A Canadian living in Aizawl posted a photo of clear skies and an AQI of 56 the morning after Diwali, saying his family heard no firecrackers at all.
The morning after Diwali in Mizoram’s Aizawl looked nothing like the hazy skies reported from several Indian cities. A Canadian man shared a picture of the clear blue sky and an Air Quality Index reading of 56, noting that his family had slept peacefully without hearing any firecrackers.
Caleb Friesen, who has lived in India for more than a decade, posted about the clean sky on X.
“Post-Diwali AQI in Aizawl, Mizoram is 56 right now. Didn’t hear a single cracker or fireworks last night. My wife, two kids and two dogs slept peacefully. Our lungs are happy,” he wrote.
The photograph accompanying the post showed Friesen giving a thumbs up against a blue sky scattered with clouds.
The update stood in contrast to the pollution concerns that followed Diwali celebrations in several parts of the country.
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This was not the first time Friesen had used social media to flag an everyday urban problem. In an earlier Instagram video, he spoke about the difficulty of navigating Bengaluru on foot as a parent. The clip was filmed on Double Road in Indiranagar, one of the city’s upscale neighbourhoods.
He drew attention to the challenges pedestrians face, particularly parents moving around with children, even in an area counted among the city’s most expensive. His video focused on the state of footpaths and the difficulty of walking safely through the city.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s post-Diwali air quality told a very different story. According to AQI.in data, the city’s AQI stood at 663 at 8.01 am, after touching a peak of 1,331 at 1.31 am. Fireworks were also reported to have continued beyond the designated 10 pm deadline.
Friesen’s photograph from Aizawl therefore offered a striking contrast to the conditions in Delhi, where residents woke up to heavily polluted air after a night of celebrations.