The toxic haze shrouding the Indian capital, Delhi, spares no one, but its children are counting the biggest cost of the city's worsening and recurrent pollution problem.
Nowhere is this more evident than at pediatricians' clinics. The BBC visited one such facility in Noida, near Delhi, on a weekday morning a few days back.
In a packed waiting hall outside the doctor's consulting room, anxious parents stood in line with children sneezing, coughing or complaining of breathing difficulties.
Most started falling ill in October, when the capital's air quality dipped to hazardous levels and waiting times for doctor's appointments have stretched longer than usual.
Toxic air is a recurring problem in Delhi and across parts of northern India during the winter.
There isn't a single cause behind the problem, but a mix of factors like low wind speeds, industrial emissions, vehicle exhaust, dropping temperatures and the seasonal burning of crop stubble in neighboring states.
Since last month, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) - which measures different types of pollutants, including the level of fine particulate matter PM2.5 that can clog lungs - has been hovering between 300 and 400. This is more than 20 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organization.
Readings above 400 affect all healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases, but high exposure to PM2.5 hits children and the elderly the hardest.
Across the capital, many hospitals have seen an influx of children who are sick because of the unbreathable air.
These particles can affect the child's immunity, especially because their system is still developing and the cells are learning an immune response in the early years, Dr. Shishir Bhatnagar, a pediatrician at the Noida clinic, told the BBC.
These cases have increased tenfold in recent years. In my experience, if I normally see 20-30% of patients with such complaints, that number shoots up to 50-70% during the pollution season.
Each year, the government rolls out emergency steps - halting construction, banning polluting vehicles - to curb the smog. This year, it even tried cloud seeding to trigger artificial rain, without success.
But none of it has helped ease the pollution crisis that sparks anxiety among the city's 20 million people - particularly among parents of young children.
Khushboo Bharti, 31, recalls the night of November 13 when she rushed her one-year-old daughter Samaira to the emergency room.
I remember her waking up with a violent cough that made her vomit several times, Ms. Bharti says, recounting her panic as she saw her daughter's condition deteriorate.
At the hospital, the toddler was treated with strong steroid nebulization and oxygen support for two days, later being diagnosed with pneumonia.
Since then, Ms. Bharti is perpetually on edge. Even if she coughs just a few times, I panic.
Parents fear that the lethal air may have caused irreparable damage to their children's health, further compounded by research showing that air pollution is leading to issues such as stunted development and compromised immunity in children.
Living in classes divided by economic means, the struggles against pollution have been considerable, particularly for the economically disadvantaged.
For now, Delhi is limiting children’s exposure by postponing outdoor sports and shifting classes to hybrid formats, but this is not a universal remedy. Many working-class families are still heavily affected, with their children's lungs bearing the brunt of this environmental crisis.
The debate continues on how to best protect the next generation from a future enveloped in toxic air.
