali at a family gathering—I hear the children’s plea to able to play in the open and breathe easily.
Delhi has been plundered and pillaged many times. This Mughal city of poets Ghalib, Sauda, Mir Taqi Mir, Moumin, Zafar, Zauq, and Daag is now under siege from smoke billowing from a fleet of cars on the roads.
Mughal artifacts dot the street and the qawwalis echo from the dargahs, harking back to a time when the air stirred poetry and was free of smoke.
Inside the park, a man in a brown sweat-soaked shirt speaks into his earphones: “The other day, I saw someone honk near Red Fort as if they were possessed. Zero patience—cutting through signals.” The Red Fort is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, earlier known as the Quila-e-Moalla. It was built by Shah Jahan in the mid seventeenth century in Delhi. On a wall inside its Chamber of Honour, a verse by poet Diwan-e-Khaas is inscribed on a wall: Gar firdaus bar ru e zameen ast Hameen ast o hameen ast o hameen ast! If there’s a paradise on Earth—it is here, it is here, it is here!
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Chesta Wadhwani is a journalist and a writer. She co-authored the UN Women coffee table book HUM—When Women Lead, celebrating 75 women-led development stories across India. Her writing spans various genres; a children’s book is forthcoming from Westland Books, and short story featured in a Scholastic anthology. Her work has been featured in Hindustan Times, DNA, and Another Chicago Magazine.
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Michael Singh is an interdisciplinary artist originally from Southern California. He works across painting, printmaking, illustration, and collage. He taught drawing and painting in Los Angeles before relocating to New York in 2017. In 2021 he briefly studied painting at The New York Art Students League and The 92nd St Y. He now works and resides in upstate New York.
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Another Chicago Magazine 