Witnessing sustainability from the cradle

Dev is just 1.5 years old, but has already covered considerable ground on the sustainability landscape 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. 

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.