It was a very quiet train ride back home today. People around me were either too engrossed in their phones or dozed off in their temporary dreams but mostly just minding their own business. Being the last day of the working week, I guessed everyone felt drained and was obviously looking forward to the weekends already.
And as for me, I have not been feeling too well lately. Having just recovered from a dose of food poisoning and viral fever, I felt a tad weaker than usual. Today, I was attempting my hardest to not play with my phone, trusting that I will not get motion sickness along the way. I honestly didn't want to throw up in the train.
For once, I peered blankly out of the window and starred straight into a gloomy sky alongside a cloud of dust, amidst a partially visible background.
The haze is back.
We used to grumble about it - I used to grumble about it. But I think we just got tired of complaining after awhile, more so after knowing that this haze-thing is recurring in nature. In the past, at least once a year, 'open burning' would make headlines across most major news portal in the country, people talk about it because its rare. In fact, I think most people found this occurrence rather amusing.
Nowadays, unless API records abnormalities - it doesn't matter anymore.
We used to be very pretentious, rolling out so many health precautions, to the extend that the N95 mask was so in demand that it ran out of stock. Then, there was a time when people started wearing surgical masks, which is essentially a psychological remedy, because it simply doesn't do much filtering at all.
Nowadays, there would be the odd one or two with masks, for the rest of us - it doesn't matter anymore.
The train whizzed passed a now, barely visible school - my old high school. My eyebrows started frowning and my facial expression eventually turned into a scowl.
I thought, "How did it get this way? Will this be a new way of life that I'm forced to adapt to?"
At that point in time, I was silently praying for rain. Even better if it pours. But then again, we all came to know that too much rain causes flood, and our country is quite prone to that. So, don't pray too hard.
At the corner of my eye, I secretly peered at the old lady sitting next to me, not particularly fond of the age of technology chivalry I reckon, rather, staring numbly at the sky, probably wondering the exact same thing like I just did. And so were a couple of young lads, on their earphones but not their phones, pondering with the same, serious, facial expression.
For all that, I am not excessively worried. I know the haze would eventually subside and the air would be back to normal soon - hoping that this is not another one of those prolonged episode. However, I wouldn't be tremendously surprised if the dusts come back after a couple of dry days either. It's no longer attributable to open burning alone but a series of climate change and global warming elements.
So, we are just going to sit back and adapt to this new way of life huh?
*I'm not by any means promoting any green peace organisation of any sort*
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