---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Pankaj Kumar <[email protected]> Date: Sun, 1 May 2022 at 10:49 Subject: Re: [itpmods:16645] Fwd: D S Rawat: 15 Glorious years of Efloraofindia To: itpmods <[email protected]>
Very nice write-up sir. Thanks for sharing. Pankaj On Sun, 1 May 2022 at 11:17, J.M. Garg <[email protected]> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > From: J.M. Garg <[email protected]> > Date: Sun, 1 May 2022 at 08:34 > Subject: D S Rawat: 15 Glorious years of Efloraofindia > To: efloraofindia <[email protected]> > Cc: D.S Rawat <[email protected]> > > > *A Decade with efloraofindia* > > I am an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences in the G.B. Pant > University of Agriculture and Technology Pantnagar where the main stream is > Agriculture. We are fortunate here to have a college of Basic Science & > Humanities wherein the independent departments of basic sciences like > Biological Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Maths etc exist. We have a program > of M.Sc. Botany and Ph.D. Botany in the department of Biological Sciences. > Being a teacher, I have ample opportunities to teach and share whatever I > know with good listening students. In fact I chose to be a teacher after > serving as a state govt officer for about a decade. > > My journey with ‘efloraofindia’ started suddenly when I received an email > from Garg Ji inviting me to join the group in late 2012. I didn’t know what > prompted him to invite me and how he located me? I was unaware of such > groups on the net and had little knowledge of computers. Just following the > inherent spirit of adventure, joined the group considering ‘see what > happens’. Similar to my many trekking ventures in Uttarakhand this also > proved worthy and memorable. I sent my first request for identification of > a species of an uncommon *Vicia* species and got it identified. It > encouraged me that I am at the right forum to discuss my identifications. > Since then I have been posting my pics (though nowadays little active) with > self determined identities, sometimes these are corrected by knowledgeable > members/ experts. Despite practicing floristics since my M.Sc. days in > 1987-89 I found many plants difficult to identify but these get identified > easily in eFI. Association with the efloraofindia group has grown to about > one decade long for me. This journey with eFI has been happy and > satisfying- taking the help of others and sometimes helping others too. I > was in fact surprised when I was asked to become moderator first and later > as pillar. These are not simple responsibilities and I often shy away from > such responsibilities considering the fact that the dedication required for > such work is difficult to generate and the essential duties of a job allow > limited time to invest in such volunteer work. This long association of > learning with efloraofindia has made me its fan as well as its student. > Now, when I go to any botanical tour it always lurks in the mind that what > new I will find and share in the efloraofindia group. Collecting, > photographing and sharing something rare or new has a pleasure of its own > kind to me and probably all of us here. > > I am now also a member of a few other plant related groups (mainly added > by moderators) and understand that our group (efloraofindia group) is > incomparable to these. Here we have members always seriously trying to > reach the correct identity of a species as compared to other groups where > people casually suggest the identities which many times are completely > unrelated. Once in a group I tried to correct one id and received unwanted > comments, consequently, I stopped commenting. Here in efloraofindia we > suggest the ids and if these are wrong no one uses such comments and it > gives a chance to learn. After all, no one is a perfect expert. The modesty > seen here is amazing together with the apt interventions by the moderator. > > I feel proud being a member, an ardent fan and student of efloraofindia > group which is a ‘good teacher’ teaching Indian flora on the net. And who > will not feel proud being a member of the largest pictorial database on > Indian flora? I wish to see eFI as the complete database of flowering > plants of India with all 21000 species (approximate number of flowering > plants); a database of its own kind in the world where one can contribute, > help others or ask for help, all free and amicably. To me eFI is the most > successful Citizen Science endeavour in India. > > I feel happy whenever a hard core taxonomist joins the group and enriches > the pool of experts available in eFI. We need many more experts here to > make it a high class referable repository by correcting all dubious > identities. > > To me eFI is such an indispensable resource that when I explain a > flowering plant family in PG classes and share brief notes with students I > never forget to share the link of the same family in eFI. This allows them > to see a large number of species known in India. > > The biggest benefit from efloraofindia group and eFI for me was the > stimulus to start my own Google site eflorapantnagar > <https://sites.google.com/view/eflorapantnagar/home> where I have put a > large number (though not all) of plants of Pantnagar for the benefit of my > students and others interested in plants. It was not possible to start it > without the support I got from Garg Ji and Dinesh Ji. > > When eFI was a Google site I was trying to add information or do minor > editing as was being done by many other members at that time but after its > transfer to another server everything had to be managed by Garg Ji. I > admire his zeal for this cause but somewhere in the corner of my heart I > feel pain for not being able to share his work even for a minute task. > > At the completion of 15 years of efloraofindia I congratulate the team eFI > (esteemed outstanding contributors > <https://efloraofindia.com/2020/08/02/outstanding-contributors/>, the > pillars <https://efloraofindia.com/2011/11/12/pillars-of-efloraofindia/>, > experts <https://efloraofindia.com/2014/09/16/subject-experts/>, > moderators <https://efloraofindia.com/2011/01/12/moderators/>, major > contributors <https://efloraofindia.com/2011/01/12/major-contributors/> and > all the members) and bow my head to express awe to the ‘triveni’ of Garg > Ji > <https://efloraofindia.com/wp-content/uploads/attachments/10001527_412106022258010_1588519322_n.jpg-attredirects-0>, > ‘Saarthi ‘सारथि’ of eFloraofIndia > <https://efloraofindia.com/2022/02/21/saarthi-%e0%a4%b8%e0%a4%be%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%a5%e0%a4%bf-of-efloraofindia/>’ > and ‘Pitamah of eFloraofIndia > <https://efloraofindia.com/2014/11/14/pitamah-of-efloraofindia/>’. > > It is also the right time to reiterate my earlier words- *hope we all, > combined together by a thread of selfless service in eFI, reach to the > remotest and last species of India and showcase it here!* > > Dharmendra Singh Rawat, Pantnagar > > > -- > With regards, > J.M.Garg > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "ITPmods" 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/itpmods/CA%2BiuSFCaqTPG4%3DJGwkd%2BeitbVJWSHoyo%3Df90Ag09LtiWgWzMoQ%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/itpmods/CA%2BiuSFCaqTPG4%3DJGwkd%2BeitbVJWSHoyo%3Df90Ag09LtiWgWzMoQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- *Pankaj Kumar* MSc, PhD, FLS *IUCN-SSC Orchid Specialist Group Asia* Lam Tsuen, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong S.A.R., P.R. China *email*: [email protected]; [email protected] *Phone*: +852 9436 6251 (mobile) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ITPmods" 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/itpmods/CABpo8%3D2JqFOg847VRfc4YeF%3D_BeYrZf7FxoY%2BhT6YnB05%2BH2OQ%40mail.gmail.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/itpmods/CABpo8%3D2JqFOg847VRfc4YeF%3D_BeYrZf7FxoY%2BhT6YnB05%2BH2OQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> . -- 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%2BiuSFBb2HO4cKZoLFfjvLvBdiWw7Uk1JqC1pgKeMUSLLjyxzQ%40mail.gmail.com.
