Party hard, but mindfully

Meet Deepesh Bhaskar of Chennai-based startup Nilayaan who is focussed on making celebratory events easy on the planet and our collective conscience

If you are a Jay Gatsby with a propensity for throwing extravagant parties (recall the central character in Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby), then you would not want to let Deepesh Bhaskar anywhere near your event planning team. Deepesh would gauge the success of any celebratory event by what it leaves behind or rather, what it does not. The numero uno at an environmental services startup named Nilayaan (@nilayaan.earth), Deepesh dons many sustainability hats, one of which is that of a minimal-waste celebration consultant. 

The path to Nilayaan was paved with a dramatic event (as distressing as it was transformative), days of brow-knitting reflection, course alteration, fresh learning and finally as with any entrepreneurial effort, a leap of faith.  Having pursued a bachelor’s as well as a master’s degree in social work, Deepesh initially transitioned into marketing for financial stability. But everything changed the day he encountered a cow choking on a plastic bag in the middle of a road. Along with his friends, he tried desperately to save the animal, but the effort proved futile. The cow died cradled in Deepesh’s arms. The experience left him shaken.

“I knew I had to do something,” he recalls. The COVID-19 lockdown gave him the opportunity to turn reflection into action. As he continued working in marketing, he delved deep into plastic research and waste management. A course on Climate Change and Sustainable Development from the Centre for Science and Environment opened his eyes to the direct link between soil health and climate change. He soon realised that true impact required systemic change, not just individual action. And so, he started Nilayaan — an environmental services startup dedicated to making sustainability a fundamental part of events and everyday living — in the middle of the pandemic.

Nilayaan’s philosophy is anything but obtruse: introduce Nature-based solutions in people’s everyday living and they will carry that ingrained practice into their moments of celebrations. After it sows the seeds of awareness among individuals and communities, Nilayaan nurtures what grows out of the effort by lining up the right tools for segregation and composting. It offers choice in terms of composting kits, and the buyer can match one with their composting situation at home or organisation. Here is illustrating this idea with a few example presented on its Instagram page. A Nilayaan “climate warrior” was “reluctant to compost prayer flowers with kitchen waste and opted for Pooja Ganesha [home composter] through which her family alone will save 70kgs of flower waste out of landfill every year.” There is Prithvi Khamba for home gardens. There is the Khama Three Tier Stack Composter “designed to manage the daily kitchen for home with 2-3 persons.” The list goes on.

As one can see from the testimonials on its Instagram page, many of those who have brought Nilayaan on board as their minimal waste celebration partner have been impacted by its work prior to it. Baby showers, birthdays and weddings form the chief part of the minimal-waste celebrations organised by Nilayaan. 

Deepesh is embedded in the sustainability ecosystem, a situation that enables him to bring various entities — examples include Namma Ooru Foundation and Upcyclie — on board to drive different aspects of what makes an event zero-waste.  The regular is interspersed with the out-of-the-way, now and then — such as the Harris Jayaraj’s concert (‘Rock On Harris’) in October 2023 that Nilayaan associated with as a minimal-waste celebration partner. 

Recalling the Harris Jayaraj concert, Deepesh says, “There was so much food waste. But with the right planning, we turned it into a resource instead of garbage.” An Insta post provides specific details: “We converted 87 kilograms of food waste into nutrient rich compost and recycled 250+ kilograms of plastic waste.” Deepesh notes food that was left untouched reached needy palates as we had partnered with a food redistribution NGO.