Abstract: This article investigates the evolving understanding of sustainability by tracing its roots through geological epochs, civilizational collapses, demographic surges, and contemporary climate challenges. It exhorts the urgent need to move away from generic, rhetorical uses of sustainability and towards a context-specific, historically grounded, and ecologically attuned framework. Particularly focused on India, the article explores the unique vulnerabilities posed by demographic pressures, geomorphological features, and governance structures. It also critically evaluates the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), offering a sharp lens on their relevance, contradictions, and adaptability for India's pressing realities. At a time when planetary resilience is stretched to its limits, the article calls for a radical rethinking of how we live, build, and sustain.