From a factory worker to becoming one of India’s top gamers, the success story of Raj Varma is truly inspiring. Today, we are going to discuss the success story of Raj Varma, also known as Snax gaming. Snax is a brand name in professional gaming. This man fought several lone battles in real as well as virtual life to earn a reputation in the esports industry. Not everyone is aware of what brought him to gaming, until it was brought forward by Loco’s Dream Karo Stream Karo initiative. We will discuss his ups and downs, his school days, how he came into gaming, how his life changed after live streaming on Loco, his future plans, and much more. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
Who is Raj Varma, aka, Snax?
There was a player with the name Snax on CS:GO. He liked the name, so he started his journey with this name. His friend said that whenever any girl from the community comes to him to express her feelings that she has a crush on him, Raj can’t talk to them as he is very shy. Raj tells his friends that he can’t do all this. He can’t even talk to girls.
Her sister Simran Varma says everyone who meets his brother thinks that he is very simple and sober. But he is just the opposite. He is a silent killer and is very bad, lol.
As he kept progressing, their mom saw the love and blessings he got from people. There were times that people recognized him as a champ when he went outside. Raj’s parents then got to know that he is indeed doing something great and legit.
Initial Days of Struggle
His oldest house was in this old city and he was roaming here and there. He lived there for 6 to 7 years and then shifted to Begum Bazar. Then he shifted to Moazaam Jahi market, followed by Kothapet. So, he kept on shifting his places.
Old city house was very small and the big room was only as big as people’s kitchens are nowadays. It was all in one: Kitchen, hall, bedroom.
His sister kept on saying that when they were growing up together since childhood, they were very close siblings and shared a lot of struggle along with their parents. That was a motivation factor.
Till now, their parents have taught them to do a lot of hard work and become successful. They have a huge respect for their parents as they brought them here. They were raised and advised to do everything on their merit. Both Raj and his sister learned a lot from their parents.
Raj’s Teenage Days
Raj completed his 10th class from Harrow high school and after completing the school, he didn’t have much interest in doing further studies. He just wanted to pass.
So, he has 2 options:
- Go into the family business with his mom’s jewelry and diamond business.
- His father was a graphics designer and has a shop in hyderabad. After seeing his dad struggle so much, he didn’t want to go into it for obvious reasons.
So, he went to Surat to learn diamond work. Firstly, he went to Navsari, a small city in Gujarat. There he went to the factory via his mom’s family reference. He worked there for 6 months.
Nothing was taught to him in the factory as he was only a 16 year old guy with only a 10th passing certificate.
For initial 6 months, he didn’t know what to do as he was living alone, far from his family for the very first time in his life. Those 6 months were horrible for him. He was about to give up there.
His sister says he struggled a lot by doing odd jobs there like giving them tea glasses, scrubbing their mawa, traveling by train, doing labor work, and cleaning machines. So, overall, he struggled for 3-4 years there.
He started with diamond polish and how to convert it to a diamond. Daily he used to commute and 2-3 hours got wasted every day in traveling alone. Then he told his parents to change his location and shift to Surat. He went to the factory at 7am in the morning and returned back by 9pm in the night. After his return, he played online games and slept. In 3 years, he got to learn everything and it became his obsession.
What Changed his Life?
He made a team with Encore Paradox. He was doing gaming for fun. They registered for the tournament citing it as a fun activity. Although other team members were serious regarding the tournament, he was doing it for fun and he got into finals. He got to know that he has to go to Delhi for the finale, play in a stadium, and stay in a hotel.
As it was the first time he was traveling in a flight, it was a different feeling from him. When he told all this to his family, his sister recalled that their parents were not in favor of sending him to Delhi and asked him not to get into all this stuff.
They advised him to only play for timepass but don’t make it a profession, as you can’t become successful in this field.
However, it was his hard work and dedication that they came fifth in the finale, and won $10,000. Per player it was approximately 1 lakh Indian rupees.
Her mom didn’t believe it but when money came in the bank account, they got to know it is a legit tournament and all this happens on the app. There is a YouTube channel and such live events do happen.
Then he increased his schedule and started to wake up at 5am in the morning. He went to the gym in the morning, then did a 7am to 9pm factory job. He extended his gaming time till 1am. He slept for 4-5 hours only.
So, he realized he was not made for a 9 to 5 job and this would take him 40-50 years to achieve the goals he has now set for himself. So, he wanted to do everything fast. So he wanted to do something bigger and gaming was such a sector where he can achieve something and earn big.
So, his life changed after the 2nd PMSO. He got invites from 2-3 teams. It was from Fanatic and Entity. He chose Entity and refused Fanatic. He started practicing daily.
How Things Took a U-Turn in his Life?
Fanatic was entering into India for the first time at that moment. It was a big organization. After a couple of months, Entity refused to take him in their team.
So, he reached out to a few more teams to know if there was any slot available for him. Unfortunately there wasn’t any team that took him. So, he left gaming and started to question his idea of leaving the 9-5 job.
Then he had no option. Suddenly a new tournament came up in December. It was PMAS: PUBG Mobile All Star, a Hyderabad tournament.
It was an IND team and was a top team at that time. Frankie was playing but he couldn’t come due to some miscommunication. So, they needed a player urgently the very next day. Kratos called Raj as they used to communicate regularly.
He asked, “Are you willing to play”? He booked his flight and gave him a chance. He took the option and it was his last chance to take it or reject it.
So, he was Surat at that time. His sister says his parents had a lot of problems thinking about what others would say. What his son does and all.
He played that tournament and he got a lot of chicken dinners. From there, his future was set and he got a vibe he could do it.
LockDown was a Blessing in Disguise for his Gaming
He went to IND’s boot camp in Jan end. He showed splendid performance with the team and this is what took him till here. His YouTube journey started from there and he started putting drills. He started teaching people how to play.
He got the results in 3 months alone which he saw he will achieve in 3 years. Then came lockdown in March 2020. They were in a League tournament in Gurgaon, which was in the red zone. So, they were in a flat for 8 months. Couldn’t go out, nothing. This mattered a lot and Kratos helped him sharpen his gaming skills. He was an underdog and learnt a lot from other players while staying in the flat.
How Loco helped him
He found out about streaming after hitting 700K followers. He joined 8Bit Creatives. Loco was launched at that time. In his initial days, he was trolled for his slang. But after a few days, people started liking his personality. Audience was getting a good vibe from his entertainment while playing.
As interaction is not possible via VOD, it was just the comments and that’s it. But the live interaction was good. He was able to express his feelings. His Loco audience is very good and he gets regular views.
Loco is a stress buster for him. He shares his personal life, workout, plans, etc with the audience on live stream.
His sister says: They have seen all. Insults, appreciation ,etc.
He loves shopping and going to malls. Finally he said: Whatever hard work you do, continue to do it because you will get the result in the end. Try as much as you can. Have faith in God.
You can find the full interview here, streaming exclusively on Loco.gg.