Tamasa Das

Apart from being in IT, I have been involved in athletics as well. Since childhood I was very fond of playing. And the right opportunity hit me during my college days which led me to join Rifle Shooting. I got my First State Championship in 2016, followed by my First National Championship in 2017. And soon after I joined Infosys in 2018, I got qualified for the Indian Team Selection trial. Now, I am a National player and continuing my quest to be a part of the National team.

The balance between academics and athletics was a tough one for me as my parents were always inclined towards having good education and a job that would make me independent. Even in my school days I was so much interested in sports but I would need to study because desi parents. But fortunately in college all the things fell in place. Although the ride to the destination was a little jittery because the campus placements and the State Championship were running parallely. It even led to a clash between me and my parents but we called it a truce and I was supposed to clear the campus round if I wanted to go for the championship. Do or die is how I would phrase it now. I made a few calls to my coach and all he said was, ‘there’s only a day left to the championship, if I could make it to the venue, I could play’. It was my first ever championship, neither did I get a chance to look around nor could I feel the essence of the game because of the late entry.

Two days prior to the championship I was giving my campus placement tests. I was hoping that I’d fail the first round itself and run towards the venue for my championship, but destiny! I cleared the first round, the next day it almost took the whole day for the second round. I reached home late at night. If at all I had reached home early I would have left for the venue for my championship which was a 3.30 hrs ride, I thought. But the next day I went to the railway station and reached the destination. Better late than never!! I was able to bag 2 Gold medals.

Fast forwarding to 2018, I was a National player and could have gotten a job at my place but my parents wanted me to expand my horizon. And so now I was moving to get training at Infosys Mysore. Everything about this place was amazing. The people, the food, the facilities that were available from my athletic point of view, everything. But the only thing which was bugging me was that I didn’t have a Rifle of my own and was out of practice for 4 months. Even though it seemed pretty on the outside but it was a complete mess for me.

In 2018 I was supposed to Play the Nationals for which my coach wanted me get leave for a week to practice and play the States atleast. Also I would need to travel to my home state. It seemed tough to me back then but after I told my manager why I needed leave, he willing granted it. My life was on a fast-track implementation I barely saw my parents with three days of practice I went for the States. Then in September, I moved to Bhubaneswar and in the following month I had gotten myself a new Rifle from Germany. November was the month my Nationals were supposed to happen. I was tensed is an understatement because I all I kept thinking was how would I go the championship with a month old rifle? But it was either I take the chance or I let go and wait for an entire year to even get qualified for the india trial. So I took the chance even though it was physically straining and I’d work on weekdays, travel to my hometown on weekends for practice and come back for office again. This went on, on a loop. On Sunday night while on my way back to office, I again asked my manager for as I didn’t have adequate leave and if he’d allow me to work from Trivandrum DC as my Nationals were near. That is the reason I’ve been hopping from place to place. I moved to Trivandrum, completed the Nationals and even qualified for India trials. How did my one month old baby rifle ended up doing magic was all I kept wondering.

In 2019, another great thing happened when this person from an academy at Orissa allowed me to practice in their state on realising how draining my practice sessions were traveling back and forth in my State. So now I had the best of both world, I could practice at both the places.

And then 2020 happened, and we’ve all been aware how things seized for us. But I seized this time to my benefit as I finally got some time to spend with my parents, thanks to work from home. It was a blessing in disguise for me at least.

But now that it’s 2021, I have again resumed my rifle shooting practice and I hope to win more accolades and gain experience by travelling more and more.

Total Work Experience : 2.8 Years(Infosys)