Every morning as Saumyajeet Banerjee wakes up, he checks the pollution levels in his household air quality monitor.

"It is over 380 today. That is very poor," he said. Like many others, Banerjee has been forced to stay indoors to limit the exposure to the air outside and give up sports and other such activities.

As winter sets in across northern India, it brings with it high levels of smog and pollution. Pollution levels in the capital city of Delhi can reach hazardous levels, nearly six times the World Health Organization limit.

Delhi's residents are now resorting to self-help measures after the government initiatives have had a marginal effect. Here are some of the most popular methods Delhi residents use to combat pollution.

Face masks

This nominally priced remedy has picked up in popularity over the last few years. Many across the city can be seen wearing them on daily basis. Ahmed Bukhari who manages a store for a popular brand of face masks in Delhi's Khan Market area said he's seen a phenomenal pickup in sales since the Hindu festival of Diwali.

"We have hundreds of customers daily and sell at least 60-70 in a day."

Air purifiers

"I bought this last year for 45,000 Rupees (640 U.S. dollars)," said Banerjee. The air filtration device too has seen a steady uptick in demand with many global brands now vying for market space.

While some doubt its utility, the sales of air purifiers has skyrocketed in the city. In March, the Indian government, including PM Modi's office bought 140 of them. Experts estimate that the air purifier market stood at just over 46 million U.S. dollars in 2016, but in two years has grown to over 100 million U.S. dollars. It is expected to cross 300 million U.S. dollars by the year 2021.

Gooseberries and turmeric

Some have resorted to traditional Indian wisdom. "I buy turmeric in bulk and I make it a point to consume good quantities everyday along with warm milk and some honey," said Diksha Bajaj.

According to the Ayurveda, a system of traditional Indian medicine, turmeric and gooseberries are loaded with antioxidants and vitamins and believed to boost one's immunity and thus help in fighting the seasonal flu that the smog brings in.

Bajaj is not alone, Dr. Pradeep Marjhara, a medical practitioner for the last 20 years has also been prescribing the remedy to his patients. "Some people come in and say that they have the flu, so I tell them to increase their intake of Haldi (turmeric) and amla (gooseberries). Many are old or very young and don't want to take too many pills, so I tell them to substitute over the counter health tonics with ayurvedic remedies."

Plants

Plants are also becoming a popular choice among Delhi's residents.

"Our sell-through rate of ‘air purifying plants' is at an all-time high," said Satish Mehra, the manager of a plant nursery.

Aloe vera, Sansevieria, Areca Palm and Pothos, commonly referred to as the money plant, have become popular choices at his plant nursery as these plants are known to purify air and chemicals at a much better rate as compared to other plant species.

Kamal Meattle, an entrepreneur based in Delhi has come up with his own air purifying solution with the help of plants. At the Paharpur Business Center, one of the buildings that Meattle owns in Delhi, he's designed a centralized air purification system with the use of two rooftop greenhouses which house thousands of plants.

His building cycles in polluted air from the outside which is then cleaned by the plants in the greenhouses and cycled through the building. This enables the building to filter out common pollutants such as fine carbon particles commonly called PM2.5. 

"In our building, the level of PM2.5 which is the most common pollutant in Delhi is just eight, whereas right outside it may be even five, six or even seven times higher than the prescribed limit."

Meattle said there is an added benefit to the air purifying system. "Harvard and University of California have conducted studies to show that cognitive abilities improve if you live in clean air."

(Top image: Commuters travel along a highway amidst heavy smog in New Delhi on November 12, 2018. /VCG Photo)