Witnessing sustainability from the cradle

The Hindu

17-05-2025

Dev Chigurupati Prince is 1.5 years old or thereabouts. With some more passage of time, when he is old enough to demand bedtime stories, his mother Chigurupati Anjani would indulge him with one rare bedtime story, a story that has not emerged from a fertile pen, is real and continues to be lived, with many sequels to follow.
It is a story where none other than little Dev himself 'plays' the central role. This story in fact began before Dev was born and it featured him even then.
When Anjani was carrying Dev, she had a green baby shower on October 15, 2023, organised at St. Mark's Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Chromepet.
Ever since he was born, Dev has taken pitter-patter steps across a sustainability landscape, travelling alongside his mother and father, Blessing Samuel Prince.
'The swing that he used for four months is a hand-me-down,' says Anjani.
For the first one year since Dev's birth, the parents celebrated a monthly milestone, planting at least one tree on the day he would turn a month older. The diaper being used is a Super Bottom cloth diaper. The sight of used diapers on roads disturbs Anjani. One of her early decisions for Dev was to avoid disposable diapers. 'We see diapers scattered on roads, sometimes torn apart by stray dogs. I did not want to be part of that. It became a priority not to contribute to that kind of waste.' While cloth diapers require extra effort, especially while travelling, Anjani found the added work worth it. 'You need to clean, pack and wash them — even at restaurant stops — but it is a choice I made for the environment and animals. In the first year and a half, it is mostly about diapers. That is the main area where I tried to be mindful.'
Anjani and her husband are also careful about the toys and clothes they buy for Dev. The play gym was purchased from a second-hand store called @shoptwicetreasured on Instagram.
'We prefer wooden toys, especially locally sourced ones, and avoid shopping online where possible.' She adds, 'We try not to buy plastic toys. Thankfully, he is more into books, so we focus on buying books and only a few toys.' For clothing, she turned to traditional practices. 'For his clothing, during the first year, we stitched his clothes using leftover blouse fabric from saris.' She also made jhablas and other small clothes using soft cotton fabric available at home.
Even travel is planned with intention. Anjani carries her son's cutlery and food, including sathu maavu powder. Resorts have become easier to manage now, but she was very particular about what Dev ate during the early months. There are also certain baby products Anjani chooses not to buy. 'We avoid moisturisers, body washes, and commercial laundry liquids.' For washing his clothes, she uses a bioenzyme-based liquid called Sukizyme, recommended by Kavitha Sivakumar from Namma Ooru Foundation. 'It has a mild fragrance to mask strong odours.' She has begun introducing sustainability concepts to Dev. 'He has learned to segregate waste using blue and green bins.' She notes he already knows which waste goes where and is comfortable participating in the process.
Anjani talks to Dev about the 3Rs concept (Reduce; Recycle; Reuse). 'We don't use any special methods to teach him — we just sit and talk.' In fact, she has been talking to him about these concepts since he was just a few months old. 'He sees the visible changes, especially with segregation and recycling.'