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Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath on Tuesday shared his "biggest takeaway" from his brother Nikhil Kamath's podcast with tech millionaire Bryan Johnson: Debunking the myth he once believed that Delhi was the only city in India with an air quality problem.
Bryan Johnson, known for his anti-ageing research, walked out of Nikhil Kamath's 'WTF' podcast midway, citing poor air quality - even though they had an air purifier in the room.
"The biggest takeaway for me after meeting Bryan Johnson was debunking the myth I once believed: that only Delhi in India has an air quality problem - and that it occurs only in winter. We recorded the podcast in a sea-facing apartment in Bandra, Mumbai, and the AQI (Air Quality Index) was a whopping 160+. If the AQI was this high in Bandra, just imagine the levels in the more crowded parts of the town," Nithin Kamath wrote in a post on Instagram.
Following the incident, Nithin Kamath recorded the AQI from his Bengaluru office, which is situated in a quiet corner of the city. "I was shocked to see it reading 120+. Again, imagine how much worse it might be in the busier parts of the city. What makes matters trickier in Bengaluru is the dust from ongoing construction boom and poor roads," he said.
The Zerodha CEO made a comparison to the air quality in the US and Europe saying most cities have an AQI below 50.
"Long-term exposure to poor air quality can cause lung damage, cardiovascular problems, compromised immunity, an increased risk of cancer, and more - all of which ultimately affect quality of life. In Delhi, for example, the AQI can reach 500 or more in winter and 200+ in summer. This has bothered me. Everyone should have equal access to clean air. We seem to have gotten used to the fact that air pollution is just a part of life, and we are okay with breathing low-quality air," he said.
He also mentioned that in this case, the property prices across the country should be linked to AQI.
"The higher the AQI, the lower the real estate prices should be. After all, by living in such areas, you are accepting higher odds of respiratory ailments, cancer," he wrote.
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Bryan Johnson on leaving podcast midway
Despite wearing an N95 mask and turning on the air purifier in a hotel room, Mr Johnson left the podcast with Nikhil Kamath midway as he was unable to tolerate the room's air quality. At that time, the AQI was around 120. Praising Nikhil Kamath as a "gracious host", he explained the room was circulating outside air, rendering his air purifier ineffective.
Mr Johnson criticised how deeply normalised air pollution has become in India.
"This was my third day in India and the air pollution had made my skin break out in rash and my eyes and throat burn. Air pollution has been so normalized in India that no one even notices anymore despite the science of its negative effects being well known. People would be outside running. Babies and small children exposed from birth. No one wore a mask which can significantly decrease exposure. It was so confusing," he wrote in a post X.
He also questioned why India's leadership had not declared air pollution a "national emergency" and cited studies on air pollution's health effects.
Drawing a comparison to the US, he said while pollution was India's silent crisis, obesity was of the US. "When I returned to the U.S., my eyes were fresh to see what is normalized to me. I saw obesity everywhere. 42.4% of American are obese and because I was around it all the time, I had been mostly oblivious to it. In many contexts, obesity is worse than air pollution in the long term. Why wouldn't American leaders declare a national emergency on obesity?" he said.