Meet the world’s largest tech YouTuber: Now a columnist for HT Brunch!

Recognised for his enthusiastic greeting of Namaskar doston (hello friends) and “chaliye shuru karte hai,” (let’s begin), Gaurav Chaudhary has clearly struck a chord with his audience: 18.8 million subscribers as of today making him the world’s number 1 tech YouTuber currently, ahead of Unbox Therapy and Marques Brownlee. The tech guru or as his channel is called: Technical Guruji has many awards to his name, the latest being listed as the Forbes 30 Under 30 List of 2020.

Chaudhary, who started his channel in 2015, now hosts what has become India’s top tech channel. On his Instagram bio, he refers to YouTube as a hobby, but when we talk, he confesses that it has become more than that.

He’s also amused by the number of ‘news’ articles floating online which often have figures about his net worth and his waist size and relationship status. So why speculate when we can ask just the man himself before he kicks off his column in Hindustan Times Brunch starting September 13?

After studying engineering, you started your YouTube channel. How did YouTube happen and why did you choose your language medium to be in Hindi?

It’s been almost 10 years since I moved out of India to study engineering in Dubai. I was interested in YouTube during my school days, but did not start a channel as a hobby until October 2015.

After 2015, I couldn’t choose between a PhD and an MBA but I always knew I’d have to come back to my family business. So I decided to take that over and on the side, I did a certification course with the Dubai Police Academy. Thus, I was able to establish a security systems business.

I had no special talent, but had always been interested in tech. English was considered the medium for tech videos and I wanted to pull that idea down, so that’s how I started making tech videos in Hindi. My main idea has been to explain concepts, not just do reviews. The shelf life of explanatory conceptual videos is longer than that of a review. Over the years, my content has evolved from concept videos to tech news capsules.

How did you get interested in gadgets? What has been the response to your videos?

I think my first exposure to a computer was in the first standard in my school’s computer science lab. We were taught to code small things and basic language. It really intrigued me. As there were so many students and limited machines, my father brought us a computer when I was in the third standard. He just said there were two commands: Okay and Cancel and if I followed them, nothing would break. It was a privilege, of course, at the time. So I had access to technology growing up and gadgets later on.

As far as response is concerned, we receive mails from our subscribers almost every day, thanking me for making the concepts lucid enough to crack interviews and vivas. Tech is not that difficult to understand and I try to give examples making it impressionable on my audience’s minds.

How did you manage to post a video on your channel every day and ensure consistency?

I started with the idea of posting one video daily just to increase my content library so I could be searched. I was committed to this with long-term perspective so I did not want to compromise my discipline of uploads.

My videos are also non-demanding: it’s a single cut, there are no retakes and I just have to talk for 5-10 minutes. Edit and upload does not require much effort either.

Even when I’m traveling, I’ve shot and edited videos on my phone and uploaded them with the inflight Wi-Fi. Recently, I turned down an Antarctic expedition which required me be without Wi-Fi for a few days. I cannot break my streak! It’s like lunch and dinner for me; I cannot skip an upload. I can be moody and lazy, and I have a bank of videos, but I still need to shoot my capsules for the evening.

How do you remain objective about eco-systems and brands particularly when you recommend products?

Until two years ago, there was a clear distinction between good phones and bad phones. However, today, there is a range of good phones to choose from: all the brands offer phones with the best features at varying price points.

I haven’t yet heard my viewers complaining about the products I recommend. My show is not my bread and butter, but it is my credibility, and I will not give up the reputation I’ve built over so many years for one brand or a campaign.

Lastly, congrats on your new column with Brunch! What do you aim to deliver through this column?

Thank you, my aim is to convert what I do on my videos into text format to reach out to as many people as possible. I want to cover everything and strike out misconceptions. I want to make people believe that tech is not boring.

I also want to bust some myths about me ’cause I see so many articles online with unverified information about me like my income, my waist size and my relationship status. How do they know my waist size?

So, to clear the air. What’s your relationship status?

I’m single! I wish people would ask me before putting things out.

Gaurav Chaudhary new bi-weekly column in HT Brunch, where he will answer all queries relating to technology, debuts on September 13. Reach out to HT social media handles to get in touch

Follow Shruti Nair on Twitter @MissNairr

From HT Brunch, September 13, 2020

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