Why I love Efloraofindia Group?

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Gurcharan Singh

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Mar 20, 2011, 10:36:30 AM3/20/11
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Why I love Efloraofindia?


I have asked myself many a times why do I feel so involved with efloraofindia group and love interacting it? 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 should I spend my time.

I     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 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.

M  My request to some young members is not to get tempted to depict the show of authority and knowledge. The members are intelligent enough to understand the capability of each member. These young members have a great future, and I wish that learning from the experience of interacting in the group would bring great success in life.




--
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

Smita Raskar

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Mar 20, 2011, 11:36:14 AM3/20/11
to Gurcharan Singh, efloraofindia
Yeah i love this group too....there is one more reason why i love it..
Gurucharan sir always try to bind everyone together in conditions of controversies..:):)
--
Smita raskar
308 Disha Residency,
Salaiwada,Sawantwadi
Mob.09422379568

Yazdy Palia

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Mar 20, 2011, 11:37:39 AM3/20/11
to Gurcharan Singh, efloraofindia
Dr Gurcharan Singh ji,
Many thanks for letting us know all the reasons why you love the
group. From my interaction with the group, which is not so regular
since some time now, I know one thing, "You will never grow old".
Thank you for being what you are.
Regards
Yazdy.

On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 8:06 PM, Gurcharan Singh <sing...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ritesh Choudhary

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Mar 20, 2011, 8:51:36 PM3/20/11
to efloraofindia
Yes, I too love this group very much!!

Thanks Gurucharan Sir for this mail.

Due to my busy schedule and a visit to India, I missed to go through
the recent developments and could not contribute much to the group.
But I realized that I cannot keep myself away from this group for a
long time as I love it too much. Now I am back and soon will upload
fotos from Bihar and Sikkim.

Thanks again!

Best regards,
Ritesh.

J.M. Garg

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Mar 21, 2011, 1:03:56 AM3/21/11
to Gurcharan Singh, efloraofindia
Thanks, Singh ji.
But for you, this group would not have been where it is today.
I am greatly relieved that you are taking great care of the group in my absence (due to creation of species databse in Efloraofindia website).

--
'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna'
The whole world uses my Image Resource of more than a thousand species & eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise): http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg. You can also use them for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image.
For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please visit/ join our Google e-group- Efloraofindia:http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix or https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/ (more than 1550 members & 64,000 messages on 28/2/11 & with a database of around 4500 species on 15/12/10)

formp...@yahoo.com

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Mar 21, 2011, 2:35:28 PM3/21/11
to Gurcharan Singh, Efloraindia
Dear Sir ji,
I liked the write up. Many times I have expressed myself why I like eflora. But today I can't resist telling a story
Yesterday in our society members feliciteted me for becomming Dean. One honourable lady who has done her Ph.D in child psycology and was a pricipal of B.Ed. College in her speech said--
In our life we have four stages. In the first stage we are a small child spending most of the time with parents.
In second stage we take education in school and college.
In third stage we take a job, get married, get our achievements in life and start thinking about retirement mostly from the age of 55. And then spend our time slugishly in office in the pretex that we will retier in two/three yrs so why work? And we retier. This occurs in 95% of the cases. But remaining 5% think that they should utilise their knowledge for betterment! Which may be betterment for themselves or for office or for society. This is called as vocational maturity. Since they have achieved vocational maturity they r of great help because their experience and expertise in the field is really comandable.
I will like to say that you are on that mode now. You are utilising your knowledge, time, patience for betterment of the group and people like us.
Hats off to you!
Bye
Madhuri

Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel


From: Gurcharan Singh <sing...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2011 20:06:30 +0530
To: efloraofindia<indian...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [efloraofindia:65205] Why I love Efloraofindia Group?

Gurcharan Singh

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Mar 21, 2011, 9:39:32 PM3/21/11
to formp...@yahoo.com, Efloraindia
Great Mathuri ji 
That was a really nice one, thanks a  lot.

Long live efloraofindia
Long  live our story telling group
 

-- 
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ 

Padmini Raghavan

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Mar 21, 2011, 10:23:32 PM3/21/11
to Gurcharan Singh, efloraofindia
I love this group ( and have never failed to try to get friends, relatives and anyone who has the time to listen to me involved in it ) because of the selfless way those with knowledge reach out to help in ID-ing and clarifying doubts of others, be they junior botanists or lay people like me.
 
I have been told that I am a fool to give my pictures ( which I am inordinately proud of at times, since I am a Point-and-Shoot photographer,
who is irritated by F-length and aperture etc.) to be used by all and sundry, but I feel I should be proud to follow in the footsteps of Garg-ji who has thrown open his huge collection to the world at large.
 One is remined that "Not by bread alone...."
 
Each good catch thrills me no end so though I know that I will not make any money out of it, I have the rich glow of satisfaction of adding to the bank of illustrated knowledge of Indian flora.
 
Since I am at the fag end of my professional career, ( fortunately as of now, gynaecologists  in private practice are not given the pink slip at age 58 ) it is good to have an absorbing hobby which can be pursued while remaining in the city, where I am on call at all times.
 
My thanks go out to the moderators and senior members of the group for maintaining decorum and to all others for adding colour to the exchanges.
 
 With regards,
Padmini Raghavan.

Rakesh Biswas

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Mar 21, 2011, 11:37:33 PM3/21/11
to Padmini Raghavan, Gurcharan Singh, efloraofindia
Thanks Gurcharan ji and others.

I have learned a lot from this group and i am glad that learning has not remained confined to learning only about flora.

regards,

rakesh

Dinesh Valke

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Mar 22, 2011, 12:07:17 AM3/22/11
to Rakesh Biswas, Padmini Raghavan, Gurcharan Singh, efloraofindia
Dear friends ... one of the chief reasons for liking this group is that the members do not tire while they repeat sharing knowledge again and again for the benefit of new members. Members have varied enthusiasms - thus have found that queries of different nature have solutions readily shared. Importantly errors and mistakes (from scientific view) are always at a check. Each one is expert as well as humble in their own way. My salutes.

Personally, am just a plain lover of nature, the fact is: I am gaining more than what I am sharing !!!

Regards.
Dinesh

Inderjeet Sethi

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Mar 22, 2011, 2:31:25 AM3/22/11
to Dinesh Valke, Rakesh Biswas, Padmini Raghavan, Gurcharan Singh, efloraofindia
Dear friends,
Although, I am not a taxonomist and cannot contribute much in the discussion but I do enjoy reading the information posted about plants. Whenever I go to any place and I find interesting plants I know I can get  them identified quickly thru this group which earlier was not a possibility.
I have interest in fungal flora and there I may be of litttttle help. There also I have learned a lot thru interaction with the group.Thanks everybody, I love the group.
--
~ik~
Dr.Inderjeet Kaur Sethi
Associate Professor
Department of Botany
SGTB Khalsa College
University of Delhi
Delhi-110007
M: 9818775237

satyendra tiwari

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Mar 22, 2011, 11:19:17 AM3/22/11
to indian...@googlegroups.com
Dear All,
What an easy question to Answer.
Where else you can find so many Botanist-Taxonomist so easily. Each and every querry is answered in a very easy manner.
Garg Ji has done a great job by introducing us to all the experts on Indian Treepix.
It is difficult for me to name one or ten people who helped me in Id my plant querries on Indian treepix.
I salute you ALL for helping me in the past and wish to get the same co-operation in the future.
With Best Wishes.
Satyendra 
--
Satyendra K.Tiwari.
Wildlife Photographer, Naturalist, Tour Leader
H.NO 129, P.O.Tala, Distt Umariya.
M.P. India 484-661
Park Entry fee is constantly under revision since last one year. We take no responsibility for any changes in park rules / fees. We will endaevour to let you know as soon as we know of such changes.
To know more about Bandhavgarh visit following links.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/satyendraphotography
http://tigerdiaries.blogspot.com
http://skayscamp.wetpaint.com
SKAY'S CAMP is awarded QUALITY rating by Tour Operator For Tigers (TOFT). http://www.toftigers.org/accommodation/Default.aspx?id=15
Review Skay's Camp on TripAdvisor
00-91-7627-265309 or 09425331209

Ushadi micromini

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Mar 23, 2011, 1:35:23 AM3/23/11
to efloraofindia
Very nice...
since I have joined only recently.... I would appreciate knowing what
are
"the group norms..."???
(see item 7 of Dr Singh's write up where he is praising Tanay
for I quote ..".at this young age has attained the high level of
maturity
> after joining this group." end quote....) ..
and in item 8 this same message is repeated...
So I think sticking to group norms is something every
newbie needs to know....
my grandfather used to say always learn from other's mistakes,m so you
do not commit the same mistakes and waste time....
so I humbly ask ...WHAT ARE THE GROUP NORMS...?
Thanks.
Usha Desai MD

The message was : (((On Mar 20, 7:36 pm, Gurcharan Singh
> Phone: 011-25518297 Mob: 9810359089http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ )))


===================

Gurcharan Singh

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Mar 23, 2011, 8:56:15 AM3/23/11
to Ushadi micromini, efloraofindia
Ushadi ji
There are some written and some unwritten norms of the group. First type are available on the group website, and they mostly pertain to photographs meant for ID. Some new members are generally unaware about these or don't realise the importance of these: just the main ones: maximum three mails for ID per day; each photograph suitably resized to approx. 800 x 600 pixels; subject line should have  unique subject line on format ddmmyyyy+member initials+his/her mail number for ID for the day; There should be accompanying information about place, altitude, habitat, habit, height of plant, leaf size and type, flower size, fruit size, etc.  Unwritten norms are not to write any thing that can offend others, maintain harmony, give your alternate suggestion rather than saying that other person is wrong .

-- 
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ 

Usha Desai

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Mar 23, 2011, 1:53:22 PM3/23/11
to Gurcharan Singh, efloraofindia
Our Dear Gurucharanji
Thanks for being on this group..I love the group because whenever I come on the group..I learn something new.
I think you all are doing a great service to plant lovers.
with regards Usha

On 20 March 2011 20:06, Gurcharan Singh <sing...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ushadi micromini

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Mar 23, 2011, 6:58:49 PM3/23/11
to efloraofindia
Dear Dr. Singh: First...thank you....
I had indeed read the rules.... they are kind-a obvious, but your
message
seemed to say something other than what is obvious, hence I asked....
Thanks for clarification....

Even before formally joining this group I have learned a lot from Mr
Garg's
wiki pictures,
and sometimes this group's pages pop up in trying to do plain googling
or
image search for some unknown tree or flowers.... and I have gotten
new info...
thanks again.
Usha Desai MD
ps. Ushadi is Ushaben in Bengali...no ji is necessary if using
Ushadi,
otherwise plain old Usha ji is ok.... whichever you prefer...
I write MD etc here because there seems to be many Usha s who are
active here...
==================


On Mar 23, 5:56 pm, Gurcharan Singh <singh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ushadi ji
> There are some written and some unwritten norms of the group. First type are
> available on the group website, and they mostly pertain to photographs meant
> for ID. Some new members are generally unaware about these or don't realise
> the importance of these: just the main ones: maximum three mails for ID per
> day; each photograph suitably resized to approx. 800 x 600 pixels; subject
> line should have  unique subject line on format ddmmyyyy+member
> initials+his/her mail number for ID for the day; There should be
> accompanying information about place, altitude, habitat, habit, height of
> plant, leaf size and type, flower size, fruit size, etc.  Unwritten norms
> are not to write any thing that can offend others, maintain harmony, give
> your alternate suggestion rather than saying that other person is wrong .
>
> --
> Dr. Gurcharan Singh
> Retired  Associate Professor
> SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
> Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
> Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/
>
> On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 11:05 AM, Ushadi micromini <
>

Gurcharan Singh

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Mar 23, 2011, 9:31:17 PM3/23/11
to Ushadi micromini, efloraofindia
Thanks Usha ji
Every day is a learning experience for all of us


-- 
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ 

Gurcharan Singh

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Mar 23, 2011, 9:53:42 PM3/23/11
to Ushadi micromini, efloraofindia
Thanks Usha ji and Ushadi

You prompted me to write the most important reason why I love this group, here it is:

9. The most important thing why I love this group is that "in spite of some occasional sharp exchanges,  members on 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 Rahida ji wanted to leave the group for some unpleasant episode, but all of really saw that they don't leave. Similarly Pankaj ji left the group temporarily because I wrote some thing to Tanay about the norms 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".


-- 
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.

Mahadeswara

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Mar 24, 2011, 6:54:01 AM3/24/11
to efloraofindia, Gurcharan Singh
Gurucharanji,
You are simply great.

On Mar 20, 7:36 pm, Gurcharan Singh <singh...@gmail.com> wrote:
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