Tag Archives: delhi

Inverted quarantines, mosquitoes & the common man in Delhi

This post has been some time in the making, ever since Raul Pacheco-Vega introduced me to Andrew Szasz’s concept of an ‘inverted quarantine,’ defined further below, and fabulous Manpreet Singh and I started kicking around how the idea applied to our lives in Delhi. This week, a few events, including a desperate effort to stayContinueContinue reading “Inverted quarantines, mosquitoes & the common man in Delhi”

Going viral in Delhi / is diagnosis a luxury (Delhi summer illness 2)

In this post, I continue to try to make research and observational hay out of my own illness in Delhi (starting here). As a quick re-cap, there was a week of severe, arthritic joint pain and weakness, which started to let up slightly right when the rash and fever kicked in. Those were mercifully short-lived,ContinueContinue reading “Going viral in Delhi / is diagnosis a luxury (Delhi summer illness 2)”

My black folder (Delhi summer illness 1)

Since I have lost much of the two months to an extended illness — and since my original reason for getting into public health was unsatisfactory doctor-patient relationships and inadequate assistance helping patients navigate hospital and health systems — it seems to make sense to write about observations and frustrations I had seeking treatment inContinueContinue reading “My black folder (Delhi summer illness 1)”

I feel like an #oddeven party pooper (reducing and working are not the same)

There are two nice, evidence-informed op-ed pieces out today on Delhi’s odd-even scheme to try to reduce air pollution (here and here). The results are heartening because I didn’t have a good sense of whether a two-week window of implementing a policy — to which there were many exceptions — was long enough to potentiallyContinueContinue reading “I feel like an #oddeven party pooper (reducing and working are not the same)”

Delhi’s #oddeven plan had a significant effect on pollution

Originally posted on Suvojit Chattopadhyay:
Researchers Michael Greenstone, Santosh Harish and Anant Sudarshan have some news for us. Hard data that shows that the Odd-Even plan reduced pollution by significant levels in Delhi. The headline: this study finds there was an 18% reduction in PM 2.5 due to the pilot during the hours that the rule was…

Nimboo pani: challenges and triumphs

There has been some complaint from some quarters that I have not recently provided any update about my life, reserving blog posts for slightly more wonky topics. This post will be a small antidote.* In Delhi, one way of dealing with the energy-sapping heat is nimboo pani — literally “lemons water” but in actuality lemonadeContinueContinue reading “Nimboo pani: challenges and triumphs”