His story at the Asian Games doesn’t have a perfect ending. One of India’s two players in Streetfighter: V, a not-so-popular eSport in the country, Biswas did not make it to the podium. But the 24-year-old revels in the surrealism of his journey from a nondescript town in West Bengal to the tech capital of China, and leading two very different lives.

“I work in the government as a Gramin Daak Sevak,” he says. “I have to carry mail from our Sub-Office to the Branch Office. And from there, I have to bring the mail bag back with other letters and documents.”

“I take a train from my house every morning at 9.30. It takes me around 50 minutes to reach Bethuaderi, where my office is. At the station, I have kept my bike which I use to travel around and deliver posts, from normal letters to money and everything.”

It’s a mundane routine, he says. But once the sun sets and everyone at home goes to sleep, Biswas adopts a new identity, leaves behind his ‘ordinary’ life and steps into the virtual world with a slightly different name – AyanBiswas01.

From 9 in the night to well past midnight, Biswas ‘trains’. Or, in layman’s terms, plays online games. “Streetfighter isn’t as popular in India as other games like DOTA, Taken or League of Legends so most of my online competitors are from other countries. I practice every night from 9 pm to 1 pm,” he says.

Biswas stumbled upon Streetfighter: V online around five years ago, when he purchased the game and downloaded it on his computer. It was a hobby initially until gaming became a full-time activity during the pandemic-induced lockdown.

“I saw a video on YouTube that tournaments take place in different parts of the country and the world, so I decided to explore that option and participate in those events,” he says. “I started without any goal in mind but slowly, I started beating my online competitors consistently. That’s when I began to take it seriously and now, here I am.”

The irony and the contrary lifestyle aren’t lost on him. In a world where mail is virtual, Biswas traditionally delivers door-to-door. And in the sporting universe where most traditional games are getting obsolete, he has embraced – and succeeded in – what’s tipped as the sport of the future.

The two worlds collide with each other on an everyday basis. In the weeks leading up to the Asian Games, Biswas would spend hours watching videos of his opponents and making his strategies while waiting for the stacks of mail to arrive at his office before he had to go out and deliver them.

“It would typically take two hours for my colleagues to sort out the mail and hand them over to me so I can go deliver. I used that time to prepare for the Asian Games and study my competitors and visualise my own game,” he says.

Biswas knows his journey is vastly different to other gamers, most of whom are backed by wealthy sponsors, have months-long boot camps, are paid handsomely and have all their requirements taken care of.

The Rs 15,000 salary is barely enough for his gaming needs but the prize money from tournaments more than makes up for it. “I earn money from eSports, to be honest,” he admits. “But this (postman) is my livelihood and I do it with full dedication.”

His colleagues at the post office, Biswas says, have been cheering for him from back home. But the biggest attitude change – one that he says reflects the changing mindset towards eSports – came at home.

“Earlier, my parents constantly scolded and taunted me, saying I was wasting my time and there was no future for this,” says Biswas, whose father is a retired railway worker and mother is a nurse. “But now, if they see me sitting idle, they are like, ‘What are you doing? Why aren’t you playing?’”