For Gaurav Upadhyay, being a global Indian is not defined by a straight line between cities, careers, countries or milestones. His journey has instead been shaped by a collection of experiences across technology, leadership, poetry, creativity and human connection.
A technology leader at Adobe, Gaurav has built a professional career focused on helping organisations create better digital experiences. Alongside this corporate journey, however, another important part of his identity has continued to grow: his passion for Hindi poetry and spoken word.
For more than six years, poetry has walked alongside his professional career. Beyond meetings, strategy sessions, client conversations and business priorities, writing has provided a space for reflection and expression. Hindi remains particularly close to him because, as he describes it, the language carries his emotional memory, including the texture of home, the warmth of relationships and the feelings that often remain unspoken.
What began as a personal creative outlet gradually became a way of connecting with others. Through poetry and spoken word performances, Gaurav has reached audiences across India, Singapore and now Australia. Some of the most meaningful moments have come after performances, when people have approached him to say that his words expressed something they had been feeling but were unable to articulate themselves.
For Gaurav, that connection matters more than applause or recognition. He believes creative expression has the ability to give language to emotions that people often struggle to express, allowing individuals to feel understood and less alone.
“A poet is not only someone who writes beautifully; a poet is someone who listens deeply,” he says.
That idea of listening has become central to the way he approaches both poetry and people. His writing is shaped not only by his own experiences, but also by the pauses, disappointments, dreams and unfinished stories he observes around him.
Living in Singapore for 11 years played a significant role in shaping this journey. The country became home to an important chapter of his personal and professional life, while also giving his creative work new communities, friendships, platforms and audiences.
Being surrounded by different cultures reinforced his belief that human emotion often transcends language and geography. His Hindi poetry could be deeply rooted in Indian culture and memory while still connecting with people from very different backgrounds.
Around six months ago, Gaurav began another major chapter when he moved to Australia after more than a decade in Singapore.
For him, a move of that scale represents far more than a change of address. It involves leaving behind familiar streets, friendships, creative circles and the comfort of belonging while stepping into an unfamiliar environment and beginning again.
“You carry memories in suitcases that no airline can weigh,” he says.
Australia has nevertheless opened a new sense of possibility and encouraged him to reflect on how identity changes and expands across countries. Rather than seeing identity as something tied to one geographical place, Gaurav sees his experiences across India, Singapore and Australia as different parts of the same journey.
He describes carrying India in his language, Singapore in his discipline and Australia in his unfolding sense of possibility.
Throughout these different chapters, one principle has remained particularly important to him: impact is not created only through what people achieve, but also through what they give.
That belief has shaped his creative work. Every poem shared, conversation after a performance and message from a reader has reinforced his view that art should not simply be treated as a transaction. It can also be an offering, something shared sincerely without always knowing who may need those words at a particular moment.
His three books have become important milestones along that path, reflecting different stages of his personal and creative development. His latest book, Zindagi Unlimited, published by Penguin India, brings together poetry, reflection and elements of self help in a form designed to remain emotionally accessible to readers.
The book also reflects Gaurav’s broader belief that purpose does not have to exist within a single part of life.
From the outside, his work in technology and his work in poetry may appear to belong to completely different worlds. Yet he increasingly sees them as connected.
At Adobe, his professional life involves innovation, customer experience, creativity, data and transformation. Poetry, meanwhile, explores memory, emotion, silence and meaning. Over time, he has found that each discipline has strengthened the other.
Writing has helped him become a stronger storyteller, while storytelling has influenced the way he approaches leadership. Poetry has strengthened his empathy, and that empathy has also shaped the way he communicates and connects with people professionally.
Balancing a creative passion with a demanding corporate career has not always been easy. It requires discipline when inspiration is absent and consistency when life becomes crowded. Ideas may arrive before the working day begins, after a long flight or late at night when professional responsibilities have finally slowed.
Rather than viewing poetry as something competing with his career, Gaurav sees it as something that complements it.
His journey also offers a wider message to professionals who may feel that career success requires them to leave creativity behind. For Gaurav, professional ambition and creative expression do not have to exist separately. Each can strengthen the other, while giving individuals more ways to understand themselves and connect with those around them.
That balance is also part of what being a global Indian means to him.
It is the ability to carry several worlds at once, remaining connected to one’s roots while embracing new cultures, environments and opportunities. It is being traditional and modern, local and global, without feeling that one identity has to replace another.
Taking Hindi poetry into international settings has reinforced his belief that authenticity often travels further than imitation. Language may originate in one place, but values such as compassion, resilience, generosity, respect and gratitude can resonate far beyond geographical boundaries.
For Gaurav, impact does not always arrive through major achievements or public recognition. Often, it is quieter.
It can be found in a person who gains courage after hearing a poem, a young professional who realises they do not need to abandon creativity to succeed in corporate life, a migrant who feels less alone, or a reader who pauses and recognises their own experience in someone else’s words.
As Gaurav establishes himself in Australia, he looks back with gratitude at each place that has helped shape him: India, where his language and emotional foundations were formed; Singapore, where his creative voice found community; and Australia, where a new chapter is continuing to unfold.
His professional career, poetry, books and spoken word performances may occupy different spaces, but the purpose connecting them remains remarkably similar.
Whether through technology or creative expression, Gaurav continues to be drawn to experiences that help people feel understood, connected and heard.
For him, creating impact as a global Indian ultimately means using every platform available, whether professional, creative, personal or public, to bring people a little closer to their own humanity.
And as his Australian chapter develops, that combination of technology, poetry, creativity and human connection continues to shape the story he is writing both on and beyond the page.
