Up until March this year, international organisations like IQAir had ranked Lahore among the top three most polluted cities of the world. The fabled Pakistani City of Gardens had long suffered from bad air quality and environmental pollution that only seemed to get worse, thanks primarily to vehicular emissions and felling of trees to make way for myriad construction projects. Its offshoots were the various allergies the Lahoris had to contend with, and the stifling smog season, a cyclical period of haze and grey smoke that hung perpetually in the air and choked us no end. Between October and December last year, Lahore constantly peaked its real-time AQI (air quality index) ranking of 400 or above. (An AQI ranking between 301-500 is classified as hazardous and a health emergency.)

Come April, and things aren’t exactly the same. The city was locked down to contain the spread of coronavirus. That has meant less traffic on the roads and next to no construction works under way. Consequently, the air pollution levels have dropped. On Friday, they hit the covetable “36” figure, surprisingly lower than Delhi’s 72 and Beijing’s 95, two cities that Lahore had earlier always ‘competed’ with for the ‘top’ slot.

This isn’t a Lahore you’ve seen in decades, maybe more. The sky has never looked clearer, the sun brighter, and the foliage greener. It’s only an irony of life that all the world’s people have to sport facemasks at public places at a time when the air is at its cleanest.