In the world of microbes, we are insignificant beings. Such was the realization when we went for the inauguration of the event “World of Microbes” at Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil College in Navi Mumbai, India. The overnight travel did not deter us from participating in the excitement of the wonderful an unique event. As we stepped into the college premises, we had a grand welcome from the students and faculty.

The microbes were thrilled to be the chief guests of honour. There were gazillions of them, not just attending the event, but participating in it, making the amazing fermented foods that we love. These fermented foods made their way into food stalls, some presented as informative, handmade posters and talks. Different species of microbes were honoured in different ways, being presented as either disease-causing or beneficial. The colourful posters made painstakingly by students from the dept of microbiology highlighted the importance of these microbes in several aspects of health and disease.

Everyone looked at them with amazement and wonder, wanting to know more and more. This was followed by several discussions over several cups of tea, errr kombucha! When we started talking about the contributions of microbes in our lives, time stopped and nothing seemed more interesting. No amount of time we would spend on it seemed to be enough.

The amount of socialization we did in the two days of the event made sure we got our good share of a diversity of microbes from the environment. No number of followers on social media can give us that kind of diversity of microbes in our lives. Thinking about how we had masked ourselves and used hand sanitizers for the past two years and how it prevented that diversity from being established, this was a good opportunity to reestablish the microbes.

We came back rejuvenated, with a greater realization of their importance in our lives and with a promise of maintaining a greater diversity in our individual microbial collections in our lives. The event made us wonder about why we go on obsessing about killing microbes in every way and how we are conditioned to do it without knowing the reason or the long-term effects of the same.

Just as nothing is good or evil, so are the microbes in our lives. It all depends on our exposure, our immunity, our hygiene, our diet. We live in a microbial world. These wonderful microbes have been around for a lot longer than we humans have been. It is high time we know more about what they do, appreciate their place in our lives and know what they do for us.

At Microbiome Superhero, we truly appreciate their value in our lives and how we can harness their power to improve our overall not just physical, but mental and emotional health as well. Its after all a microbial world that we live in!

-Team Microbiome Superhero