sterday’s Plant Assassin is today’s Plant Curator, and Shayoni lives up to the adage aptly. A devout mother and wife that she is, it did not take her much to transition from Zoologist to a Botanist and discover her gifted green thumb.
Shayoni is MSc in Zoology and has also done a Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research and Data Management. She is a perfectionist by nature and has always been her own master. She decided to give up her career as a researcher on “Treatment of Ovarian Cancer with plant extracts” and be with her loving husband, where ever he is posted to. Slowly she got into researching and discovering her new self as a hardcore gardener, who knows how to learn from her mistakes and stand up stronger after every fall.
Her husband’s profession took her to new places and gave her the opportunity to explore and experience flora of different areas and varied climates. Thus, Shayoni got to collect a variety of plants from all over India and abroad and also learnt, though in a harder way by losing a lot and re-collecting them again, how to keep her plants going on and doing well in such a variety of climates. She trained her plants to tolerate periods of drought during the transition period in trucks from one posting location to another and they all seem to love her a lot and hence became more flexible to suit her requirements.
Love of her life are her husband, her two daughters, cacti & succulents (of which Sansevieria are her favourite), her bonsais, though not in the same order. She is a big encouragement to the new generation to be more empathetic to the environment and preserve the treasure that is readily available and shall perish if not protected.