Devanand came to Pondicherry with his parents in 1971 on a week’s summer break. When asked by The Mother (co-founder of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry) if he wished to study in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (SAICE), the three-year-old replied ‘yes’. Little did he know a simple ‘yes’ would change the trajectory of his life. That single week has since turned to 49 years, and Dev still finds himself in Pondicherry. Being dyslexic and differently wired, Dev found classroom studies to be a challenge that did not quite catch his imagination. He began ideating at a very young age and spent a large part of his schooling years outdoors, which brought him closer to Nature, laying the foundation for his concern for the environment. While graduating from SAICE, Dev worked at Refrigeration Technology, building a customised polyurethane foam-insulated deep freezer (PU foam was still not commercially available in India at the time) for the students’ canteen, demonstrating how superior insulation could reduce power consumption. Thirty-four years later, the gadget continues to be in service. From early on, Dev often sprouted ideas before their time. He started a Design Studio in the mid-1990s, experimenting with wide-ranging material from wood to steel, fabric to leather, interiors to construction, which later evolved into the UP-Cycle Studio, where “Everything Deserves a Second Chance”. He explores sustainable design working with industrial, urban and domestic waste. Among his ‘ecoventions’ is an upcycled Tripod for the Artificial Reef Project for Kuddle Life Foundation, Pondicherry, part of an inventive strategy to physically transform the local ecology. For Dev, thinking ‘out of the box’ is the norm rather than the exception, making him a natural problem solver. What moves him is the plight of the common man. Being self-taught, what drives him is the need to find honest, sustainable solutions. His areas of interest lie in solving everyday problems to more pressing issues like the environment; from Affordable Housing to Alternate Healthcare & Diet; from E-literacy to Urban Planning and more. Devanand sees himself as an innovator-initiator.