If you had to sum up Chennai in three words, what would they be?

Traffic. Humidity. Opportunities.

But what if one of those words could someday be… flowers?

Now imagine this: you’re at a busy roundabout in Guindy, engines humming, sun beating down, and suddenly, a burst of bright yellow catches your eye. Dozens of tall, golden sunflowers sway gently in the breeze. You slow down. You smile. Your mood lifts.

That moment, that unexpected joy, is exactly what Shefalii Dadabhoy (51) is trying to create.

At first glance, Shefalii may seem like just another multi-talented entrepreneur: a banker-turned-chef, a photographer, and the founder of ‘Shefs’, a boutique Chennai bakery known for its exquisite floral brownies. But beneath her artful desserts lies a far bigger dream — one rooted in soil, sunlight, and a love for urban greenery.

Shefalii wants to turn Chennai into India’s very first Sunflower City.

“I never thought associating Chennai with flowers was strange,” she says with a soft laugh. “But people would tell me, ‘We’ve never thought of Chennai and flowers in the same sentence.’ That only pushed me further.”

What began as a single sunflower patch in her rooftop garden in Rutland Gate, Nungambakkam, in 2024, has since bloomed — quite literally — into a citizen-led movement. Today, more than 150 residents, schools, and offices are part of ‘#SunflowerCity’, a growing green initiative aimed at bringing joy, pollinators, and a sense of calm to the concrete chaos of urban life in Chennai.

‘The joy of sunflowers is infectious’

Shefalii, a passionate urban gardener for over 12 years, didn’t set out to launch a citywide movement. It all began in 2024 with a simple experiment on her rooftop in Rutland Gate, Nungambakkam. She cleared a 15×30-foot patch and planted over 1,000 sunflower seeds, unsure of what would come of it. But what she witnessed over the next few weeks left her in awe.

“I used to just stand there and watch them grow from seed to bloom,” she recalls. “It brought so much joy.”

It wasn’t just her. Friends would stop by, and soon, they were bringing other friends — just to walk through that golden patch.