The air quality in Delhi is the worst the capital has seen, and there is no denying this fact (though the government seems to be doing exactly that).

Once upon a time, there used to be an India Gate. #DelhiAirEmergency #DelhiBachao pic.twitter.com/XFCPrU4nfQ
— Malayanil (@Malaywho) November 2, 2019
And now there is an app that actually highlights the extent of how bad Delhi’s air quality is – by converting it to the equivalent number of cigarettes being smoked in a day.
I use an app that converts the air quality to an equivalent number of cigarettes. Anyone in Delhi now might as well be smoking 33 cigarettes a day. Imagine knowing your children are smoking more than a pack a day. Cos here, they are. #DelhiAirEmergency pic.twitter.com/9aumGokBo0
— Siobhan Heanue (@siobhanheanue) November 3, 2019
Shit, I Smoke, was developed by Brazilian-born designer Marcelo Coelho and Paris-born app developer Amaury Martiny. It uses live pollution data from air quality stations and converts it to the number of cigarettes being smoked.

As per the app, currently, the air quality in Delhi is equivalent to smoking over 30 cigarettes a day.

In fact, the results of the complete Delhi-NCR, which includes the most polluted city in the world, Gurugram, are truly scary, to say the least.




Other polluted Indian cities, such as Patna and Lucknow, performed marginally better on the app but the numbers were still a point concern.


While smoking cigarettes is a choice, the toxic air is being breathed by people of all age groups, including children. And, as was evident by the perpetual grey skies and aching lungs, the effects of hazardous air quality are severe and long-lasting.
All images are screenshots from the app. The app is available on Apple and Google play store.