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Scaling newer heights – with a pinch of grit, determination and hard work

Scaling newer heights – with a pinch of grit, determination and hard work

Arnita Chakravorty, believes she has found a family at Infosys. The COVID-19 pandemic reiterated her belief. Read her story…

Back in the days when engineering was the most popular career option, getting a job at Infosys used to be the next coveted thing. My grandmother once asked me how I could be happy working in an IT firm other than Infosys. And she wasn’t even someone well versed with the IT industry – but Infosys had made a mark! This name gave people dreams and gave them hopes of bigger and better opportunities. I only realized the meaning of this when I first set foot on the Infosys campus. As I entered an unknown space, with anxiety and hope, it was the little things that made me fall in love with Infosys. Not just my colleagues, who very patiently took me through several processes but every team from the IT, Security to Housekeeping and Facilities, seemed to be playing an important role in making a newcomer feel at home. And eventually as the years went by, I realized that Infosys is driven by values and ethics which is seen in every individual who is a part of this humongous ecosystem.

The culture that gets embedded in you

My journey here has been exciting, motivating and challenging. So much to learn, so much to contribute and such wonderful people around. I have worked with some of the most amazing and talented people here, who have contributed to my professional growth and have also made a big difference in the way I look at life. This belief only got stronger during the pandemic. The way my colleagues and friends from the Cybersecurity and Marketing teams came together to support me and my family when we were diagnosed with COVID-19, is something I will never forget. I still remember the day when I was struggling to find a hospital and my Marketing colleague from the US said “I will not go to sleep till I find you a hospital bed”. And she, along with my other Marketing and Cybersecurity friends made umpteen number of calls, leaving all their other deliverables aside. It did not end there – I had everyone checking in on me and my family every single day, starting from my peers, HR, senior leadership, even people who did not know me well enough. A WhatsApp group was formed for this cause and my marketing friends’ relentless efforts to help me through this crisis left a deep sense of gratitude in me. This is what Infosys gives you – learnings, compassion, warmth, support and family! A feeling of belonging that is very hard to brush off. And the pandemic only reasserted this belief.

It’s all about the mind

If there is one thing that COVID has taught me, it is gratitude and positivity. I have always been a strong believer of how a strong mind and an optimistic outlook towards life can help you achieve anything. There might be ups and downs in life but to bounce back after you have had a fall and not get pulled down by negativity is what makes us better human beings. I, like a lot of others have had my fair share of challenges but the determination to take charge of my own happiness has not let me succumb.

It is with this grit and determination that I decided to trek through the difficult Nepal terrain to the Annapurna Base Camp. The Annapurna range is a part of the Himalayas, at a height of 26,000 ft. This needed me to discipline myself into a rigorous training plan and not being a regular at the gym made it that much harder. The 7-day trek across the Annapurna sanctuary, reaching a height of 15,000 ft., was as liberating as it was challenging. Every day was a different experience but the happiness you get once you accomplish the feat you have set out to achieve is beyond words.

Keep going – the journey is not over yet

The joy of life is in learning from each other and our own experiences. And these are some of the things that keep me going:

  • Start your day by being grateful for everything you have.
  • Believe in yourself and work towards achieving your dreams with a positive frame of mind, even if it is one baby step at a time.
  • Work hard and be true to whatever you do so you can go to bed with a sense of satisfaction.
  • Learning is a very important part of life that makes us who we are. So never stop learning!
  • Don’t be too hard on yourself on days that you are not able to do much (personally and professionally). Every day is different, and we will see it through.

I will leave you with a quote by Nelson Mandela that is very close to my heart – “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall”