We are living in the midst of a pandemic. COVID19, caused by SARS CoV2 has significantly affected us and our world. Like 70% of infectious diseases, SARS CoV2 is a zoonotic pathogen, one that has spillover over to humans from animals. Meta-analyses suggest that spillover events correlate with high mammal biodiversity, high land-use change and high human population density. We investigated two scenarios where we expect high probabilities of spillover in two Indian biodiversity hotspots. Viral diversity for harvested bats in northeast India revealed genetic evidence for paramyxoviruses. Sera from bats and people revealed shared antibodies for certain filovirus families, suggestive of spillover. In the Western ghats, we investigated Bartonella prevalence and phylogenetic diversity among small mammals in diverse natural and human modified environments. Our results reveal high prevalence (an average of 50%), establishing small mammals as reservoirs for the first time. Further, several Bartonella haplotypes were close to known pathogenic strains. While these exploratory studies shed light on unknown disease ecology, understanding both the hazard and risk of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases quantitatively will require long-term and in-depth field study. We hope to embark on such research in the future.