Agasthya 5.1 Lets continue to write & share

As you would have realised Agasthya has changed hands, there is a new & young editorial team and of course a new look. When some of us first thought of kick-starting Agasthya way back in 2007 the idea was to write from field notes and even from memory and my editorial read 'Lets write and share'. The idea still remains the same and people should put pen to paper or key in their observations in a delectable style that encourages one to read. It's hard to say how far Agasthya has come but as Vivek said, it is the most read newsletter in ATREE! And that does send a good feel! We have often received comments that 250-300 words does not convey much but we have had over 150 articles in the last 4 years all short and sweet which are read by many. People have read each Agasthya from start to end and said that they could do so because it's short and simple. It's not the number of words that matter. Rather it is what and how you want to convey a message. My suggestion for writing 250-300 words article is to write a larger article and cull the bits of exciting info for Agasthya and keep the rest for your blogs!

In terms of future, this newsletter or an 'avatar' of it should become a vehicle for people of the landscape to express their concern about environment. An active citizens group should be writing in it and circulated widely. At the same time there should be articles on natural history which of late is slowly declining and needs to be rekindled. We know very little about the natural world in our backyard and writing about it would be revealing to the people in the landscape who need to realise that they are fortunate to live next to a global biodiversity hot spot.