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 paediatricians' 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 appointment had 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 neighbouring states.
Since the 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 paediatrician at the Noida clinic, told the BBC.
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, recounts a harrowing experience when she had to rush her one-year-old daughter Samaira to the emergency amid severe coughing. Despite the challenges, many parents are now considering moving out of Delhi to safeguard their children's health.
With outdoor activities restricted, the privileged few may adapt, but the economically disadvantaged face an overwhelming burden, living in polluted environments with little recourse to protect their health.
As the situation stands, parents in Delhi grapple with the harsh reality of raising children in a city plagued by pollution, where even the simplest cough can lead to panic and fear for their children's future.
