Actor-athlete Saiyami Kher has voiced her anguish over Mumbai's worsening air quality in a deeply personal social media post that has struck a chord with runners and fitness enthusiasts across the city. Recalling how her running journey began a decade ago on Carter Road, chasing the ocean breeze, she wrote she now steps out wearing a mask — reminding her of the pandemic, “except there's no virus… the air itself could kill us.”
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Calling clean air a basic necessity rather than a privilege, Saiyami shared how pollution has forced her to shut her doors and windows, buy an air purifier and shift her runs to a treadmill, “staring at a wall instead of the sea.” For someone who describes running as the one thing that keeps her mentally and emotionally whole, the change has been devastating. “The act I built my life around feels like it's quietly destroying me,” she wrote, questioning the lack of accountability.
Her post triggered a wave of reactions online. Indira Bisht echoed the sentiment beneath Saiyami's post, saying that with AQI levels nearing 200, running with a mask is the only option left and “it's not very good at all — a total dampener to one of the free joys of life.”
Krishna Anand, a regular at Carter Road, called the stretch “unbreathable and unlivable,” adding that he recently fell while running and had to get tetanus shots, alleging complete civic apathy. Another user Radhika A. Gupta wrote that when a simple morning run becomes “a risk calculation,” it shows how deeply broken the situation is, stressing that clean air is a basic right.
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Saiyami recently completed 10 years of the Mumbai Marathon — the race that marked the beginning of her endurance journey and eventually led her to global finish lines. In 2025, she became the first Indian actor to complete two Ironman 70.3 triathlons in a single year, a feat that demands a 1.9 km swim, 90 km cycling and a 21.1 km run in one day.
Known for balancing a demanding acting career with intense training schedules, she has often spoken about discipline, resilience and the transformative power of sport. This is not the first time she has linked fitness with environmental responsibility. While celebrating her marathon milestone earlier this year, she had said that a healthier India must also mean being able to breathe clean air.
Her latest post, therefore, is not just a personal lament but a larger appeal — that a country embracing fitness must also ensure an environment where people can breathe freely while pursuing it.
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