Wherever Nipun travels, the hope is simple: to support what's already growing in your community. Some gatherings reach a thousand people for an hour; others hold forty people for five days. Some happen in silence, some in a restaurant kitchen, some on a street corner with a stack of Smile Cards. The formats differ, but the spirit is the same — small acts offered as a labor of love, quietly weaving the trust that no budget can buy. Rather than deciding what to grow here, we begin by asking: what grows here?
Nipun will be traveling through India soon — if you'd like to host something during the visit, we'd love to hear from you.
Broad exposure — for when you want to invite a whole city, campus or company into the conversation.
A keynote or fireside conversation for universities, schools, companies, conferences and civic halls. Nipun's talks move between story and research, and between the inner and the systemic — what happens to us when we give, what remains human in the age of AI, why leadership is shifting into “laddership,” how communities regenerate trust, and what compassion looks like when it scales.
Talks land best when they open a door rather than close a topic — so we often suggest pairing a public talk with something smaller afterward (a circle, a brainstorm, a Kindness Drive) for those who want to go further.
What you'd bring: a venue, an audience, and a sense of the question your community is sitting with. We'll shape the talk around it.
Browse current themes: Topics & Themes · Past Talks
Instead of one person on a stage, an Evening of Inspiration braids together a constellation of voices — local changemakers, musicians, elders, young people, and a few guests from afar. Short stories, a few minutes of silence, a song, and conversations that make people lean in. The whole evening is offered as a gift: free to attend, hosted by volunteers.
In Vienna, for instance, an evening like this brought together an Ubuntu storyteller from Kenya, a permaculturist from Vietnam, a musician from Auroville, a humor activist from Portugal and local hosts from Ashoka and Pioneers of Change — a small “murmuration” that people still talk about.
What you'd bring: a warm venue, a handful of local voices worth celebrating, and a volunteer crew for welcome and hospitality. Registration keeps numbers intimate enough to feel like a living room.
Example: Being the Change — Vienna, 2025
Generosity is better experienced than explained. These formats put people in motion.
Participants break into small teams and head out into the neighborhood to do anonymous acts of kindness — thanking the sweeper and the security guard, leaving notes of appreciation, sharing water or chai, carrying groceries, listening to someone no one listens to. Each act leaves behind a Smile Card inviting the recipient to pass it on; Heart Pins get gifted to people who embody the spirit.
Then everyone comes back for the most important part: a circle to share what happened — on the street, and inside. It works beautifully with students, college groups, corporate teams and families. People arrive as participants and leave as practitioners.
What you'd bring: a group, a gathering spot near a lively neighborhood, a few team leads, and simple supplies (we can help with Smile Cards and Heart Pins).
Karma Kitchen began in Berkeley in 2007 with a simple experiment: volunteers took over a restaurant for a day, and every guest's bill read zero — their meal a gift from someone who came before them. Guests were invited to pay it forward for those who came after. The chain of gifts has since spread around the world.
For the volunteers, it is a school of service — hosting, cooking, serving and washing dishes with no expectation of return. For the guests, it's a quiet shock of trust. And for a city, it's a tangible taste of the shift from transaction to trust, and from scarcity to abundance. Nipun often joins the crew (usually as a waiter) and a short reflection circle closes the day.
What you'd bring: a partner restaurant or community kitchen willing to open its doors for a day, 15–30 volunteers, and an orientation session beforehand. The Karma Kitchen family can share its playbook.
Learn more: karmakitchen.org
Smaller rooms, slower time — where the conversation happens between people rather than at them.
Awakin Circles began decades ago as a weekly meditation in Nipun's family living room in Silicon Valley, and have since spread to hundreds of homes around the world. Many participants call them the most sacred three hours of their week. There are two ways to host one during the visit:
When Nipun passed through Vienna for just 24 hours, friends gathered at Impact Hub for exactly this: an evening on what kind of community and belonging our world is longing for — in cities, villages and online. Around a hundred people sat in silence at six o'clock sharp, heard reflections from Nipun and other pioneers in the room, and closed with a shared vegetarian buffet. It cost nothing to attend, and everyone was invited to lend a hand.
What you'd bring: a home or quiet hall, a few hosts to welcome people, and a simple meal (a potluck works beautifully). Ask people to arrive a little early, since the silence starts on time. Local Awakin hosts in many Indian cities can help co-hold it.
Example: Communities of Heart — Vienna, 2026 · Learn more: awakin.org
Founders, CEOs, social entrepreneurs and funders carry a particular kind of weight — and rarely a space to set it down. A Founders Circle is a small, candid gathering where builders speak not about their metrics but about what's underneath them: the incentives that shape us, the cost of scale, the question of what we are really building, and what it would mean to lead from the inside out.
It opens in silence, moves through a round of honest sharing, and often turns into a practical conversation about designing with more than one form of capital. Nothing is recorded; nothing is pitched.
What you'd bring: a thoughtful guest list of peers who trust each other enough to be real, and a quiet room.
For teams and communities ready to turn inspiration into architecture.
A working session for an organization, network or group of changemakers who want to rethink how their work is designed. Rather than a lecture, it's a collaborative whiteboard. Together we look at a real project and ask uncommon questions:
ServiceSpace has spent 25 years running volunteer-powered projects with no fundraising and no ads; this is a chance to borrow from those experiments — and have them stress-tested by your context.
What you'd bring: a real challenge or project, the people who own it, and a room with walls you can write on.
Where hands, head and heart come together — and strangers leave as kin.
A full day built around a question that matters to a particular community. Participants apply by reflecting on a few questions — as you look at your field today, what breaks your heart, and what gives you hope? — so the room gathers by resonance rather than by title. The day weaves together silence, small-group circles, inspiring stories from local and global guests, and a closing harvest of commitments.
Past one-day retreats in India have been shaped for many different communities:
What you'd bring: a theme and a community, a peaceful venue, simple meals, and a small volunteer crew. We can help with the invitation, the application page and the design of the day.
The deepest end of the spectrum. MovedByLove — the volunteer collective that grew out of the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad — hosts multi-day, agenda-less retreats such as Gandhi 3.0, Karma Yog, PanchShakti and Laddership. Participants come from across India and the world; the days are held with silence, service, circles and a lot of laughter, and the connections tend to last for years.
These are organized directly by MovedByLove rather than locally, so the best way in is to nominate people from your community who'd benefit — or, if you're dreaming of co-creating one in your region, to reach out and start a conversation.
Learn more: movedbylove.org
| Format | People | Time | Nipun's role | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Talk | 50–5,000 | 1–1.5 hrs | Speaker | Broad exposure |
| Evening of Inspiration | 100–500 | 2–3 hrs | One of many voices | Celebrating local changemakers |
| Kindness Drive | 20–200 | 2–3 hrs | Fellow participant | Youth, students, teams |
| Karma Kitchen | 60–150 | Half day | Crew member | A city-wide taste of gift economy |
| Awakin Circle | 20–100 | 3–4 hrs | Circle member or speaker | Spiritual seekers, local community |
| Founders Circle | 12–25 | 2–3 hrs | Space-holder | Entrepreneurs, leaders, funders |
| Design Brainstorm | 10–40 | Half day | Co-designer | Organizations and networks |
| One-Day Retreat | 30–80 | Full day | Co-host | A sector or community of practice |
| Multi-Day Retreat | 40–60 | 3–5 days | Co-host | Deep, lasting connection |
The richest visits braid hands, head and heart. In Surat, a three-day immersion paired a public event for 1,200 educators with an Awakin Circle and a Karma Kitchen. A few shapes that work well:
A Kindness Drive with students, closing with a sharing circle.
A morning talk at a campus or company, and an Awakin Circle that evening for those who want to go deeper.
An Evening of Inspiration on Saturday, a Karma Kitchen on Sunday — and a Founders Circle or Design Brainstorm tucked in between.
Tell us about your community, your city, and what you're hoping might shift. Most of these gatherings are powered by volunteers and offered in the spirit of a gift — so the most important ingredient is a small crew of people who care. The rest tends to grow from there.
Invite NipunInviting your people in? Introducing Nipun has a few words, a welcome to read aloud, and photos. Or browse topics and past talks.