If you happen to needed to sum up Chennai in three phrases, what would they be?
Site visitors. Humidity. Alternatives.
However what if a type of phrases might sometime be… flowers?
Now think about this: you’re at a busy roundabout in Guindy, engines buzzing, solar beating down, and immediately, a burst of vibrant yellow catches your eye. Dozens of tall, golden sunflowers sway gently within the breeze. You decelerate. You smile. Your temper lifts.
That second, that sudden pleasure, is strictly what Shefalii Dadabhoy (51) is making an attempt to create.
At first look, Shefalii might appear to be simply one other multi-talented entrepreneur: a banker-turned-chef, a photographer, and the founding father of ‘Shefs’, a boutique Chennai bakery identified for its beautiful floral brownies. However beneath her suave desserts lies a far larger dream — one rooted in soil, daylight, and a love for city greenery.
Shefalii desires to show Chennai into India’s very first Sunflower Metropolis.
“I by no means thought associating Chennai with flowers was unusual,” she says with a delicate snort. “However folks would inform me, ‘We’ve by no means considered Chennai and flowers in the identical sentence.’ That solely pushed me additional.”
What started as a single sunflower patch in her rooftop backyard in Rutland Gate, Nungambakkam, in 2024, has since bloomed — fairly actually — right into a citizen-led motion. As we speak, greater than 150 residents, faculties, and workplaces are a part of ‘#SunflowerCity’, a rising inexperienced initiative geared toward bringing pleasure, pollinators, and a way of calm to the concrete chaos of city life in Chennai.
‘The enjoyment of sunflowers is infectious’
Shefalii, a passionate city gardener for over 12 years, didn’t got down to launch a citywide motion. All of it started in 2024 with a easy experiment on her rooftop in Rutland Gate, Nungambakkam. She cleared a 15×30-foot patch and planted over 1,000 sunflower seeds, not sure of what would come of it. However what she witnessed over the subsequent few weeks left her in awe.
“I used to only stand there and watch them develop from seed to bloom,” she recollects. “It introduced a lot pleasure.”
It wasn’t simply her. Mates would cease by, and shortly, they have been bringing different associates — simply to stroll by means of that golden patch.
“The enjoyment was infectious. That’s when it hit me — what if the entire metropolis might really feel this immense pleasure?”
With that thought, her sunflower dream started to take root. She began small, making a WhatsApp group to share gardening updates and alluring others to develop sunflowers too. An Instagram web page adopted, managed by enthusiastic teenagers from the neighborhood, serving to the concept bloom past her speedy circle. The group grew to become a hub of sensible information, sharing natural options like vermicompost and panchagavya, and cheering one another on by means of pictures and messages.
Phrase unfold shortly. Folks have been curious, excited, and keen to strive. Shefalii started distributing sunflower seeds totally free to anybody who needed to hitch in. “We’ve shared over 10,000 seeds already,” she says. “And I’ve personally grown over 5,000 sunflowers in three cycles.”
Importantly, the whole lot — from the seeds to the information to the workshops — is obtainable for gratis.
To assist new growers, she additionally put collectively a easy DIY digital information on learn how to develop sunflowers, protecting the whole lot from planting tricks to watering directions. These directions are additionally shared by means of posts and reels on their Instagram web page, making it straightforward for inexperienced persons to comply with alongside.
These curious to study hands-on are welcome to go to her rooftop backyard, the place Shefalii typically shares suggestions and strategies in individual. Nevertheless it’s not at all times her main the way in which — a number of the youngsters concerned within the initiative now conduct their very own small workshops for youngsters within the neighbourhood.
“It’s really a folks’s motion,” Shefalii says. “I genuinely consider for those who got down to do one thing for the better good, folks will come collectively. It doesn’t matter for those who’re a schoolkid, a grandfather, or an industrialist — that is for everybody.”
The stunning energy of a sunflower
Whereas sunflowers might appear to be only a cheerful splash of color, Shefalii is fast to level out that their advantages run far deeper. Because the motion grew, extra folks started asking — why sunflowers?
“Sunflowers are improbable pollinators,” she explains. “They entice bees and butterflies, enhance biodiversity, and even assist enhance soil well being. In actual fact, they have been utilized in Hiroshima to take away heavy metals and radiation from the bottom,” she provides, explaining their means to soak up toxins from the soil.
It seems, Chennai’s local weather — typically thought of too sizzling for many flowers — is definitely good for sunflowers. With ample sunshine and a little bit of care, they thrive finest in April and August, making them a becoming selection for town’s environmental and emotional panorama.
From school rooms to petrol pumps
The Sunflower Metropolis mission has taken root in sudden locations. At KC Excessive Worldwide Faculty, Chennai, Director Valli Subbiah, who watched Shefalii’s work, was immensely impressed and led a undertaking that blended science and artwork.
Underneath the undertaking, Class 6 college students studied phototropism as they tracked sunflower development, whereas youthful youngsters explored the flower by means of artwork, drawing inspiration from Japanese modern artist Yayoi Kusama, identified for her daring use of polka dots and immersive floral themes. “It was a phenomenal interdisciplinary undertaking,” Subbiah says. “We referred to as our college students ‘Little Gardeners’.”
“I’d wish to credit score Angel Roshika Alice, our secondary science trainer, and Nancy Ninan, our major trainer, for his or her fixed effort in involving the youngsters and serving to create this stunning backyard of sunflowers,” she provides.
In the meantime, in Dindivanam, entrepreneur Girish Pandian planted over 300 sunflowers round his newly inaugurated petrol bunk. “Prospects are available in, they see the flowers, and there’s an on the spot spark of pleasure. I’ve seen youngsters run in to take selfies, folks smile as they refuel — one thing so simple as a flower brightens their day,” he says. “It’s not only a petrol bunk anymore, it looks like a backyard.”
Girish is now on his third planting cycle and has even began harvesting seeds from earlier batches to maintain future development.
“Initially, I didn’t know a lot about rising sunflowers, however Shefalii’s directions have been straightforward to comply with,” he says. “You simply should watch out with watering. To start with, sprinkle calmly — an excessive amount of water can kill the plant earlier than it will get robust.”
Rising pleasure throughout Chennai
As we speak, the sunflower motion is rising organically throughout town. Faculties just like the American Worldwide Faculty, SOS Villages, and Sankalp (a college for youngsters with particular wants) are all collaborating. Even Ford’s campus on OMR Street is becoming a member of the bloom brigade.
“It’s not nearly gardening,” says Shefalii. “It’s about pleasure, neighborhood, and therapeutic. When somebody grows even one flower, they share it with such delight. That’s the ability of nature.”
She provides, “Every single day I get updates from folks I’ve by no means met, exhibiting me their blooms. However what connects us is the happiness of rising sunflowers.”
A imaginative and prescient for a blooming metropolis
Shefalii goals of protecting each roundabout, public park, and empty patch of land in Chennai with sunflowers. “Think about driving by means of town and seeing a sea of blooms. That’s the dream.”
The initiative stays open to partnerships with faculties, firms, and even authorities our bodies. “Nature is the true artist,” she provides. “We’re simply its curators.”
Whether or not you’re a toddler with a flowerpot or a enterprise proprietor with a yard, ‘#SunflowerCity’ welcomes you. As a result of, as Shefalii places it, “I’ll have planted the flower, however the pleasure it brings belongs to everybody.”
Curious to be a part of the bloom? Comply with @chennai.sunflowercity on Instagram.
Edited by Khushi Arora; All photographs courtesy SunflowerCity
