"My mother once brought home a water hyacinth when I was young. We planted it in a washbowl and saw it grow through the years," says Salma Prabhu, 53-year-old Vashi resident
"My mother once brought home a water hyacinth when I was young. We planted it in a washbowl and saw it grow through the years," says Salma Prabhu, 53-year-old Vashi resident. "I've always loved gardening. Whenever we moved, I ensured it was a terrace flat so I could pursue my passion," she recalls.
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Prabhu is a clinical psychologist, career and rehabilitation counsellor, author, and avid environmentalist. This February, she started Gift a Plant Project (GaPP), a Facebook group that encourages people to gift plants on every occasion.
The idea behind GaPP was simple. "People buy all sorts of expensive gifts. Bouquets may be beautiful, but they perish. Why not gift a plant that one can take care of and have the joy of seeing it grow through time?" she says. She is now spreading her love for plants through terrarium and planting workshops. She organised her first exhibition of plant decoratives created in her workshops on Saturday, to coincide with World Environment Day. With almost all of the decoratives finding buyers and enthusiasts already rooting for a second session, the response has been overwhelming, Prabhu has worked with children from NGOs to prepare nilgiri and sagwan seed bombs - germinative clusters of seeds, soil and manure that can be strewn along highways so that they grow in the monsoon.
The project goes beyond just gifting, "I will be conducting free sessions across municipal schools of Navi Mumbai and NGOs through June and July to educate on plants and gardening. I'm also working on an instructional manual for people who can't attend these workshops. Festival and vegetable gardening workshops will soon be covered under this project too," she says about the future.
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