The Indian dream is now replacing the American dream because we, too, can build in India
Published Oct 07, 2025 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 07, 2025 | 8:00 AM
Xavier Augustine — storyteller, entrepreneur, and founder of Y-Axis. (globalindia.com)
Synopsis: Xavier Augustine — storyteller, entrepreneur, and founder of Y-Axis, an immigration and career consultancy firm — sees migration not just as a physical relocation. For him, it is a rite of passage, a journey of self-discovery, reinvention, and ultimately, contribution.
Xavier Augustine sums up the ‘global Indian’ in 28 words: “Of going abroad, of becoming someone, and then, returning to India and doing something that truly matters. That’s the Hero’s Journey, the story of The Global Indian.”
Augustine’s book, The Global India: A Hero’s Journey, traces the real-life journeys of Indians who have left home, made their mark, and redefined what success means across borders. It’s a playbook for those who dare to dream big and chase their dreams.
Inspired by the roses and pricks in Rudyard Kipling’s poetry and the autobiographical The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, Augustine — storyteller, entrepreneur and founder of Y-Axis, an immigration and career consultancy firm — sees migration not just as a physical relocation. For him, it is a rite of passage, a journey of self-discovery, reinvention, and ultimately, contribution.
Augustine’s philosophy aligns with that of Campbell, who, in his The Hero with a Thousand Faces, said, “…the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow men.“
In an interview with South First, Augustine shared insights from his life and of others he had helped relocate, while emphasising the difference between being a non-resident Indian and a true “Global Indian.”
His message is clear. The journey isn’t complete until you return with the elixir of knowledge, experience, and purpose to give back.
Augustine is succinct: “The Indian Dream is now replacing the American Dream. Come back to India. Build in India. The Indian Dream is real.”
Edited excerpts from the interview:
Q. You begin your book with a poem, If, by Rudyard Kipling. You say this poem has inspired you and others as well.
A: Kipling wrote it for his son (Lieutenant John Kipling, who died in World War I). I learned about it later. And I can see why. He was a young man heading off to college. Maybe a century ago in England. And, it really worked with me. It still resonates with every other generation. You can see how good a poet he was.
For me, it was the advice that a student or a professional going overseas would need. Every line of it is loaded with wisdom. I used to have that poem, folded, in my wallet.
Every time I felt down, I would open and read it and then be like, I’m again ready.
Q. You’ve helped thousands of people move abroad through Y-Axis. What made you want to write this book now?
A: Y-Axis has helped thousands of students, professionals, and families to relocate. That’s largely a clerical process. Admissions, visas, PR visas — that’s paperwork. What really moved me was the journey of humans, the stories of transformation. That inspired me to even come up with the idea.
I said, this is not just, person going abroad. There’s more to it. An individual is changing his/her identity. There is a transformation. There is a huge change in identity. So, I wanted to capture that idea. And that was the idea of The Global Indian.
Q. Was there a specific moment or person that sparked the idea of The Global Indian as a book, or has this been building up for years?
A: The Global Indian happened over a long period of time. I was in Silicon Valley in the US. I could then see Brand India rise. I could see the Global Indian, the Indian rise.
There was this buzz of globe-trotting Indians, and I wanted to define that energy. For me, nothing, no term could define this restless Indian, this new age Indian better than the Global Indian did. Like every other Indian during the dotcom years, I registered a domain name, globalindian.com.
Q. Your title borrows from Joseph Campbell. How does this mythological structure apply to the modern Indian going abroad?
A: Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey applies to many stories. It applies to every epic. It is as relevant in the Odyssey as well as modern-day Star Trek. I thought it really applies even to The Global Indian. I felt the Hero‘s four stages — of separation, initiation, transformation, and return apply to The Global Indian. I thought this one really applies to every great Global Indian story. I applied it, it worked, and it fit like a glove. It’s fantastic when the parallel is so clear.
Q. What is the biggest dragon that global Indians must slay on their journey?
A: In the Global Indian journey, in stage 1, in which there is separation, there’s a call to adventure. The Indian gets a call, I need to leave. I need to go somewhere. I need to do something. There is that need deep down, and that need is real. He gets this call, and people are saying, Why are you going?, and so on. He has to debate, and finally leaves. So, there is a separation, and there is an initiation to become a hero. He then has to face the challenges, the odds.
He’s facing loneliness. He’s gone into the unfamiliar world. His accent is different. Nobody understands his sense of humour. The food is different. He’s battling loneliness, the cold, and everything else.
And he wonders, why did I come here? He’s doubting whether he should have taken the journey. The third part is of transformation. That’s when, suddenly, something changes and someone helps you.
There’s a mentor. In the Global Indian’s journey, there’s always a mentor. There’s a divine intervention. That’s the beautiful part about the essence of a hero’s journey. There are lots of divine interventions, coincidences, where you are helped to reach your goal, and then finally you change. You have found something, and then you return. So that’s the script of The Global Indian.
The dragon is a metaphor. It could be different things for different people. But largely for Indians, the dragon could be self-doubts about identity as an Indian. We have been an isolated country. We need to enter another society, another circle, another country, another culture, another system.
That’s really something that Indians need to break into. The dragon we have to fight could be problems with self-esteem. That is the dragon here: identity and isolation.
Q. Don’t you think things have become much easier when compared to the time when you went abroad? Today, India is known. There are Indians everywhere.
A: It is still not a cakewalk. You are first looked upon by your looks. There are all types of Indians. It’s not like everybody is a Sundar Pichai or (Satya) Nadella. I agree with you that there has been a huge rise, the rise of Brand India. We are all enjoying the dividends of all those who had gone before us and built this Brand India. We have a great brand equity.
Still, you have to prove how good we are at something technical. How good an expert are we on something? That is what matters. It is not being Indian. Our specialisation matters.
As long as you have it, you will be confident. As long as you are an expert, you are in some circle. Someone said that excellence is the alternative to racism. Nobody sees your race when you are excellent at something.
Our hero has gone to slay the dragon. And he’s come back with the elixir. What does this metaphor mean? It means knowledge. It could mean some kind of capital networks, new ideas that he has returned with. That is the elixir.
Q. You highlight icons like Nadella, Pichai, and Indra Nooyi. Was there a lesser-known story in the book that really moved you, maybe even surprised you while writing it?
A: I run a platform called the globalindian.com, and we write many stories. I think we have about 2,000 stories, and we keep searching. I’m a global Indian spotter. I like to spot global Indians and send them to my team. There are many of them.
What interests me is that an Indian can change for the better, an Indian can become a global Indian. And Indians have this potential in themselves. When they go abroad, they actually thrive.
It’s not just that of Sundar Pichai’s and Satya Nadella’s; it’s so many entrepreneurs, whether in agritech, a restaurant, or in the music industry. I think the world influences us and we absorb it well, and we transform.
Tech (sector) tells you the story. I use them because they’re iconic. They’re famous, and you relate to them very quickly. But there is a whole range of global Indians who are active and are built daily all across the world, all across the diaspora.
Q. You included worksheets for self-reflection. Why was it important for you to make this book interactive rather than just inspirational?
A: I don’t want the book to be a one-way street. I want it to be an agent of change. I want to make sure that the reader can reflect on it and make some kind of change. I hope it reminds people about what they should be doing. It reminds them of their identity, of their potential. I’m hoping it will be taught in schools and colleges.
My daughter’s teacher recommended that they write an essay on How Global Indian am I or Who is a Global Indian. She studies in an international school. They have a lot of typical, Global Indian kids. It was a good thing for them to reflect and actually write for 45 minutes an essay on what a Global Indian is. That’s the kind of change I want in classrooms, in people sitting in Silicon Valley. I think they’ve forgotten that they have a responsibility to return to the country. The Hero’s Journey has to come full circle. You have to fulfil your responsibility.
Q. You have mentioned the difference between an NRI and a Global Indian. But every Indian who goes abroad is an NRI. How do you precisely define a Global Indian?
A: A Global Indian is someone who returns. In the first place does something beyond his family and himself. He thinks that he should do something for the community, for the world, for his country. So he’s thinking. He solves some problems, hopefully for India.
With AI, they can do it. The distinguishing thing between an NRI and a Global Indian is whether they give back; it’s not writing a cheque. It’s not simply writing a check. We want something more than that.
You have to be there. Drive that change in whatever you want. I think global Indians do that. That is fundamentally the difference. They return, they solve the problem, and it has a social impact. That’s the key difference. They have a social impact. They make a difference.
Q. Have you personally seen an example of someone abroad making a quiet but transformative contribution back home?
A: One of my favourite examples is Sridhar Vembu, who created Zoho. He returned to India. He didn’t just create a company. He created a community. The ripple effect of his work went into rural areas. It transformed the youth in his company. They lead some of their digital initiatives. It proves that you can come back home, and you can have a ripple effect.
Sridhar Vembu is a very good example, especially now that Zoho is really moving up there. It’s competing with the world’s best software, and it’s really an agent of change.
Q. You built Y-Axis from the ground up. How much of your own entrepreneurial journey mirrors the Hero’s Journey you have described in the book?
A: Mine is a classic Hero’s Journey. I always think that if I can change something, anybody can also do so, because I was a timid, shy kid. I didn’t even have too much money. I went through all those phases.
I walked through the streets of New York. It was intimidating. When I went there, I realised who I am, who India was, and our place in the world. You discover yourself. When you travel, you don’t discover other places alone. You discover who you are and your place in the world.
I realised in 1990 that I came from a third-world country. I never knew that. You only have to go out and realise that truth. I was initiated into becoming “the hero of my own journey.”
It was tough. I had to do odd jobs, and I had to find something. A simple idea in the borderless world. It struck me — I must have been 23 — that labour and capital could move across borders based on merit alone.
I was saying, why can’t meritorious Indians get the jobs they deserve? I found that we had multiple barriers in front of us, so that was my evolution of it.
Then I went to Silicon Valley. My own transformation happened because I was in Silicon Valley at the right time. It was an age of ideas in Silicon Valley. And then I was like, oh, wow, I’m also going to build an idea. And my idea was the idea of Y-Axis. It was basically cross-border mobility of tech workers. Then it just went up, and I could see my ideas from there. It went into the Global Indian. And then I returned to India.
When I returned to India, I realised that no agency or company does it with integrity. I think the model must have been there. Y-Axis was being run like a corporation. It always had software; we paid our taxes. It made us number one in India and the largest immigration company in the world.
I see the whole Global Indian journey. We sent tens of thousands of people abroad and saw their impact, the dollars they sent back, the communities, etc. There could have been thousands of kids born overseas who are NRIs, and hopefully, they will become global Indians. So there’s a huge impact on the work Y-Axis and our foundation have done.
We were the only private company that had a partnership with the US Department of State. We did a lot of things. That is my Global Indian journey.
Q. In the age of AI, remote work, and digital nomads, is the idea of ‘going abroad’ still relevant, or has it changed form?
A: It all boils down to demand and supply. Is there a demand for talent? Yes. The world needs talent. Let’s start from there. There’s a demand still created by companies, by universities.
They demand skills for different reasons. Different types of skills are required at any given time. Indians still want to go. He wants to earn more, have a different quality of life. He wants a different experience.
All these players in this demand and supply chain are still intact. It only changes due to immigration laws, local politics, geopolitics, technological disruption, etc. They are the underlying currents. But talent goes wherever it is respected.
Q. Has writing this book changed you in any unexpected way? What did you discover about yourself?
A: When you write a book, it begins as an abstract idea in the head that’s different. Writing is clarity of thought. It is like you finally get it together. It took me four years to write the book, but it actually took me 20 years. I got my domain name in 2001. But to write a book, to come up with the theory of the Global Indian, to stitch it together, took a long time. You become confident, and it’s not easy.
I had a TEDx talk on the Global Indian. It means I got it right.
Once you have a book in hand, it’s the most powerful feeling. You feel proud of your creation. It gives you a sense of authority. It’s my business card today. It’s a great start to a meeting or to strike up a conversation.
Q. You end the book with a provocative question, not “where will you work,” but “what will you build?” What do you hope to build next?
A: I hope to build the Y-Axis talent pool. I want to put India’s talent into one place. I want to curate India’s talent and present it to the world. That’s important. I hope Global Indian becomes a platform that connects the diaspora.
Q. If a young Indian student about to take his/her first flight abroad could read just one page of your book, which one would you want it to be, and why?
A: It is hard to choose one. Probably it’s a Hero’s Journey. Or it could be, How Global Indian Are You.
It applies to you, Nolan (interviewer), and you can ask yourself because you were in Scotland and, a part of Scotland remains with you, you become global. You start fully as an Indian, or maybe there’s a little bit of being Western.
If it were a pie, the pie keeps getting divided, right? American Indians would know more about America than India over a period of time. They have local sports teams that they support.
So that pie gets divided, maybe 50% Indian, 30% American, and 20% global. Global is also important. For me, my idea is for a person to become global in the whole thing, more than being Indian alone.
The Indian dream is now replacing the American dream because we, too, can build in India, and that is what we need to tell everyone. Come back to India and build in India, and make India. This Indian dream is real.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
