Would you move cities to breathe cleaner air?

I've grown up breathing toxic fumes on Calcutta roads long before fuel emission laws became de rigueur in India, and when I lived in Delhi in the pre-CNG (compressed natural gas) era.

Sometime last week, a friend from Mumbai - also a journalist - pinged me asking if I knew of anyone who'd "migrated" from Delhi to Mumbai because of air quality (I don't know how many of you know about the matter, so here goes: recently, Delhi acquired the dubious distinction of being the most polluted capital of the world; it even overtook the notorious Beijing one dreadful day earlier this month).
I choked - not because of bad air, and why would I? Dubai has been served a fairly clean chit on the air quality factor - on my laughter. After composing myself sufficiently, I messaged her a 'LOL', and then said, "No."
This brief exchange, however, got me thinking. Would someone move cities for better air - and not necessarily a better job? It's a relevant question, and one I decided to pose to myself first. Would I take a pay cut and move to a different city simply because I was concerned about potential health benefits? I mean, I would take a pay cut and move elsewhere because the lesser-paying job excites me more than my current better-paying one.
But no, I would not move because of air quality; and I'm lucky I'm being able to say this since I don't suffer from, say, asthma - which would, by itself, warrant a move, whether I like it or not. I am definitely not making a case supporting polluted air; I also admit I may be a bit of a freak; but since I'm not trying to be a role model here, let me just say it straight: air quality has never bothered me (and I've been able to get away with the consequences so far). Again, let me hasten to add I'm not a proponent of detritus - only that I'm physiologically insensitive enough to not feel the difference.
I've grown up breathing toxic fumes on Calcutta roads long before fuel emission laws became de rigueur in India, and when I lived in Delhi in the pre-CNG (compressed natural gas) era that, reportedly, managed to scale down vehicular emissions' levels (before plateauing and then re-accelerating).
The first time I went abroad as an adult (with a mind of my own) and inhaled the "pure air" in Geneva, I didn't really note an immediate difference in my well-being; in fact, later, when someone asked me what my first impressions of being abroad were, I said, "I didn't feel any difference in air quality and I didn't get overwhelmed by the sight of orderly traffic." I'm guessing if I lived in a Swiss chalet up in the mountains (why go so far?
A secluded hill station in India would do the trick nicely) for several years, I may have felt the difference. But then, I visit Delhi ever so often, and though Dubai is several notches higher up in the 'quality of air' index (resultantly, I may have built up an immunity, even if is a psychological one), it never bothers me.
The last time I was in Delhi - earlier this month actually - I met my cousin's wife, who's German, and who's recently moved from Berlin to my capital's underbelly. Ironically, she's pursued a PhD on green transport; but she embarked on that before she met my cousin, so obviously she had no clue her life goal had a good chance of being overturned. She's brave, insisting on taking public transport everywhere (she's using this 'opportunity' to 'further' her body of work). and she wears a mask.
She cannot bear the air. "How do you feel about the air here?" she asked me. "I'm weird," I said. "I don't feel any better, any worse. It's like I'm breathing air. you know, like breathing being a function?"
"I'm most excited!" she said. "I plan on doing further research on the green movement in Delhi, and you will be one of my case studies."
sushmita@khaleejtimes.com