{"id":208340,"date":"2025-12-30T12:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T12:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/208340\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T12:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T12:40:08","slug":"dutch-techie-says-2-months-in-india-left-him-constantly-sick-i-want-to-breathe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/208340\/","title":{"rendered":"Dutch techie says 2 months in India left him constantly sick: \u2018I want to breathe\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Dutch software engineer claims that spending two months in India has left him sick for longer than he has ever been in his life. Sacha Arbonel said that India\u2019s pollution problem overshadows the country\u2019s plus-points like its food, culture and booming tech scene.<\/p>\n

\"A A Dutch techie flags India’s pollution problem, citing health issues he has been experiencing. (Photo by Sakib Ali \/Hindustan Times) <\/p>\n

(Also read: \u2018Resigning due to Delhi pollution level\u2019: Akums Pharma\u2019s finance head steps down<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Air pollution in India<\/p>\n

In a post shared on the social media platform X, Arbonel explained that he has been living in India for the last two months in preparation for his Indian wedding. However, the pollution problem in the country is so bad that he has been constantly sick and struggling to breathe without his throat burning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Indian food and the culture but I just want to be able to breathe and not have my throat burn,\u201d Arbonel wrote on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeen in India for the last two months for my Indian wedding and I don’t remember the last time I was so sick for such a long time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Arbonel, who is from the Netherlands, said that the pollution has been affecting his health despite him wearing a face mask constantly.<\/p>\n

Pollution overshadows tech scene<\/p>\n

The software engineer praised India\u2019s booming tech landscape, but said that the country\u2019s plus-points were overshadowed by its air pollution issue.<\/p>\n

While tech salaries in India are comparable to Europe, the same cannot be said for its air quality, he opined.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tech scene of India is so good. Tech salaries as good as Europe<\/a>. Food scene is great as well,\u201d Arbonel wrote on X. \u201cBut it all feels worthless with the amount of pollution the cities have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHefty pollution tax\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dutch tourist noted how young children in India are constantly subjected to bad air and wondered how it was affecting their health. \u201cThe kids of this country deserve better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He ended his post by saying that the citizens of India are paying a \u201chefty pollution tax\u201d and urging Indian authorities to take action.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeels like everyone living here is paying a hefty pollution tax. The condition is critically bad and I really hope the Indian Govt realises this soon,\u201d the techie wrote.<\/p>\n

Internet weighs in<\/p>\n

Several parts of India, including the national capital of Delhi, have been battling deteriorating air quality and rising AQI with the onset of the winter season.<\/p>\n

Many people in the comments section of Arbonel\u2019s post thanked him for highlighting the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe they will listen now that foreigners are telling them. We were just ignored afterall,\u201d wrote one person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear you, and your frustration is completely understandable. Air pollution in many Indian cities has reached a crisis level\u2014it\u2019s not just an inconvenience, it\u2019s a public health emergency,\u201d another wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cPollution in our cities is insane and the government has barely scratched the surface fixing it. Kids breathing this daily is the real tragedy. India has talent, brains, culture, economy\u2026 but none of it matters if people can\u2019t even breathe safely,\u201d X user Yashraj opined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Dutch software engineer claims that spending two months in India has left him sick for longer than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[37072,127054,273,127055,16040,111,139,69,4987,147,127056],"class_list":{"0":"post-208340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-air-quality","9":"tag-dutch-software-engineer","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-india-pollution-problem","12":"tag-indian-wedding","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-pollution","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-tech-scene"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}