From Newsrooms to Nurseries: How A Man Built Assam’s Most Creative Flower Haven

In Khanapara, the ongoing Nandinii event has turned into a vibrant convergence of art, culture, food and enterprise. Nearly fifty small entrepreneurs from across Assam and the Northeast have gathered here — each carrying a story etched with struggle, reinvention and hope.

Among them sits a man surrounded not by machines or merchandise, but by flowers. His name is Gautam Patgiri, and his journey stands out as one of the most remarkable at this year’s event.

A resident of Kahilipara in Guwahati, Gautam spent nearly a decade working in the private sector, deeply involved in the graphics divisions of several electronic media organisations. It was a stable job, well-paying and respectable — but it was not his destination.

Parallel to the newsroom rush, Gautam and his wife Bharati Kalita Patgiri quietly nurtured their passion project: a small nursery they named Creative Garden. What began with a few pots and a shared dream slowly grew into something much larger.

As the nursery expanded, so did their belief. Eventually, Gautam made the bold decision to resign from his job and join Bharati full-time. From that moment, the couple began shaping Creative Garden into a unique identity — something no other nursery offered.

Drawing from his graphics background, Gautam introduced an innovative service: If a customer wanted to set up a home garden, he would design a full layout using graphic tools even before a single pot was placed. This meant clients could visualise exactly how their future garden would look once completed — a concept that set Creative Garden distinctly apart.

Since that January morning in 2018 when Creative Garden officially began, the nursery has flourished. Today, it occupies the entire rooftop of their Kahilipara home — a complete roof converted into a living nursery, something Gautam proudly says is rare in Guwahati. The first floor of their house also hosts a dedicated floral display studio.

Students from Assam Agricultural University now visit to learn how to build a profitable nursery in limited space — proof of how far the couple’s vision has travelled. Creative Garden currently houses 500 to 600 varieties of flowers, each grown with meticulous care.

But the nursery is not just about selling plants.

Gautam and Bharati offer end-to-end garden solutions — from indoor flower placement to landscape designing and full garden execution. Their work turns empty corners into living breathing spaces, transforming how people imagine greenery in urban homes.

In a time when many believe jobs alone define stability, Gautam Patgiri’s leap of faith challenges that notion. His story is a reminder that passion, when nurtured with skill and courage, can bloom into a livelihood that inspires others.

And it is precisely these stories of new thinking, bold transitions and creative entrepreneurship that Nandinii exists to celebrate.

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