Sunday, December 20, 2020

How to Reform Tamilnadu Police?

 Hello World,

 

 It is about time we realize, we need to step in collectively to save Tamilnadu police to make sure they retain their capacity to save us. While we cannot get Joslin back, we can definitely ensure no other girl gets shot in the face.

The police officers need a 8-hour shift. They need at a 5-day work week. They need to be compensated for the 12 days holidays the rest of us civilians enjoy. 

The police officers are supposed to be deployed into actions that will use them as trained law enforcement units. Buying vegetables for senior officers' families and transporting their parents around family functions should not be the tasks of police officers.

They need controlled access to relevant fire power to fight serious/violent crime.

The list goes on but these are just my views. The sustainable solution comes out of asking a police officer. To those of you who care, here is a discussion with a ex-police officer from Australia. Tamilnad police can definitely learn from this discussion. So can we, especially those of us in the 18-25 years age bracket as they are the ones who stand a chance to get to decision making roles in law enforcement in the years to come.

The existng batch of 45-55 year olds have failed us for decades. They were busy sending us to schools. it is about time we took the baton from them and take this journey forward.

Here is the discussion with Tony Angus:

 


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Friday, December 18, 2020

Why are Brahmins always blamed for most of the social issues in India?

 

Hello World,

 


 Every time we start discussing any social issue in India, we almost always reach a stage where 'blaming Brahmins' becomes an eventual consequence that becomes unavoidable. It is about time we recognize this trend of brahmin-bashing.

Yes, we need to solve this bias by design. Yes, we need to stop holding brahmins responsible for every social problem in India.

However the solution is not possible without the key ingredient - Brahmin participation. Unless brahmins start speaking up supporting social equality, social justice and start criticizing fellow brahmins who display caste-pride and/or caste based bias towards people, we are not going to solve this. We need a reason to say Brahmins have evolved. We do not see that reason anywhere.

While we look out for reason to support brahmins, we should also look into the reason behind the trend of blaming brahmins for every social issue.

Here is a discussion covering video evidence featuring a brahmin presenting the reason for 'persistent brahmin bashing':


 

 

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Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Parashara Smrithi: Analysis of Anti-human Sanskrit Literature

 Hello World,

 


 There are quite a few smrithi's (sanskrit literature associated with the hindu faith system) and it is not just Manusmrithi which dictates controversial social policies. Parashara Smrithi is equally bad.

Here are a few samples and guess what, the translation is done by Brahmins and not any western individual.
















Here is a discussion covering the same:



 

 

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Sunday, December 13, 2020

Tamilnadu Politics under the control of Non-Tamil Private Companies!!

 Hello World,

 


 I never knew political parties in Tamilnadu have been hiring private consulting companies to advise them on their political moves. As it turns out, non-Tamil consulting companies are helping Tamilnadu political parties design and implement their respective political campaigns.

 

 

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Wednesday, December 2, 2020

American Racism and Indian Casteism: The Striking Similarity in the Abuse of Minorities Across Cultures

 

Hello World,

 


Have you ever considered the idea of oppression across cultures and time having a similar pattern?

I did and over time have come to realize there is a pattern and social discrimination across cultures have striking similarities.

Racism and casteism are two distinct discriminatory issues related to different countries and cultures. However, they are the same in terms of their concept of operations.

Here is a discussion with Dr. Ashleigh McKinzie, who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology where we explore the similarities and differences between American Racism and Indian Casteism:

 

 

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Monday, November 30, 2020

The Cunning Dravidam and its Cruel Disregard for Welfare of Tamils

 

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Hindutva is chocking cultures across India. It is aiming to end every real culture until the only thing remains in India is itself.

Tamil culture is under this attack. Tamil culture is so helpless that even hindutva-oriented student organizations can decide what books should be read by students in Tamilnadu.

For many years, Tamils trusted Dravidam, the political ideology that has been ruling Tamilnadu for decades now, believing it will stand up for the welfare of everyone in Tamilnadu. However that belief is being proven wrong and the evidence is overwhelming when we look more clodely.

Right wing student organization had registered a complaint with an university management in Tamilnadu and successfully removed Arundhati Roy's book from the MA - English Literature syllabus. 

Dravidam did nothing. Some of their allied parties who are mere followers of Dravidian political parties have now responded but they haven't succeeded in getting a solution.

Dravidam claims so much and it has all the money and manpower. However, it did nothing to reverse what a small comparatively weaker right wing student organization could achieve. The right wing groups are having their way with Tamils and Dravidam is watching Tamil culture fade away.

It is about time Tamils realize their mistake. However, they need to know what happened and how Dravidam has evolved into a money-making machine which is willing to sell Tamils to anyone who offers a better price. Here, in this discussion, I present my argument:


 

 

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Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Learning English and Public Speaking: Tips for Tamils of Rural Tamilnadu

 

Hello World,

 


 14 years ago, I stepped into a place called college and sat along with my fellow classmates. Out of approximately 58 in our class, 7 of us were from the Chennai region. Since we were from the urban landscape which has a mix of cultures and access to various value added services, we grew up in a situation where speaking languages other than our native language was a necessity to some extent. We grew up speaking and studying Hindi and English as a consequence.

My fellow classmates, baring those who from the city, came from villages and towns not as big as Chennai. They grew up in a situation where 99% of their lives depended on their native language, Tamil. Some of them even did their schooling in Tamil medium.

Over the semesters during college, I noticed that speaking English was considered a 'Respected Skill' and not being able to converse in English meant something inferior. We city-bred kids were not Shakespeare ourselves but we were comfortable dancing with our deficiencies. We were comfortable using the few words we knew to write and speak in English. My fellow classmates from rural Tamilnadu did not feel that way as they did not have the access to English as much as we city-bred kids did back then.

Often times, lecturers would insult my fellow classmates by forcing them to speak in English and made sure they felt bad for not being able to speak up in front of the class. I now know that 70% of the difficulty they faced was fear of public speaking which I share with them. However, the remaining 30% was their inability to construct simple sentences in English. 

It wasn't fault and still they paid heavily for something that was thrust on them.

Over the years, I also noticed some of my relatives were curious about learning to speak English and they would ask me about it. I would tell them that I am not an expert and I myself make mistakes and that most people do so. 

It took me years to figure out that my fellow Tamils from rural Tamilnadu did not have a difficulty in learning English.

All they have been battling is their difficulty in figuring out how they can teach themselves.

Here I am, more than a decade after I witnessed my fellow classmates being insulted for 'Bad English', with what I consider a starting point to this burning yet untouched issue. 

I sincerely hope, this discussion with a specialist in public speaking, will help my fellow Tamils of rural Tamilnadu to evolve their own self-learning schemes so they can communicate effectively in English:


 

 

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Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Solution to India's Right Wing Extremism: Understanding the Hindutva Template

 

Hello World,

 


 Hindutva is growing stronger and this is endangering the lives of many Indians. Many lives have already been lost to the rise of the right-wing-extremism under the Hindutva banner.

It is now time to conciously act on this issue to ensure our future generations do not face the dangers we face today. 

However, to know what to do, we need to know what is happening. 

Knowing what is happening is not complete until we understand where it started. 

Knowing where it started is not going to enable us unless we interpret the pattern of evolution of right-wing extremism in the name of Hindutva.

Following the RSS website and connecting the news items from multiple media outlets is one way of doing it. 

If you care to better understand how Hindutva operates and more importantly, if you wish to learn how to individually keep track of Hidutva terrorism, here is a discussion just for you, presenting the insights with some circumstantial evidence:

 


 

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Thursday, November 19, 2020

Preventing Domestic Violence in the Absence of its Documentation

 Hello World,

 


There is a source for pretty much every piece of data we might look for. Ever wondered if that is the case for domestic violence issues?


If someone files a police complaint, or takes the issue to court, the police records and court filings serve as data sources. However, not all domestic violence issues get to the police station or court.


We live in a society where many forms of violence happening in households remain undocumented. This violence can include acts of crime we are not capable of detecting or predicting. 


What we can do is prevent such violence from happening. 


Here is a domestic violence expert Dr. CarollAnn Peterson explaining how we can do that:



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Periyar Predicted it Right in 1941!!!

Hello World, 




Periyar knew that the Tamil population cannot survive while remaining attached to the religious propaganda built over caste identities. Here is his prediction from 1941 which stands true to this day!

   

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Monday, June 1, 2020

Covid-19: Coincidences and Correlations to Know before the Next Wave


Hello World,



The world is battling the Covid-19 pandemic and it is now struggling to keep the coronavirus from spreading while also maintaining the economy intact. While the public health crisis is no way near the end, the governments seems to heavily focused on the economic impact, almost as if, the success of businesses and economic recovery can cause the mutation and subsequently the extinction of the virus.

While there is no doubt that doctors and virologists do not have the attention of the administrators in most countries including our own, there seems to be a wave of ignorance rising among the public which is very close to concluding the Covid-19 crisis as fake news.

Amidst the ongoing chaos, I, as a common man have been following the Covid-19 crisis since the day the lockdown was announced. I have been noticing some weird trends and the political leaders blaming everyone but themselves indicated to me that there is something that remains lost in the chaos. I started speaking with virologists and doctors who have been treating Covid-19 patients and those who have even advised their governments on the same. What they told me about their understanding of the virus and how the infection of the same impacts a human being did keep me awake for a few nights which finally prompted me to write this.

I started digging around to get a fact-based awareness and while I was able to corroborate most of what I heard from experts I spoke with, I couldn’t completely avoid what I noticed in the limited cross-reading that I did while navigating through the recently published Covid research papers.

This post, as such, is a compilation of the smaller pieces of information that caught my attention and my collective view of them. I see a picture emerging which I am presenting here. Now, I am neither a doctor nor a Covid-19 specialist in any sense. All I am is a Tamil speaking common man hardly eligible to be called an insignificant blogger. On that basis, I request you to not believe everything you read here without verifying it yourself. While I have distinct opinions documented here, I have, as in my recent posts, presented the specific source information that I consider as a reason for such opinions. This means you can see what I saw and form your opinion. I would only be interested in knowing how different your view is from mine. We might as well begin our journey.

Source: Presumed Asymptomatic Carrier Transmission of COVID-19

Patient 1 (presumed asymptomatic carrier), a 20-year-old woman, lives in Wuhan and traveled to Anyang on January 10, 2020. She initially met with patients 2 and 3 on January 10. On January 13, she accompanied 5 relatives (patients 2 through 6) to visit another hospitalized relative in Anyang District Hospital (Figure).”

Clearly the transmission seems to be more direct as the asymptomatic carriers and others had visited hospitals to meet Covid-19 patients. This also seems to have happen ed at a time when the concept of asymptomatic carriers being able to transmit was established and informed in the public domain.

“Patients 2 through 6 developed COVID-19. Four were women, and ages ranged from 42 to 57 years. None of the patients had visited Wuhan or been in contact with any other people who had traveled to Wuhan (except patient 1).”

This clearly indicates secondary transmission as direct contact with Covid-19 patients had not been established. While the carrier had remained asymptomatic, those who received the infection had developed the symptoms. This does raise the question as to what happens with the asymptomatic patients.

Source: A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster

“They and one asymptomatic child (aged 10 years) had radiological ground-glass lung
opacities.”

This indicates even asymptomatic patients develop symptoms except the externally visible symptoms remain absent while the internal symptoms remain active! I am not a doctor nor a specialist who understands medical terms correctly. However, I do realize that this 'ground glass opacity' is a medical term that needs to be clarified before concluding anything about it.

Source: Ground-glass opacification

Ground-glass opacification/opacity (GGO) is a descriptive term referring to an area of increased attenuation in the lung on computed tomography (CT) with preserved bronchial and vascular markings. It is a non-specific sign with a wide etiology including infection, chronic interstitial disease and acute alveolar disease.”

This indicates that the ‘radiological lung opacities’ are actual consequences of an infection/condition which is anything but normal or safe. Asymptomatic patients are those who do not show external symptoms of fever, cough etc. However there has been an instance of an asymptomatic patient having lung conditions indicating the abnormal state of the asymptomatic patient’s health.

How many asymptomatic patients are we letting go every day and how many of them are out there with lung issues (the ground glass opacity)? What if their internal symptoms worsen and they enter a state beyond the point of recovery (severe lung infection reducing their ability to take in enough oxygen)?

Source: Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR

Detection range for SARS-related coronaviruses from bats
At present, the potential exposure to a common environmental source in early reported cases implicates the possibility of independent zoonotic infections with increased sequence variability [5]. To show that the assays can detect other bat-associated SARS-related viruses, we used the E gene assay to test six bat-derived faecal samples available from Drexler et al. [13] und Muth et al. [14]. These virus-positive samples stemmed from European rhinolophid bats. Detection of these phylogenetic outliers within the SARS-related CoV clade suggests that all Asian viruses are likely to be detected. This would, theoretically, ensure broad sensitivity even in case of multiple independent acquisitions of variant viruses from an animal reservoir.”

Based on news and media outlet publications, the Covid-19 pandemic began from Wuhan, China. However, this finding above indicates that European Rhinolophid bats’ faecal samples tested positive for viruses like that of Covid-19. It also considers ‘independent zoonotic infections’ as a common environmental source for this pandemic. Now, this drives me to think about the presence/distribution of Rhinolophid bats because if Rhinolophid bats are the source of Covid-19, then this risk is supposed to be in all the places they are present, geographically. This assumption does need us to factor in the possibility of this specific strain of covid-19 virus (otherwise termed as one of the SARS-Cov viruses) being present in the Rhinolophid bats across regions. For now, I am curious as to where I can find these Rhinolophid bats.

Source: Genomic Characterization of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus in European Bats and Classification of Coronaviruses Based on Partial RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase Gene Sequences


The image above, while is an unassuming depiction of the distribution of Rhinolophid bats, it is a deeply disturbing piece of information to me. This is mainly because, now that I realize Rhinolophid bats, amongst other bats carry a whole family of SARS-Cov viruses, I am afraid as to how many such health crisis is, we already risking by exposing ourselves to those bats. Now, mere presence does not indicate transmission and or eventual health risks. However, it does become relevant when we factor in the variable of human-induced impacts that result in such adverse exposure and infection. Before we proceed to the human-induced impacts, I think we need to get a better understanding of the distribution of Rhinolophid bats.

Source: Greater Horseshoe Bat



The image above explains that these Rhinolophid bats or the horseshoe bats have a broader and rather global presence. Now, given that these bats are being considered the primary zoonotic source, I am curious to see how the global Covid-19 distribution is.

Source: COVID-19 situation update worldwide, as of 31 May 2020



Now the image above adds to the already disturbing perception I am struggling to get my head around. Wherever the bats are expected to live are where the Covid-19 infections prominent. The US still is an outlier in this regard. There are quite a few countries including India where the Covid-19 numbers are rising rapidly. Now, however random and distant it might seem, I think, it is worth looking into horseshoe bats in the regions outside the prominent zones.

Source: New Distribution Record of Blyth's Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus lepidus Blyth, 1844 (Chiroptera : Rhinolophidae) from Eastern Vidarbha, Maharashtra, India

It is distributed in 20 states in India. It has been reported from Rajasthan (Prakash  1963;  Senacha 2003;  Sinha  1979),  Madhya Pradesh (Brosset, 1962; Khajuria 1980; Wroughton 1913), Southern  Gujarat  (Chakraborty  and  Agrawal  2000). In Maharashtra  state,  Helwak  (Wroughton  1916);  Kanheri caves, Nashik Road (Brosset 1962); Pune (Talmale 2007); Khandala,  Lonavala,  Lohagad  fort,  Karnala,  Ratnagiri, Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar (Brosset 1962); Khopoli (Tiwari et al. 1971); Mulshi, Junnar, Bhimashankar, Mahabaleshwar (Korad 2005; Korad et al. 2010).”

“This species is widespread in South Asia and Southeast Asia. In South Asia, it has been recorded up to an elevation of 2,330 m above sea level and is known from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, and India (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi,  Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa (now Odisha), Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal (Molur et al. 2002). In  Maharashtra state, Helwak (Wroughton  1916); Kanheri caves, Nashik  Road (Brosset 1962); Pune (Talmale 2007); Khandala, Lonavala, Lohagad fort, Karnala, Ratnagiri, Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar (Brosset 1962;  Korad  et al.  2006);  Khopoli (Tiwari et al. 1972); Mulshi, Junnar, Bhimashankar, Mahabaleshwar (Korad 2005; Korad et al. 2010).”

The above references to locations indicate that these bats do have a broad presence across regions, especially India. The Maharashtra locations catch my attention as when I try to understand the connecting link between those places, they are forest areas and some of them are in mountainous regions (Western Ghats specifically).

Now, while I feel like traveling further in this, I do see a strong speed bump with respect to these India locations. Most of the Indian states mentioned above have high Covid-19 case count. Maharashtra seems to be the hotspot for these bats as well. However, this to me does not indicate anything regarding Covid-19 transmission from the bats here in India. We clearly got the infection via Airports and the globally growing human to human transmission modality. What raises my concern is the potential possibility of us (Indians) having been earmarked by the existing presence of SARS-Cov virus family that might have made our susceptibility to the human-to-human transmission which is taking its toll as we speak.

The reason is simple. The infection is expected to have originated from these horseshoe bats. The states with these horseshoe bats are displaying high number of Covid-19 cases.
I think there is more to this than what has been observed so far, given that all these observations are, in all fairness, strange coincidences amounting to a certain correlation while distinctly remaining away from potential causation.

Now, while the geographic distribution of Horseshoe bats falls within the regions of high Covid-19 case numbers, we need to establish clarity on the means of us contracting the infection from them. The Wuhan investigation so far reveals that wild game (predatory birds/reptiles) infected with Covid-19 virus was brough into the sea food market from where the pandemic began its journey of human-to-human transmission. The possibility of predatory species contracting a virus from bats materializes when the bats get exposed to those predators. Now, if a certain species has lived with such virus families for many years and have not transferred their infection to a wider group of predators it means they haven’t been exposed to the wider group of predators for so many years. Now, exposure to new group of predators means either the predators have ventured into the habitat of the bats or the bats have ventured out of their habitats owing to which they became visible and eventually vulnerable to wider group of predators. The question is: What could have happened that forced the horseshoe bats meet their new nemesis who, incidentally happened to be on our menu?

Source: Pearson's Horseshoe Bat

“Observed perch-hunting in Thailand, from which bats made regular sallies to capture prey. Feeding perches were used on consecutive nights, and were within or on the periphery of bamboo patches (Robinson et al., 1995).”

So, the Horseshoe bats (at least the kind mentioned above) have a habit of foraging in and around bamboo vegetation. While these bats have been identified to live in caves, they clearly have been dependent on bamboo patches for their food (insects mostly). The insects depend on bamboo and the bats depend on the insects. If our menu has items that can potentially contract a virus from these Horseshoe bats, it does indicate the possibility of us disturbing the bats’ menu directly or indirectly.

Source: Pandas' Bamboo Food May Be Lost to Climate Change

“The results suggest that if the bamboo is restricted to its current distribution area, between 80 and 100 percent of it will disappear by the end of the 21st century, because it won't be able to grow under the increased temperatures.”

Climate change, although widely disregarded by those who intend to reduce the costs of implementation of energy policies, is true in every sense and it has been impacting us directly and indirectly. Here, in the above reference, we find the possibility of climate change adversely impacting bamboo distribution. This is more indicative than conclusive. However, it does provide a view into the potential destruction of bamboo cover that might be already in progress. Clearly, with bamboo gone, gone are the foraging opportunities for bats that rely on the insects that live in and around bamboo patches.

Source: Recheck forest cover data, UN body tells India; flags concern about definition

“The global body has recommended that India delineate areas under orchards, and bamboo and palm cultivation for an accurate assessment of carbon stocks of forests. The exaggeration could fall at least in the range of 5-12% of the forest cover, going by the submissions made by India to the UN body and estimates by scientists at Indian Institute of Science (IISc).”

What we have done with the forest cover and the data we reported about it did not fly well internationally. The anomaly does however include ‘bamboo’ in the mix. This does not help conclude much but gives a direction for the next step: What did we do with the bamboo that might have impacted the bats directly or indirectly?

Source: Govt to unveil ‘bamboonomics’ for carbon credit & income

“The government plans to present at the ongoing at the ongoing United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP14) its plan to set up 100 Van Dhan centres involving tribals to make products from bamboo and build market for bamboo charcoal. These centres will come up in northeastern states, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.”

The demand for bamboo is high and so this idea seems all wonderful from an economic perspective. However, when it comes to selling agriculture produce, cultivating something and then harvesting it is vastly different from clearing the existing vegetation of the same. In most cases, especially in China which is a market leader in bamboo market, a wide variety of bamboo are cultivated exclusively for this purpose and harvested and exported. However, we are yet to increase our capacity in that regard. While this program seems to be a good start, I am afraid, we have chosen the dangerous short cut to temporary success – clearing the existing bamboo forest cover in the name of economic development. This needs to be validated from at least two ends to be sure such is the case.

Source: National Bamboo Mission



There we go. It is all out in plain sight now. Wherever this bamboonomics projects have been implemented (or planned to be, as reported), those are regions which already has an existing bamboo forest cover. These are also some hot spots for ‘tribal population’ which, on a different note, indicates the presence of special class of ‘Our Fellow Citizens’ who haven’t seen electricity and roads for many decades while we are fantasizing trips to the moon and mars. So, we have a government initiative focused on bamboo output covering regions which already has bamboo forest cover. Not all this bamboo forest cover will be cultivated farm grown bamboo. A major portion of this is going to be existing natural bamboo forest cover. Cutting this down is going to disturb the local food chains. This to me indicates the possibility of how we, here in India, forced the bats that depend on insects in bamboo forests to venture out for food and eventually became exposed to a wider group of predators. Since these bats already are host to a wide variety of SARS-Cov viruses, we, especially those who live in these regions have been biologically ear-marked for familiarity with these viruses. We were lucky that we did not get the Covid-19 strain as the first population. Look at the regions where Covid case counts are high in India and we will see that these parts susceptible to bamboo deforestation have some of the hot spots. Now, while we have established the possibility of how India made itself vulnerable, it becomes imperative that we investigate other countries that followed similar approach to removing bamboo forest cover.

Source: Golden Bamboo: Phyllostachys aurea




This map above indicates the presence of one species of bamboo which is extensively cultivated for domestic and export markets. This region also has some of the native bamboos found in the US. Native or introduced, large areas of bamboo vegetation get removed for commercial purposes and this brings in the recurring cycle of bamboo vegetation growing and declining. Again, nothing conclusive but indicative of how commercial pursuits present ecological shocks in a recurring format. The suspicion still is that we humans had ourselves earmarked for this Covid-19 strain by extensively disturbing the bamboo forest cover, be it native or introduced.

Source: The global distribution of bamboos: assessing correlates of introduction and invasion



The image above indicates that in many countries, 100% of the bamboo they have are introduced species, clearly indicating the presence of commercial pursuits chasing bamboo revenue causing cyclical ecological shocks as a consequence. As it turns out, France, UK, Germany and Canada have 100% of their bamboo, introduced. These are countries where Covid-19 case counts are growing and in some are exceedingly high compared to other countries globally. The US and Australia also have 80.8% and 96.2% of bamboo as introduced species indicating their participation in such commercial pursuits targeting bamboo. The western markets in general have always been key importers of bamboo historically and the persistent demand in the market is probably what drove them towards entering the same market as producers. The consequence: installing a steady cycle of ecological shocks that might have rendered their population indirectly exposed to SARS-Cov virus families. Again, there is nothing that I have seen clearly concluding this, but such is my interpretation as of now. This does raise the question: If bamboo forest is a key source of insects for bats, has the entry and exit of bamboo in these countries really impacted the entry and exit of bats?

Source: Greater horseshoe bats living in Kent after absence of 115 years

“One of Britain’s and northern Europe’s rarest and most elusive mammals has been discovered living in the east of England for the first time in 115 years.
The return to Kent of the greater horseshoe bat has delighted and astounded conservationists, who are now examining whether climate change is shifting the species’ range. The bat is normally found only in Wales and the west of England.”

Nothing conclusive at a global level but indicative of the fact that bat population once found missing have been rediscovered in the same regions and climate change is being considered a big driver. Bats once lived migrated away and now are coming back to where they used to live after a long gap. This does raise the question of bat migration and the presence of corona-virus families at a global level.

Source: Migration and dispersal patterns of bats and their influence on genetic structure

“In temperate climates, some species such as Plecotus auritus and Myotis bechsteinii relocate within the same area, and seasonal movements are rarely more than 100 km. Regional migration, of up to a few hundred kilometres, is recorded in several species (e.g. Myotis brandtii, Myotis daubentonii and Myotis myotis; Hutterer et al. 2005). Long-distance migration involving thousands of kilometres return flight is thought to be rarer. European examples of long-distance migrants include Nyctalus noctula and Pipistrellus nathusii (one-way maximum recorded distances 1600 km and 1905 km, respectively; Russ et al. 2001, Fleming & Eby 2003, Hutterer et al. 2005). North American examples include tree-roosting species in the genera Lasiurus and Lasionycteris, which undertake complex migrations of up to 2000 km from temperate to subtropical habitats (Cryan 2003).”

So, bats do migrate and some of them migrate over long distances spanning in thousands of kilometers. Some of the bats, especially the horseshoe kind are also said to be with a lifespan of 20-30 years. For such small creatures to live that long and to be able to travel long distances makes them unique and to me it is quite surprising that they could generate that kind of energy for migration and live that longer. Now that we know bats do migrate (not all of them) and cross breed, we can understand how microbes can migrate along with them. This now asks the clarity on presence of corona-virus families at a global level, so we can put these rather distant pieces together to come to an understanding of how creatures move around and mix and bring about the spread of microbes along with them.

Source: Global Epidemiology of Bat Coronaviruses



The image above is quite self-explanatory that bat-based coronaviruses have always been there, and they do have a global presence. This means there is a possibility of all the humans living in the respective regions have been exposed to, directly or indirectly the presence of bat coronaviruses and could have been ear-marked as a consequence. This could have made us humans more vulnerable to such viruses especially when ones such as the Covid-19 got in touch with us. Based on other reading I can confidently say bat coronaviruses are a big group and some of them have in the past caused dangerous outbreaks as well. However, not all bat coronaviruses seem to be causing dangerous disease outbreaks and this has been studied by many for years. I did notice in some research which discussed ‘host-shifting’ demonstrated by some of these bat coronaviruses and the reason largely explored was that when these microbes received a strong immune response from their host, they moved on to other bat species depending on accessibility to them. Clearly, bats migrating and cross breeding and sharing the same habitat (caves etc.) have provided this opportunity for such ‘host-shifting.’

Having looked at these stand-alone pieces of information, if I try to put these things together, this is what I get:

Asymptomatic patients display the same type of lung infection (or internal symptoms that are visible on CT scan etc.) as that of symptomatic patients.

The primary zoonotic source of Covid-19 is expected to be Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae family).

These bats have a widespread/global presence.

Wherever the Horseshoe bats have been identified, the Covid-19 case count is high.

Wherever the Horseshoe bats have been known to live, extensive deforestation targeting bamboo forest cover has happened (with varying levels of magnitude and intensity from region to region).

The bats, especially the Horseshoe bats depend on insects which in turn tend to breed more commonly in and around bamboo patches.

The presence of bat coronaviruses also has a global coverage with most regions having their presence.

We humans, especially those populations that have been exposed to bat coronaviruses directly or indirectly are among the groups which are facing Covid-19 outbreaks in large numbers. (The exceptions being those groups who, by design have been exposed to the outbreak owing to proximity to airports and presence in a congested urban landscape)

Summing up, I am forced to believe, we humans have always been vulnerable to bat coronaviruses and that we, with our commercial pursuits hurt the strong food sources of bats owing to which they had to venture out to be exposed to a wider group of predators which incidentally happened to be in our list of exotic meat source. We humans disturbed the ecology that provided the insects to the bats. They then had to be exposed to more predators. We met some of those infected predators and the pandemic began from that point onwards. Now, this does not discount the fact that this specific strain of coronavirus, the Covid-19, is something that we did not know until this outbreak began.

Since, bat coronaviruses have always been there and they have been known to mutate and evolve naturally, we humans have, all along been exposed these risks and at times also faced shorter outbreaks. We survived owing to timely efforts and the complex transmission modality of those outbreaks. This outbreak of Covid-19 however, turned out to be something we were not prepared for. We are paying for what is partially our fault, except the price is huge and it is in terms of innocent human lives.

Again, please do not believe me or accept my theory without personally looking into this. I could be 60% correct. I could be 80% wrong. What I wish to present is the opinion that we humans have been messing with nature in ways never seen before and therefore we are facing consequences of the same kind.

What do you think?

If you think this perspective is worth thinking about, please share this with those you think will benefit from this. Given the current circumstances where ‘green zones’ and ‘low case counts’ are being manufactured to support big businesses, the least we commoners can do is share our honest opinions about the ongoing crisis to enable each other’s awareness as it is in that awareness lies our collective safety and welfare.

If you understand Tamil, then this podcast below should be of interest to you as this covers views of virologists and doctors regarding the Covid-19 crisis covering essential topics such as transmission modalities of the coronavirus, impact of the virus on our respiratory system and the vulnerability and susceptibility we collectively share during this pandemic.



Best regards,