💬 Started checking AQI on my bike ride to Gachibowli after a cough wouldn't go

I ride to Gachibowli every day on my bike. Last winter I got a cough that just wouldn't go. Doctor asked about my commute before anything else. Then said start checking the air quality. So for about 2 months I checked an AQI app morning and evening. Mostly out of curiosity at first. Not an expert, just sharing what I saw, because some of it surprised me. Worst stretch was always around Gachibowli and Madhapur, near all the construction. Mornings there were in the poor range a lot. You can see the dust hanging in the air when the sun hits it. Concrete mixers, broken road edges, trucks all day. No wonder my throat was gone. Back home at night, same app, usually moderate. Felt like a different city. Asked a few friends to check theirs too. Colleague in Balanagar says it's high there even on Sundays, factories. A friend near Paradise says evenings are worst for him, traffic jammed and the air just sitting there. Winter mornings were bad everywhere, the haze kind of sits low and doesn't move. My father had his first heart problem at 45, so maybe I'm more paranoid about this than most. Started wearing a proper N95 on the bike, not a cloth one. Leave 15 minutes early to beat the trucks. Worst days I take the metro part of the way, even though the walk at the end is annoying. Cough went in about 3 weeks. Could be the mask, could be luck, no idea. Thinking of getting an air purifier for my parents' place. Anyone using one that's worth the money?

My nephew has asthma and winter is when it gets bad, every year, around November. We noticed it's worse on days they burn garbage behind the colony. You can smell it at night. Complained twice, nothing happened. Now we just keep the windows shut and run the fan. Which N95 are you using on the bike? The ones I bought fog up my glasses every time.

I'm not fully convinced the whole city got worse. Where I live it doesn't feel much different from 5 years ago.

Kondapur here and it's the same, especially near the flyover work. My white car is brown by evening. Some roads have so much dust on the edges that every bike going past throws it back up. Construction sites near us don't cover anything. No sheets, no water spraying, nothing. I've started keeping the car windows up even when I don't need the AC.