Published at Gurcharan Singh- Story of efloraofindia to celebrate 15 years of its completion on 17.6.22 <https://efloraofindia.com/2022/04/27/gurcharan-singh-story-of-efloraofindia-to-celebrate-15-years-of-its-completion-on-17-6-22/>
On Wed, 27 Apr 2022 at 16:09, J.M. Garg <[email protected]> wrote: > *Two things changed my life style: a digital camera presented by my son, > and my joining indiantreepix* in 2007 (thanks to Dr. Janamurty who > introduced me to this group (from TAXACOM, where I used to send my > photographs)). It has changed my lifestyle. I am looking forward to > visiting more and more places. I was lucky to plan visits to Western > Himalayas along with Nidhan ji, Balkar ji and other members to capture a > large number of plants. While in California, I have photographed plants in > thousands (but upload only those which are relevant to our Flora), the most > recent trip to California and Toronto in 2019 was most productive > with capture of nearly 9000 images. > > Why I love Efloraofindia? > > I have asked myself many times why do I feel so involved with the > efloraofindia group and love interacting? I found the following answers: > > 1. I love the group because it has given me a good reason to keep > busy after retirement (I felt involved even before formal retirement), so > that I don’t have to think about how I should spend my time. > > I love the group because it has given me a reason to restudy, > catalogue, digitise my herbarium collection of more than 10,000 specimens, > which were lying unattended due to my busy teaching schedule. I would be > uploading these as a virtual herbarium. > > 2. I love this group because it has now given me a zeal and plan to > visit as many places as possible. More important, visiting these places in > different months so that I am able to find, photograph and have new plants > to report in the group. Adding these to my publications would be a bonus > for me. > > 3. I love this group because of our prominent members Garg ji (who > in spite of being the owner of the group, has never given the impression of > authority), Dinesh ji (the architect of its great advancement), Satish > Phadke ji (the great strength of the group), Vijayasankar ji, Shrikant ji, > Nayan ji, Nidhan ji, Balkar ji, Prashant ji, Tabish ji, Pravin ji, Devendra > ji and Promila ji (the great experts, who don’t allow any plant to go > unidentified, and at the same time are great examples of high morality and > great humility, the examples to be followed by our youngsters. > > 4. I love this group for plant lovers Neil ji, Yazdy ji, who own a > huge collection of plants in their estates and never hesitate to share > these. I salute Neil ji for his great knowledge of plants. > > 5. I love the group for members like Nalini ji, Madhuri ji, Padmini > ji, Aarti ji, Rashida ji, Pankaj Oudyia ji, Anand ji, our story telling > group, who never miss an occasion to add spice to the information, and > never allow the discussion to lose its interest. Mani ji and Antaryamy have > added flavor to these interactions by their frequent Hindi couplets. > > 6. I love the group for its young experts Pankaj ji, Mahadeswara ji, > Giby ji, Rajdeo ji, Muthu ji, Smita ji, Ritesh ji, Mayur ji, Manudev ji, > Raghu ji, Shantanu ji for their great expertise, love for plants and never > hesitating to share their point of view, although maintaining the high > standards of communication. They are the future of the group. Snehal ji, I > am happy, is learning it fast. Others who interact less frequently, and I > am able to recollect their names may please excuse me. > > 7. I love Tanay (the only person I don’t attach ji) the most, > because this young fellow who has such a great knowledge of plants from > every part of India/World at this young age has attained the high level of > maturity after joining this group. > > 8. Our new active members Alok ji, Puttaraju ji and others are > enriching our database and gradually adjusting to the group norms. > > 9. The most important thing why I love this group is that “in spite of > some occasional sharp exchanges, members of this group love each other so > much that no one is allowed to leave the group easily. There were occasions > when some important members like Dinesh ji, Tanay or Rashida ji wanted to > leave the group for some unpleasant episode, but all of us really saw that > they didn't leave. Similarly Pankaj ji left the group temporarily because I > wrote something to Tanay about the norms of the group. Tanay became my best > friend (or my favourite) from that day, but Pankaj ji left the group, to > rejoin after some time on requests from the members. I was the one who > suggested his return to the moderator group again. That is the beauty and > strength of the group. Incidentally Tanay and Pankaj are only two members > in the group for whom I have dropped suffix ji, perhaps being so dear to > me. > > -- With regards, J.M.Garg -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/indiantreepix/CA%2BiuSFDzzDYA10Qxe7oD7oNFo040%3DrGij2uGVJ4O3coYMtpGxA%40mail.gmail.com.
