City doc in cyber olympiad

MUMBAI: During the day he sutures wounds and by night he gets busy conquering space. It is this Jekyll-and-Hyde like exploits of Rajesh Bijlani that has qualified him for the World Cyber Games, an international e-sports competition to be held in Seattle, the United States, next week.
Bijlani is a surgeon running a nursing home and is also a consultant with Fauziya Hospital in Kurla.He has been playing cyber games since the last four years after working hours though there has been a time when he would squeeze in a game between two patients. "I was almost an addict two years ago. At the outpatients’ department on a lean day I would play games in between patients. But that has stopped now," said Bijlani who, at 41, would be among the oldest participants.
The average age of participants is around 20. And 900 players from 75 countries will be taking part in the event, one of the largest gaming festivals in the world. Bijlani is among the nine Indians who have been selected.
Today his gynaecologist and laparoscopist wife, Suman Bijlani, is proud of him. There was a time when she would nag him for sacrificing his sleep over gaming.
The surgeon, in fact, was too wary of upsetting his surgery schedules for the week-long event and his wife urged him to participate. "There was a time when I would come home from work and play games till 6 in the morning. My wife and I had problems because of that but we survived," Bijlani laughs.
His midnight missions of countering terrorists planning to bomb an area or building an empire and killing enemies had to be shortened as his son became a teenager. "It was awkward. I couldn’t play immediately after yelling at him for gaming. I had to wait till everyone went to sleep and played for three hours after work," says the surgeon. The doctor soon concentrated on playing snooker on computer and, therefore, got selected in the Carrom-3D category. There are 12 categories, including Counter Strike, Age of Empire and Star Craft. The total prize money is $500,000 and the winner of the Carrom-3D category will get $12,000.