The short story “Microbiota and the Masses: A Love Story” by S.B. Divya was published for the first time in 2017.
Moena Sivaram lives in an airtight house where she created an isolated domestic biome that allows her to live without having to fear for her health. The price is the considerable difficulty for her in getting out of that house so as not to risk getting sick from some of the pollutants that infest Bangalore.
One day, a malfunction in the windows forces Moena to call a technician to fix the computer system that controls them. Rahul answers the call and, when she discovers that he’s a volunteer with an ecological group, Moena is strongly attracted to him but she knows very well that starting a relationship would mean exposing herself to serious dangers for her health.
This story’s title specifies that it’s a love story and from that point of view it’s conventional in the sense that there’s a woman who meets a man, and she finds him attractive physically but also for what he does in his life, and does some crazy things to win him over. What is around that love story gives meaning to the story, set in a Bangalore where pollution has reached very high levels.
The science fiction element isn’t particularly pronounced in the sense that it’s not that hard to believe such a story could happen today. Bangalore is already a city where pollution is a problem, even if less than many other Indian cities, smart homes are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and the biotechnologies described are evolutions of those available today such as the CRISPR genetic editing techniques.
The tones of the story are partly of a romantic comedy and consequently rather lighthearted but address important issues related to the environment. The setting in Bangalore is used to show urban decay as a result of human activities and the possibilities of using biotechnology to restore the environment.
The set of these elements is used by S.B. Divya in particular to show some possible biotechnology developments that could have applications in the environment. In the end, the biome and especially various microorganisms are the protagonists of the story as much as Moena. The scientific element is important but it’s not developed too heavily, so that part is easy to follow.
“Microbiota and the Masses: A Love Story” is a story that is sometimes even a bit silly in recounting Moena’s attempts to have a relationship with Rahul. However, the considerations about the environmental element are valid today, as there are cities where pollution is already causing health problems for many people, and in the future, the situation could worsen where no adequate action is taken. This short story is also available within the anthology “Avatar. Contemporary Indian Science Fiction”, available on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada.
