17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
From clinical depression to life coach in Dubai: Robin Uthappa on his 'second innings'
On a classic Dubai evening, sunlight spills gently through the windows of Robin Uthappa's home, casting a golden-hour glow over spacious hallways and framed family moments. The space feels lived-in, unpretentious — the kind of home where laughter has echoed, stories have been shared, and more than a few games of catch have definitely been played. Perhaps prompted by Robin Jr., who unhesitatingly comes over to join us as we settle in for the conversation.
'He [Robin's 7-year-old son, Neale Nolan Uthappa], plays cricket, tennis, and football. He goes to Danube Academy for cricket and football, and also plays at Juventus Football Club here,' Uthappa tells Khaleej Times.
A far cry from the thunder of packed stadiums, yet Robin carries the same stillness here that once steadied him at the crease. He's calm, collected, grounded, and yet, when he speaks of cricket, the passion flickers in his eyes like it always has. 'You can't ever become a former cricketer,' he says with a smile. 'You stop playing professionally, yes, but cricket never leaves you. I still feel like I'm playing.'
For more than a decade, Uthappa was known for his flamboyant strokes and crucial innings — a World Cup winner, an IPL champion, a player who made his mark in every tournament India offered. But today, his 'second innings' is unfolding in a much more intimate way, away from the nation's piercing gaze that once followed his every move: helping people heal.
'I recognised very early on that my purpose in life is to add value and serve people,' says Uthappa, who today works as a life coach, helping people through corporate training, one-on-one coaching, and team-building sessions, with a focus on peak performance, relationship coaching, mental resilience, and a lot more. 'Initially, I thought coaching cricket would be it, but my calling felt bigger. I had a lot more to give.'
His journey towards service, however, didn't begin on a cricket pitch. Uthappa remembers a cold Bangalore morning in 1993, when his mother handed him a two-rupee coin for canteen lunch — at the time, a huge deal. On the way to school, he saw an old woman begging. 'I gave her the coin, and her eyes lit up. She blessed me, and I felt joy I can't even describe. That day I thought: 'I want to feel this way every day of my life.''
From then on, he reveals, serving others became his inner compass. 'Even in cricket, I always put my team's interests ahead of mine. I enjoyed it, and I have no regrets.' That sense of selflessness brought him multiple cricket championships, which he still regards as a reward for having the right intentions.
Battling suicidal thoughts & depression
But while his career soared, his inner world was spiralling. In 2009, during the IPL in South Africa, he found himself on the ledge of a 23rd-floor hotel room. 'I had almost committed suicide,' he recalls. 'I had a huge fear of heights, and yet I was sitting there. Something pulled me back and I immediately called my parents and said, 'Something is wrong, I don't know what it is, but come to South Africa.''
And this wasn't his only bout. 'By 2012, I was depressed again. I attempted suicide a few more times. Each time, I got to that point, something inside me stopped me. I heard a voice saying, 'Not yet'. Not 'don't do it', not 'stop'... just 'not now'. And that got me curious. Why not now? Why did it say that? That voice gave me the strength to hang on.'
What followed was years-long battle with depression, whilst being in the limelight as a professional cricketer. 'I went through counselling, therapy, medication. I've spoken about it because I believe the stigma around mental health must be broken, especially for men. Back then, nobody spoke of depression. It was taboo, even career-ending. It was seen as madness.'
The work it takes
Recalling the painstaking work it took to bring himself out of the inner turmoil, he adds, 'For a whole year, I couldn't look at myself in the mirror because I was ashamed of who I had become. I couldn't make eye contact with myself. And then I reached a point where I thought, no, I need to take control of my life. I started going back to my counsellor, and I began the journey of earning my own self-respect.'
His road to recovery, then, became rooted in rebuilding the relationship with himself. 'I asked myself: what kind of man do I want to be? What kind of friend, what kind of athlete, what kind of husband, father, brother, son? And then I set my values and principles by which I would live,' says Uthappa. 'It took me two-and-a-half years of trauma healing, of making peace with my inner child, of setting my standards and living
by them. It wasn't easy. I put in the hours, did the time.'
By 2014, he adds, he started feeling a shift. 'I was okay. But I was still on medication and stayed on them until 2017. Just before my son was born, I finally went off them completely. That's when I felt free.'
But recovery is never final. 'Even after the medication stops, it's still a daily practice. Every day is a new day and you have to deal with that day. It's intentional.'
That sense of daily discipline, he explains, is also why he feels so strongly about men's mental health. 'We're not raised with the ability to process emotions. As boys we're told, 'Don't cry. Be tough. Take it on the chin'. And then we carry that suppression into every part of our lives. We don't know how to process or articulate what's inside us.'
It was this realisation — born out of his own struggle — that ultimately led Uthappa to begin his journey as a life coach. 'I wanted to create spaces where men can be vulnerable, where they can learn that balance.'
Building 'True'
Together with his wife, Sheethal Goutham, who is a trained NLP practitioner and hypnotherapist, Uthappa has now co-founded 'True', a platform dedicated to life coaching and community building. 'I realised I wanted to empower people with tools for life — not just athletes, not just men, but anyone looking for balance, growth, and healing.'
Performance coaching, men's mental health, and what Uthappa refers to as 'modern masculinity' form some of the core pillars of his work at 'True'. 'We want to help people understand their energies — the masculine and the feminine — and how to balance them. Balance isn't a one-time achievement. Like a seesaw, it's going to swing up and down. The key is awareness, to catch yourself when you're off balance and bring yourself back,' he adds.
'I know what it feels like to be lost in that darkness. And I also know what it feels like to walk out of it. If I can help even one person find that light, I feel I'm living my purpose.'
Dubai and beyond
Moving to Dubai, he says, was another exercise in stepping out of his comfort zone. 'In Bengaluru, traffic was stealing childhood from my kids. We wanted a better quality of life for them, so we moved here. For me, it meant pulling myself completely out of my comfort zone. But Dubai gave us safety, opportunities, and, as a gift, incredible friends. I think that was God's way of rewarding me for choosing my family.'
Alongside his coaching, Uthappa has also discovered a new sporting passion: paddle. 'I play four to five times a week. It gives me the same joy cricket did — the competitiveness, the tactical sharpness, the agility. Anything that brings me joy, I won't deny myself.'
A message to the next generation
For someone who has lived through the highs of stadium glory and the lows of clinical depression, his message to young people is rooted in his own self-awareness. 'Prolonged sadness is not the same as depression. Sometimes it's unresolved issues you're avoiding. Address them with awareness and reverence, and they won't compound. Ignore them, and they will.'
And always, he insists, listen to your inner voice. 'The instinct we feel inside, even something small, when you're doom-scrolling and you hear the inner voice say, 'What are you doing?' That's your inner voice. Listen to it. It'll always guide you to the right path,' he adds.
'Growth can never happen inside your comfort zone,' says Uthappa. 'But if you walk out with awareness and joy, even the hardest transitions can turn into your greatest purpose.'
