44 year old homemaker from Jammu turns professional gamer, has over 3.5 lakh followers on Rooter

By Divyanshi SharmaGaming can mean different things for people. For some, it might be a way to escape from the ordinary and enter a magical world with infinite possibilities while for others it could be a way to release all kinds of emotions. However, for a 44-year-old homemaker belonging to Jammu, gaming proved to be the way to gain confidence and courage.

Homemaker turned professional gamer

Meet Reetu Siathia, who is more popularly known as ‘Blackbird’ in her gamers’ community. Siathia streams her gameplay videos live on Rooter and has over 3.5 lakh followers on the platform. She also earns over Rs 1.2 lakh in a year. But earning money as a professional gamer was never a part of Siathia’s plan.

Belonging to Jammu, Siathia told The Better India in an interview that all her life, she was only taught to be ‘a good wife, homemaker and mother’ and wasn’t sent for higher education by her family as they were concerned about sending a girl out alone. Thus, she had only been educated till Standard 12^th after which, at the age of 20, she was married off and became a homemaker.

“I got married when I was very young, just 20. I have been married for 25 good years and have no complaints at all. My husband and family have always been kind. Cleaning, cooking, and raising my son was the only way of life for me. But earning my own money or gaining the courage to be financially independent was never on the radar,” she said.

On how she turned into a gamer

Siathia further revealed to The Better India that she used to watch her son play games on her phone all the time and was ‘intrigued’ by how much fun he is having. However, she was initially too shy to ask him for a chance to play. Eventually, in 2019, she asked her son about gaming one day and he responded that he would teach her. Siathia adds that this is when her gaming journey began.

She also added, “I used to play the game BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India) initially. It took me some time to understand the game and the keys to play with, but I was a quick learner. Back then, it was just curiosity that led me to try gaming. I was having fun and nothing more.”

First livestream experience

However, a year later, she got introduced to the world of live streaming. Again, she saw her son talking and interacting with people while streaming his gameplay. Curious to try it out herself, Siathia gave it a whirl and saw kids of her son’s age and younger following her and joining her gameplay streaming sessions.

“It was something new and unique. For a person who has spent most of her time looking after her family and home, and not really socialising, this was a unique experience,” she told The Better India.

Siathia also told the publication that she had some doubts initially and was laughed at by the society. However, her husband and son remained her biggest ‘cheerleaders’ and supported her on her journey by taking up more household chores so that she could get more time to play.