🎯

77,

777,

777,

777 

🌳

Our journey began not in boardrooms, but shaped over years of wandering, digital-nomading, meeting people, prototyping, and moments of personal-reflection ~~ and, definitely not in some overnight research sprint. 

From anecdotal wisdom spoken in a village dialect decades ago to global science confirming the same truth, the idea took form at its own pace - sometimes annoying slow, but always progressing and unveiling next piece of puzzle. 

This chapter of Coconaüts' origins story is called ~~ “Diya” ~~ the lamp that symbolizes both loss and light.

In Mar-Apr 2019, while building a gamified self‑care app (BetterSelf.Today), a series of interesting events around Earth-Hour-Day at a Starbucks Cafe, Goregaon, (Mumbai, India) nudged me to explore climate change. Asking questions - Is it real or corporate/political propaganda? What is the impact of inaction? What are the root causes,... action-plan forward?... and so on.

My ...(your co-founder here, hi! :))... science background let me cut through jargon and see the urgency. I asked myself: what action is simple, universal, and scalable enough to matter? 

One of the key answers kept pointing back to trees.

In July 2019, I was discussing the topic with my father, who had worked as a chemist at the Thermal Power Station of renowned BHEL - for most part of his career... single employer, spanning over 40 years! 

At some point, he recalled anecdotal words of his maternal grandfather, spoken in the 1960s:

“लोग बेहिसाब पेड़ काट रहे हैं, ऐसा चलता रहा तो एक दिन आएगा कि कोसों दूर तक कोई भी दिया जलाने वाला नहीं मिलेगा।”

Translated: People are mindlessly cutting trees without accountability. If it continues, a day will come when for miles there won’t be a person left to light the lamp for the dead.

(In many north Indian villages, there has been a practice of lighting an earthern lamp for the deceased in the family.)

The mental picture was stark, leaving me with a mix of confusion, doubt, and even a momentary feeling of hopelessness. Yet the “diya”~~ the earthen lamp lit for the departed ~~ etched itself in my mind. 

It pierced the darkness with its own light, symbolizing both loss when trees vanish and renewal when they return. That single sentence of rural wisdom carried a force rarely found in volumes of research.

In that moment, my heart had already given its verdict: challenge accepted.

Just days later, I came across a LiveScience article citing ETH Zurich’s Thomas Crowther: the world needs to plant one trillion trees. 

In the space of only a few days, a villager’s wisdom from the 1960s had found its unexpected cheerleader in cutting-edge science from 2019. 

Emotion and intellect converged ~~ and I knew my journey had to place trees firmly at its heart.

The pandemic pressed pause on everything, right when I was experimenting with raw ideas around incorporating trees in e-commerce user experience. Covid lockdown stretched on endlessly, forcing me into reflection ~~ and in that quiet, creative sparks began to form.This wasn’t a single eureka moment, but it was certainly a birthing phase. 

The broader idea of the Thannoverse (alien universe like Marvels, DCs etal.) already existed, yet during these months the Earth‑loving Thannos' astronauts ~~ Coconaüts ~~ surfaced. 

In story, they expressed a desire to start a business on Earth; in reality, I was out of a job and determined to try building one. 

The “diya” story stayed alive, guiding the next steps like the faint but steady glow of a lamp.

When lockdowns eased, business still hadn’t materialized, and I needed to return to a job. So I did. 

While working in the Netherlands at, Metabolic Inc., a sustainability consultancy ~~ often pushing extra hours that bordered on moonlighting ~~ the first practical mechanics knocked on the door: how to integrate trees into everyday business.

From that exploration came the prototype of TreeCard®: businesses gifting trees to customers. 

It became my first proof of concept that tree planting could be woven directly into commerce itself... not as plant-and-forget, but plant-with-memories.

Excited to build a business around TreeCard® ~~ I quit the job (nth time, once again) ~~ but, some seemingly customary struggles awaited to rock the early foundations in 2022. 

After surviving through some real life shockery, I returned to India in August 2022. 

To be honest, at this point, I seriously considered giving up, but the memory of the lamp, the science, and support of close friends and family kept me going. 

"Remember why you began,... finish what you started." (Thanks to the social media content creators).

I decided to resume fulfilling Coconaüts' desire - and spiced it up with an audacious, top‑down goal: 77,777,777,777 trees by 2029.

This number wasn’t chosen for the math alone. It was chosen as a living response to both wisdom and science ~~ a flame to carry forward. “Diya” became my reminder: to honor the past while lighting the way for the future.

At this point, I must also acknowledge that, Elon Musk's insane goal of ~~ "I am going to Mars,... we can figure out the hows along the way..." (not his exact words) ~~ did guide me to pick an insane enough goal, to further level up the challenge, that I had already accepted... without worrying about how it will be done, just trusting that the plot will unfold itself, as long as I stay committed.

That last chapter was Sep 2022, and today is Sep 2025 ~~ three years and 3000+ trees worth of experiments & Proof of Concepts later. 

Over the 3 years, since setting the goal, we’ve worked primarily with college freshers & on-campus interns, and co-created the foundational mechanics that'd make tree planting fun, transparent, and rewarding: Ecofluence®, TreeCard®, TreeTicket®, Thannopoly® ~~ and accelerate the path to fulfill Coconaüts' desire of 77777777777 Trees, a gift to their beloved Coco (Earth).

These are not side projects ~~ they are the core systems we’re building to make sustainability part of daily life ~~ not only for individuals, but also for organizations, schools/universities, businesses etc.

The story of “Diya” is just the igniter. 🌍✨

Every pledge, every TreeCard®, every event adds light... and oxyjennizes our collective future. 

Desire fueled by anecdotal wisdom, measured-progress nudged by modern science, from one lamp-story to 77 billion trees ~~ we (facilitate) plant, play, and move together.

Village Spoke, Science Agreed, Coconaüts Powered‑On… and committed to shape it forward.

✨ And now we invite you: start a pledge for a teacher or batchmate, gift someone a TreeCard®, participate in current events, subscribe for future ones ~~ or even just reshare this story and send us your feedback. 

Every action helps move us forward.

Email: coconauts@betterself.today