(May 22, 2026) After spending nearly 15 years across Singapore, the United States, and Europe, Santosh Kumar returned to India in search of a more balanced and meaningful life. Today, the Chennai-born entrepreneur has co-built Oru Cup Oxygen, a wellness platform focused on mindfulness, emotional wellbeing, and helping people slow down in an increasingly distracted world.
It took Santosh Kumar years of moving across some of the world’s busiest hubs, like Singapore and the United States, to realise that professional success alone could not define a fulfilling life. Amid demanding schedules and associations with global clients in pursuit of professional success, another realisation slowly began to dawn upon the corporate high-flyer that material achievements meant little without wellness, balance, and peace of mind.
Today, the Chennai-born entrepreneur has shifted back to his roots and is the co-founder of Oru Cup Oxygen, a wellness platform focused on helping people slow down, reconnect with themselves, and build healthier mental habits in an increasingly distracted world. And this journey towards building the app evolved gradually through years of observing people, cultures, and lifestyles across continents.
What I realised over time is that wellness is not just physical health. It is emotional well-being, family, relationships, presence, and the ability to fully experience life.
Santosh Kumar
Santosh Kumar and Satish Krishnamurthi, Cofounders of Oru Cup Oxygen
A global career, a quiet realisation
Growing up in Chennai in a middle-class family, Santosh remembers a childhood centred around education, close-knit relatives, friendships, and cinema. His earliest exposure to life abroad came through visits to London, where his brother lived. But it was work that eventually opened the doors to the wider world.
Over the next 15 years, Santosh built an international consulting career that took him across Singapore, the United States, and parts of Europe. He spent nearly eight years in Singapore before moving to the US, working with clients across industries including financial services and retail. “All these places had something to teach,” he reflects in a chat with The Global Indian. “The US especially stood out for its professionalism and standardisation.”
Like many immigrants adapting to a new country, the initial years came with uncertainty. “There was anxiety about how we would survive and thrive in a completely new environment,” he recalls.
Yet consulting, a profession built around communication and relationships, helped him adapt quickly. Working across cultures exposed him not only to different business environments, but also to varied perspectives on productivity, discipline, and work-life balance.
One lesson, in particular, stayed with him. During his years in Singapore, a senior colleague introduced him to the concept of a “power hour” — arriving at work before everyone else to quietly prepare for the day ahead.
Years later, it remains part of his daily routine. “That one hour creates clarity,” he highlights. “It changes how the rest of the day unfolds.”
Fatherhood and a shift in priorities
While professional growth continued steadily, personal progress arrived in a quieter but far more profound way. The birth of his daughter in 2016 became a defining chapter in Santosh’s life. After his wife stepped away from work during their child’s first year, he made an equally significant decision the following year: taking a break from his own career to spend time with his daughter. “In the US, taking a break from work is not an easy decision,” he reminisces. “But we were convinced it was more important.” That pause changed the way he viewed success.
Stepping away from the constant pace of corporate life gave him the space to reflect on mindfulness, emotional wellbeing, and the importance of being fully present. It also deepened his understanding that wellness extended beyond professional achievement or physical fitness.
“It made me realise how much value there is in simply being present,” he says. Over time, those reflections became increasingly central to the way he wanted to live.
Returning home
Eventually, Santosh and his family made another life-altering decision — returning to India after spending nearly 15 to 16 years abroad.
On paper, the move did not seem straightforward. Infrastructure, lifestyle differences, and questions about the future all made the decision complex. But emotionally, the answer became increasingly clear. “I had missed so many important moments: weddings and other gatherings with friends and family,” he observes. “Those things contribute to holistic wellness too.”
The decision was also deeply tied to family life and the kind of childhood they wanted for their daughter. “There were naturally questions about whether moving back would affect her future. But ultimately, if we were happy overall, we believed we would be able to provide a great childhood for her too.”
Building Oru Cup Oxygen
That philosophy now lies at the heart of Oru Cup Oxygen, a digital wellness platform that focuses on helping people improve focus, mindfulness, and mental well-being through intentional habits and small daily practices. “I truly believe any product that needs a manual is a bad product,” he laughs. “If you keep things simple, people naturally connect with it.”
The app, designed for Tamil speaking users across the globe, reflects many of the principles Santosh absorbed during his years abroad: simplicity, clarity, and ease of use. While the idea itself has resonated with users, Santosh believes the real challenge lies elsewhere.
People already understand wellness is important. The difficult part is making it part of everyday life.
Santosh Kumar
His own wellness journey continues to evolve, with meditation now forming one of the most important parts of his daily life. It was after attending a Vipassana meditation programme earlier this year that he truly began to understand the power of silence and the importance of being fully present in the moment.
Yet, he is careful not to romanticise the practice. For him, meditation is not about achieving perfect stillness or instantly calming the mind. Instead, he describes it as a constant struggle to bring wandering thoughts back into focus. “The mind always runs away and then we have to bring it back. If I meditate for an hour, the true focus is probably in single-digit minutes,” he quips. “The rest of the time, it is my struggle in bringing back the mind that has run away.”
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Redefining wellness through everyday life
Over the years, Santosh’s understanding of wellness has also been shaped by the people he encountered during his travels and professional journey. One memory that stayed with him was meeting a former colleague who finished on the podium in the Ironman competition at the age of 63. Encounters like these gradually reinforced the importance of mental resilience, consistency, and long-term wellbeing.
Today, Santosh hopes Oru Cup Oxygen can encourage people to look inward and recognise that meaningful societal change often begins at an individual level. “If I become healthier and stronger, I can contribute more to my family and community,” he says. “And if families are happier, society itself becomes better.”
As conversations around wellness continue to grow globally, he believes the focus must move beyond trends towards habits that can become part of everyday living. “A healthy society starts with healthy individuals. That change has to begin within ourselves first,” he sums up.
