Published at https://efloraofindia.com/2022/06/20/prashant-awale-story-of-efloraofindia-to-celebrate-15-years-of-its-completion-on-17-6-22/ Posted it at the efloraofindia Facebook page <https://www.facebook.com/eFloraofIndia/posts/1785871875083546?__cft__[0]=AZX03ZPTLyZh4oNzIMKKc6wV874fzR2_bAMzNsxSciN9SOC8w7vOovjdqvLW_4iJGhEVXicd_xoiUrxopsMkvnD9zIUYWcd3DXd20ysFLM12J97SzXMboRP8BxRwsKpNkQGppQt1EqgIk47igHfxFnoTrQSbVGY-SD2A2PYpLwa22A&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R> . Pl. give it wide publicity in Social media, by posting it in your profile/ groups/ Instagram etc.
On Thu, 16 Jun 2022 at 13:53, Dinesh Valke <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear friends, > *Forwarding Prashant's story*. He has network connectivity problems at > this end. He is aware of the last date of submission having gone by; yet he > would like to submit his story for love and respect towards eFI. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > I was posted at CERN Geneva during 2003 - 2004. Was working on the Large > Hadron Collier (LHC) project. My hobby of trekking continued here also. Did > some Alpine treks and also few treks and cycling on the Jura mountain range > at the outskirts of Geneva. While photographing wild flora, I started > comparing the same with the Flora I had encountered during my treks in > Sahyadri hills and in Himalayas. My first Digital camera Sony P52 became my > favorite buddy. I think I got the best of my photographs with this camera. > > I had few field guides and books for reference but was desperately looking > for some websites to help me out with the identification. Being from > engineering background, it was bit difficult to start with as botany was > something which I had left long back. But slowly I started enjoying the > challenge posed in front of me by various plants for it's ID. This was the > time I came across the website " flowerofindia. net". Had interacted with > Tabish, the originator of FOI website. This website turned out to be a good > tool for non- Botanist like me to identify the plants. I too started > contributing to this website. > > My treasure of wild flora was literally seeing an exponential rise. > > Then one fine day I accidentally came across Indiatreepix. Joined the > Google group led by our torch bearer Shri J. M. Garg ji. > > To my surprise, Garg ji happened to know me thru FOI website. Thru this > website, I got the opportunity to know many stalwart from the field of > Botany. As the time started flying, I understood that this Google group is > unique. The members of this group are from diverse backgrounds and regions. > Subsequently this group was aptly named as eFlora of India. Even though we > would have hardly met all, but the type of respect we developed about each > other only tells about the passion each member is having about the plants. > Information exchange became very fast most of the queries posted by the > members were getting resolved almost instantly. On queries not getting > resolved, were getting resurfaced by the team of moderators of this group. > > Information like what is flowering where, who is exploring which region, > new additions to our existing library etc started pouring in. With so many > subject experts around, life became a bit easy going. > I am sure that many plant photos were first shared here by our members > even much before they were actually published as a new plant. > > Got so many new friends here. I remember meeting Dinesh for the first time > during our trek to Purandar fort along with Ushaprabha Pagey mam, hard core > trekker. Subsequently got the opportunity to meet Shrikant ji > (Ingalhalikar). All due to our eFlora of India group. Did many flower > exploration trips and treks with Shrikant ji and Dinesh. > > Our eFlora of India group is the perfect amalgamation of citizen > scientists, Taxonomists, Nature lovers, trekker, engineers and what not.. > > Database of eFlora of India started becoming richer day by day. > > I personally feel that this is one of the Google group which has sustained > for so many years and is growing day by day.. > > Off late I am not contributing much due to some health issues in my > family. However, I make it a point to see various posts by our esteemed > members. It also serves as a big stress buster. > > I personally gained a lot from our group and take this opportunity to > thank one and all. > > Thanks once again. > Warm regards > Prashant Awale > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > Regards. > Dinesh > > > > > -- 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%2BiuSFC-BLbWBoP1fZ5wSHp7XQzbtDaGn8qeii_iNs-_Tz3xZw%40mail.gmail.com.
