Why I started reform
It started in the Andamans in 2022.
My wife and I moved there for a few months during Covid and worked remotely with Amazon. It was meant to be a short escape from the city. The island changed our pace. The quiet rhythm of life, the untouched coral, the joy of freediving in clear, azure water. We still talk about going back for longer. It is the kind of place that reorients your priorities, whether you want it to or not.
We always carried our own bottles, partly habit and partly respect for the place. But it was impossible not to notice the plastic. On roadsides, by the shore, and in bins near dive shops. Especially water bottles. And on an island, there is nowhere for that waste to go. No outside to send it to. It just piles up, visible and stubborn.
Something about that stayed with me.
Back in Bangalore, the pattern was even harder to ignore.
Life returned to its familiar tempo: office days, team meetings, weddings, and dinners out. But plastic water bottles kept showing up, and now I noticed them everywhere.
Plastic bottles in meeting rooms. Rows beside banana leaf lunches. Restaurants setting them by default on each table, unopened but always present. They sat there like part of the table setting, and most people reached for them without thinking. I always asked for regular water, but the habit around me was automatic.
It started to bother me. Not loudly, but steadily. Like a tap on the shoulder.
I was not trying to be an activist or to change the world. I wanted to fix something that did not sit right with me, something I could not unsee.
Our vision
I started to imagine a world where sustainable choices are effortless, making plastic bottles unnecessary because better alternatives are within reach.
That idea stayed with me, and I knew if I wanted to see it happen, I'd need to find a practical solution.
Digging deeper
I began researching everything I could about water packaging: plastic, biodegradable materials, glass, aluminium, and paper based formats. I went down rabbit holes, read papers, and chased footnotes.
Years as a lawyer had trained me for this kind of work: methodical, careful comparison, colour coded Excel sheets. Eventually, the answer became clear. Aluminium was the most sustainable option. Not just in theory, but in how it works in the real world. It can be recycled again and again, unlike plastic, Tetra Pak cartons, or most bioplastics. And unlike many biodegradable materials, it can scale.
This was a turning point. Aluminium was not only the cleanest choice; it was the most realistic one.
What this meant in practice
I started with the plastic problem, not the water. Once the solution pointed to aluminium cans, the rest followed. If we were going to offer a better alternative, it had to get three things right:
- Source: natural mineral water from the Himalayas with its original mineral profile, not RO
- Packaging: aluminium cans that can be recycled again and again
- Design: calm and elegant, at home on any table
A simple sustainable alternative to plastic.
And so, reform
It took time to get here. The idea surfaced in November 2023. I did a soft launch at a wedding conference in Jaipur in April 2024. By January 2025, I had the cans and labels I was happy with, and I left Amazon to work on reform full time. I was not trying to build just another water brand. The goal was simpler and clearer: offer a better alternative to plastic bottles.
Today, it is real
You will find reform cans at events, clubs, corporate offices, and sports venues. Sometimes as a statement. Sometimes quietly in the fridge. Guests reach for one, take a sip, and then ask where it is from.
That small pause is enough. When the sustainable option feels natural and good in the hand, it can become the default.
reform is still small. I am still learning. I still make mistakes. But every time someone chooses a can over a bottle, that discomfort I felt on the island becomes a little more useful.
Why write this now?
It is easy to talk about product details: packaging and minerals. But the reason reform exists is simpler: I noticed something I did not like, and I wanted to change it. First for myself, then for others who might feel the same.
That is all this is.
You might be wondering if this is where I ask you to try the product.
I am not sure. Maybe.
Or maybe it is enough to know where this came from.
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