Google "Vapi, Gujarat, India" and the first thing you will learn was that it was ranked as the fourth most polluted city in the world in 2007. Kinda scary, eh?

Lon says that now it's not THAT bad. Think L.A. in the late 60's / early 70's before the Clean Air Act and the EPA. No where near as bad as London or Pittsburgh circa 1950. (For a superbly written account of those "killer smogs", read Devra Davis' 2002 book, When Smoke Ran Like Water.) Contemporary Beijing is also much worse. In 1980 we thought about moving to Charleston, WV, when it was home to many chemical companies. There's even a suburb named Nitro. My home town neighborhood in Chicago also had it's share of pollution from coal-fired locomotives before the change to diesel in the 50's. Maybe this is just rationalization, but we'll see!

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There's definitely pollution in Vapi. But mostly it's dust. By the end of the day, everything is covered in a not-so-fine layer of dust. I can't imagine what the monsoons will bring!