‘I don’t think bad air kills people’

People practicing yoga in Lodhi Garden with smog lingering over IndiaÕs capital city, New Delhi, on Nov. 8, 2023. (Elke Scholiers/The New York Times)

A FEW steps into his early-morning run, Purushottam Sahu struggled to breathe. He started coughing and felt as if he might vomit.

Overhead, a thick brown-gray haze blanketed the sprawling forest park in New Delhi where he and other joggers, yoga enthusiasts and dog owners were keeping to their daily habits despite official warnings against exerting themselves in the toxic air.