Dhaka city is a noxious blend of haze and smog, fueled by the undying exhaust of vehicles and the black, pungent fumes of factories in peripheral areas.
When the sun gleams gently upon Dhaka city at the break of day, it is often difficult to sit down with a cup of tea and grasp the feeling of the cool weather and morning sun.
Air pollution, as we know it, veils around us as an invisible blanket, making the air heavy and the sun equally scorching even at the earliest hours.
However, the forgone Eid vacation and touring outside the city rekindled how different air quality is in rural areas.
While there is no exact boundary to it, one can unquestionably experience the abrupt change. The heaviness in the lungs suddenly drops, and it becomes so much easier to breathe, as if the dense air wafts through a natural filter to become fresh and untampered by haze.
The subsequent change from high-rise buildings and the constant honking of cars to vibrant green landscapes and the chirping of insects in the distance also creates a psychological impact on us that calms the heart and lets us breathe with an unseen freedom.
There are numerous statistics to support this.
While the WHO 2021 guidelines denote PM 2.5 level, a measure for the amount of toxic particulates, to be below 5µg/m3 for standard, Dhaka recorded a 281µg/m3PM 2.5 level, with this value going as high as 51.71µg/m3 in June 2025.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Dhaka is 861, as of 15:00hrs, June 23, with this value going as high as 1302. For reference, an AQI of 0-50 is considered healthy.
While rural data is scarce due to the 163 available continuous monitoring stations (CAMS) all being located in cities, Dhaka unquestionably has much higher pollution than other major cities in the long term, with rural areas all having substantially lower AQI, PM2.5 and other hazard indicators.
Hence, touring outside Dhaka in Eid is not just an occasion to meet family and relatives; it is also about experiencing the intangible differences that make towns and villages so rich in essence.
The clean, crisp and refreshing air is a luxury that you can’t put a price tag on.
All that chronic cough, asthma and respiratory problems seem to go away temporarily.
However, the richness of the countryside is waning with time. With a growing number of industries in peripheral areas and out-of-date vehicles on one side, and the utterly insufficient installation and execution of air filtering processes on the other, the pollution is spreading to the countryside as well.
But thankfully, it is still not nearly as high as Dhaka.
So when there is a vacation, don’t spend all your time gridlocked within city walls. Go out, even if it is for a day.
Think of it as an escape, with unseen benefits and perhaps the best way to renew yourself!
