This is the fourth and last part of 'Seven Deadly Sins'.

First three parts can be read here:
First part: A bag of bricks and a bottle of wine

Second Part: Meeting an Under-grad

Third Part: Job-Fair


Story so far: GVR, a grad student dies and meets an immortal. The immortal gives him a bag of bricks, a bottle of wine and a dictionary. The bag contains bricks. There can be at most seven types of bricks representing each deadly sin. GVR has to repent these sins to get rid of bricks before finishing wine. GVR meets an under-grad and some guys from industry, and successfully repents two sins. He is currently moving alone on the endless road. He checks the bag and finds out that........

Final Conversation with The Immortal

'Sloth...
Sloth...
Sloth...
...
What the F*ck! I got a bag full of sloth', GVR checks his bag and finds out that there are many Sloth bricks. He has already repented Envy & Greed.

'But why Sloth? I can't believe this. There must be some mistake?', GVR was not lazy in his earthly life. How can one call a graduate student lazy?

'I must talk to the immortal. It must be a mistake.', he concludes and wonders what could possibly induce an error in the supernatural setting. 'Are they keeping these records offshore?'. He couldn't find anything reasonable except Outsourcing to blame.

'Let's talk to Him'

'Hello!... Hello!... I am talking to you...' He shouts in all directions and hopes to get a response from the immortal.

'Son! you look puzzled', the immortal appears from nowhere.

'Oh! that was quick! .... Yes I have a doubt?', GVR asks.

'I think there is some mistake. My bag is full of Sloth. I was not lazy. I am sure there is some mistake. Can you please cross check?', GVR avoids questioning efficiency of the underlying system.

'There can be no mistake. But I can surely cross check for you.'

'No mistake! Sloth is the last sin for you. But I am afraid to tell you that your sloth has accumulated to a level of Lethargiosis.', the immortal brings both a good and a bad news.

'Wow!!Just one sin left! Cool... I did it', GVR celebrates his victory and reaches for his wine to treat himself. A sip revitalizes his soul.

'And what happened to Lust and Gluttony? I am sure I committed them during my life', GVR can be frank to an immortal.

'They are not counted as sins anymore!'

'What? Why? Since when? This world is so different than we always imagined on the earth', GVR expresses his astonishment.

'Since majority of humans are committing these sins, they now come under human nature and are not treated as crimes.'

'That's cool! I wish I could know this earlier.'

'But didn't you mention Seven deadly sins in our first meeting?', To question is a right of a grad.

'Polluting mother nature and dealing with drugs are new in the list.', the immortal again clarifies GVR's doubt.

'Hmmm it makes sense...But wait! why sloth... and you said something very negative, didn't you? I think I lost you somewhere', GVR finally senses the bad news.

'I said your life was severely affected by sloth. You may take some time reflecting on it completely. Save your wine.', the immortal reiterates the bad news.

'wait wait wait... I am sorry, I can't take it. you are trying to call a graduate student a lazy @$$... how can you? I am offended....', GVR recalls the main reason of summoning the immortal.

'Let me tell you my normal weekly schedule... I used to attend around ten hours of lectures, four hours of lab-works. I generally spent around twenty to thirty hours on home works, and almost similar time on my research.... Look at my body', but GVR realizes the fact that he has died, ' ohhh ok, I meant I used to work-out daily... I don't remember a single week when I spent less than five hours in gym....'

'What on God Damn earth made you feel, that I was lazy... My goodness!! Who can question activity of a graduate student? We belong to one of the most industrious species of the universe... we are hard working... I am sorry, but you offended not only me, but my whole community.. how can you do that?' GVR can never stand His accusations.

'I was expecting this. Sloth is always misunderstood by physical inactivity. It is far more severe than you can imagine.'

'Oh My God! here comes the preaching! you know what.. I was about to appreciate the whole set-up. You told me wonderful theories that I could never imagine. I met wonderful people here, and realized how wrong I was in my life. And now you are serving me new fundas..', GVR protests once again.

'I don't question your over-scheduled life. But tell me what was the sole purpose of keeping yourself busy?', the immortal asks keeping himself calm.

GVR thinks of a convincing reason. If it were some other mortal, he would have sweet coated his argument with ponderous reasons he mentioned in his SOP*. The curiosity and inclination towards science could have saved him. But these reasons are pointless in front of an immortal. The immortal could easily sense the underlying truth.

'Let me tell you, the whole purpose was to keep yourself so busy, so entrenched in your active life, that your spirit reached a permanent state of lethargiosis', the immortal is still calm. On the other hand, GVR is still thinking of a good damn reason.

'Lethargiosis is a process of eliminating energy & drive. It's not a state of tranquility. It's a state of pointlessness.', the immortal adds.

'I understand that I haven't done anything for mother nature or the society... but look!! do you want everyone to be a revolutionary?... there is no point!', GVR's tone yields to a defensive pitch. He remembers the days of his life when he pointlessly conducted same experiments again and again to kill time and get rid of frustration. He recalls walking on road thinking about his aimless life.

'This is not only about nature, society and family, my son! This is about you. This is about making up your mind and taking some genuine steps in your life.', comes the next strike from the immortal.

'I think I am not completely getting you. But tell me first! Does everyone think too much in life? Ok, lets not talk about politically obsessed souls, but what about others? I followed others and I am curious if everyone else made reasonable choices in life.'

'I am afraid to tell you the truth. Sloth is the biggest threat to humanity and over scheduled people are new sloths. They are neither angry nor hopeful. They are so engrossed in their petty life that their souls are dying.', the immortal conveys another sad news without an inkling of sympathy.

'But you can count on our curiosity towards science, can't you?', GVR picks up a heavy word from his SOP. 'Well what are my options?', GVR asks a straightforward question without dwelling on some boring discussion.

'Since this is the last sin in your account. You can repent it and explore the next stage. Counting on your curiosity, I hope you won't disappoint us. We need more souls like you. You must have learnt from history that we have yet to create a truly peaceful, loving world.'

GVR thinks for sometime. He just needs to say sorry for sloth, and he will be in a completely different world.

'Well I have a better option. I think I will wait for the time Sloth is removed from the list of sins. And considering the increasing number of people embracing it, this time will arrive soon. Why should I trouble myself for the sake of humanity. I feel, I love my pointless graduate life.', GVR emphasizes every word and makes a calculated decision. He, then, reaches for his wine and gulps it in one shoot.

Boom... and he disappears. What else can you expect from a grad? The immortal doesn't look surprised and says his little prayer, 'You haven't changed a bit. It was not your first trip here. Last time we got you soon after your GRE, before you were going back to school. We gave you a good undergraduate degree, a lucrative job and a meaningful life, but you followed the crowd and wanted to join a Grad. School. You gave similar reasons the last time. This time we picked you just before your QE**. You were recently planning to convert your Masters program to a PhD program. I am sure you will then opt for a Post-Doctorate and finally realize that you are over educated for anything worthy. May you live in pace.'

And on the earth, after around two and half decades, a Masters student is unable to decide anything for his future and sticks to studies. He is going to write QE tomorrow.

<-The End ->

PS:
1.I duly respect the entire graduate community. But unfortunately many students are taking this path just because they don't decide upon anything else. What a pity!
2.Reference: 'Sloth', Wendy Wasserstein, Oxford University Press. (The word 'Lethargiosis' was picked from this book. The last chapter of the book proposes over-scheduled sloths. Many key ideas were picked from there.)
3.The New York Public Library & Oxford University Press asked seven noted writers, scholars, and critics to offer their own views on one of the seven deadly sins. Seven books were published in this series. These books give more general definition of these sins, digging up their history and commenting on human behavior.
4.I have received many comments saying that this plot looks religious. I must clarify that although I am a religious person, this story has nothing to do with my religious beliefs. I tried to correlate human defects and graduate life. A good sense of humor is only prerequisite to appreciate the material. I hope you enjoyed reading it :) Stay tuned!!!



* SOP stands for Statement of Purpose. It's kind of a short essay that every graduate student write mentioning his or her research and career objective. It is a basic requirement for admission into any graduate school.

** QE stands for Qualifying Examination: Anyone can get a Masters degree without writing a QE, but one needs to clear this test before securing entry in a PhD Program.

PS: I have profound faith in Job-Fairs. But if you can't laugh over it at the end of a day, it's too serious for your life :) Happy reading!

Story so far: GVR, a grad student, dies and gets a bag of bricks, a bottle of wine and a dictionary. The bag contains bricks representing his sins and he has to repent them. He meets an under-grad and repents Envy. He is walking on an endless road. And then....

Job-Fair

“One tiny lil' jobless creature asked for more pizzas in feedback booklet”, an astonished voice gets life.

“What! ho ho... what do you mean??? He wrote 'order more pizza next time'.. ha ha... he must be a poor job-less soul”, another astonished yet amused voice responds.

“So what did you do...next time?”, another astonished as well as curious voice joins the discussion.

“Stopped putting the feedback booklet in the information session. How could I let my manager know that I was making money by ordering less pizza than required? What else could I do?”, the first voice defends its actions.

“Simply perfect! you gotcha be watching out what your manager is watching”, a mature voice supports the first voice.

GVR was moving alone for some time on the endless road. He now sees four smoky figures ahead. He is close enough to hear them clearly. They haven't noticed his presence. He looks at his feet and finds-out that there is no foot to make any sound. A cool awesome white smoky tail is moving smoothly on the whiter smoky platform. He slows down his pace to maintain some distance. He can still hear them clearly. He notices that these figures are little darker than his smoke. 'Now who else can be sinner than grad and under-grads?', he wonders.

“You know! in my ten years at Outtel, I have learned two things.... first.. watch what your manager is watching and you can save your @$$ in the long run.... and second.. watch what your manager is not watching and that's where you make some extra bucks...”, the mature voice shares its vision with other guys.

“What! you are funny.. ain't you.. I must say the funniest guy I have ever met... ho ho ho, nice theory. No one told me this at BMD”, the second figure looks easily titillated.

GVR takes no time understanding that the poor jobless creature -in their discussion- is a grad student. These guys must be employees of two leading competitor companies of hardware industry. They must have died just before a job-fair. BMD and Outtel are hard-core competitors. GVR could never imagine their employees talking so freely. It must be the death who erases all competitions. GVR, surely, is gonna appreciate this after-life set-up.

“The tale doesn't end with pizza. These jobless creatures are far more jobless and shameless... I was once delivering a lecture on our Boogle's innovative product-line and at the far corner of the lecture hall, these two grads were literally fighting over the last slice of pizza... What the f*ck! They should at least have some respect for technology, for Boogle, for me – their school senior... but no!! these guys are jobless, senseless and useless”, the first figure looks very disappointed with the future of technology because it is going in wrong hands.

GVR, a grad student in his earthly life, who used to mark his calendar for all seminars with free food feels sorry. 'Oh so a Boogle guy is also in the gang... Cool!!', he thinks.

“That's why MegaSoft never wastes its energy on seminars before the actual job-fair.... Just go in the field, let them stand in a queue for long time and then interview them right there... pick few and come-back... Algorithm simplified!', The third smoke gives a better solution to the first one.

“Wow! MegaSoft too!!”, All big brands excite GVR. The other two guys must be working in the Software giants, Boogle & MegaSoft. They are discussing a job-fair, i.e. career fair. Education leads us to good citizenship, is an old saying, an outdated version of more practical and precise proverb that goes like this, 'Education leads us to industry where a hard working student transforms into a hardly working employee.' A job fair is a gateway to this transformation. Employees attract poor students to strengthen their fraternity and poor students enter the trap out of sheer greed.

“Ohh.. don't get me started on the field... I have seen nine job-fairs... and I can tell you that these creatures are the most shameless creatures in the whole universe. They trade their resume for free stuff.... Generous companies bring them tooth-pastes, pens, caps, t-shirts, water-bottles, key-chains etc. as a token of thanks for their participation in job-fair.... They just shamelessly trade their resume for these stuff... I have seen many students standing in irrelevant company's queue for free supply of their groceries.... I could have forgiven them, but some students don't even wait, don't even talk, don't even come-up with their resume, they just appears from no where, collects a bag from some company stall, and goes to all other stalls collecting free stuffs... Heights of shamelessness, I must say”, the Outtel guy again shares his experience. He is a bit disappointed this time.

“ohh what? what a pity?? but are you serious.. I mean... just coming and picking free stuff, without giving resume... ha ha... those creatures must be the funniest creatures... ho ho.. I have never seen this stuff.... ha ha I can imagine it... ho ho.. pretty funny, it looks”, the BMD guy can laugh over any situation.

But GVR feels sorry. He used to behave similarly in job-fairs. He never purchased tooth-paste, pen, t-shirt, cap, bag, key-chain etc. in his graduate life. He didn't brush his teeth for one whole week because his tooth-paste stock was over just before a job-fair. He even picked stuffs from job-fairs that he never used. He used to think that it was a basic right of every grad student. He was wrong, it must be his Greed. He felt sorry, and some of his bricks disappear.

“One student asked if we have any Medium size t-shirt left before handing his resume to me”, the Boogle guys tells his story.

“You guys always want to live with complexity... you, first, make your world complex, and then complain against it.... Why do you guys bring these exotic stuff to a poor place like school? ... look at us!! we came up with a simpler solution, we brought them a detergent powder which is no good for washing... We packed the stuff in a funky iPod like Box and stacked the boxes in a heap on our counter.... students waited in a long queue to find out the truth.. ha ha ha.. Algorithm simplified once again”, MegaSoft never misses a chance to showcase his superiority over Boogle.

“What! ho ho.. I must tell you, this after-death is too funny... I have never met anyone funnier in my life... ha ha.. what a solution!.. I am glad that I died before I could attend my first job-fair ever. It was gonna be my first job-fair.”, The BMD guy finally speaks something that catches every one's attention including GVR's.

“What... the first one.”, the Boogle guy asks.

“So! you are a Pizza-guy, ain't you?”, the Outtel guy inquires.

“What? A Pizza-guy? What does it mean?”, finally something truly astonished the BMD guy without troubling his nerves responsible for laughing.

“See, there are different levels of employees in a hiring crew that goes to a job-fair”, the mature Outtel guy starts sharing his wisdom again, “Lets start with a pizza-guy, the person who order pizzas for pre-job-fair seminars and takes care about crew's meal during interviews etc., then the next hierarchical level is possessed by a poster guy. He is responsible for setting up company tents and posters. Speakers are the next... they tell company policies and can speak non-sense for hours without taking breath.... and the last one is”

“The resume guy?”, the BMD guy guesses.

“Well there is no resume guy, but yes.. there is a shredder guy whose duties include resume collection and their safe disposal to company's shredding machine.”, the Boogle guy completes the sentence. All companies have unanimously the same levels of hierarchy in a hiring crew.

“See !!again you guys are creating a complex world around you... look at MegaSoft... we don't have pre-job-fair seminars, so no pizza or poster guy.... all MegaSoft guys are good orators, so no extra speaker in the crew... so just one or at most two can handle a job-fair... Algorithm Simplified, yet again”, the MegaSoft guy reveals his company's secret.

GVR is fed-up of listening to them. He has already realized his Greed. He wants to move on. He interrupts them.

“Excuse me! I want to say thanks to you guys”, GVR speaks.

He catches their attention who never noticed his presence so far.

“I am Girdhar Venkatpati Raju... call me GVR. I was a grad student... and your little conversation here helped me repent my greed. Thanks.”, GVR saves their questions and explains everything.

“But I have a doubt”, GVR further asks.

“How come all of you died together... I mean was there any air-plane casualty? Then why only four of you?”, GVR has got a valid doubt.

“No! we were sharing a car-drive from the airport to a university and met an accident.”

“Hmmm Car-pooling! eco-friendly set-up!! good”, GVR praises their efforts.

“What eco-friendly? Frankly speaking, we all get compensation from our companies for all the expenses we made during our trip. We were saving some cash by pooling car and plan to show fake bills later.”, the Outtel guy tells the real story.

GVR starts moving on the endless road thinking that a grad student is not only one who commits GREED on the earth.


Notes:
1.It's time for follow-up process. Update your resume and apply online for job/internship, if you have recently attended a job-fair. :)
2.Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins#Greed_.28Latin.2C_avaritia.29
3.This is the second last part of the story. Next post should be the last one. Stay tuned!

Meeting an Under-grad!
( This is the second part of the story, Seven Deadly Sins.)

And everything disappears with the blink of an eye. GVR is not dreaming. He has lost his very flesh, and has become a figure of white smoke. He has met one immortal and discovered absence of both hell and heaven. He, yet, has been given a bag of bricks, a bottle of wine and a dictionary. He enters a big white gate to travel on an endless road. He finds himself alone, hanging somewhere in the infinite universe. He can see only white, hear only silence and feel only himself. He is with himself - a rare occurrence in one's life – he, at least, has met his true soul. He can reflect on his deeds now and repent his sins. He is alone, all by himself.

“I wonder if I can check my orkut account here.”, finally a dead grad student talks to himself. He looks around and sees nothing. It is some kind of smoky set-up. Only a white smoky platform is visible. It is nothing like a road - the endless road, as the immortal mentioned. He notices his long white tail. It looks cool. He wonders if newton's laws of physics hold there or even the very physics is true anymore. He guesses that poor souls of Newton and Einstein would have wandered confusingly verifying the earthly physics laws.

“Hellooooo!!!!!!!Is anyone out there?”

“Hey Bro! What's up?”,he, surprisingly, gets a response. Another figure, made of smoke, comes towards him. There is no difference in appearance, since everything is made of white smoke. All figures are of same length, having almost same kind of structure and no sign of blood, skin or flesh. They all look similar from distance. Race as well as ethincity surrenders to true equality, at least in some part of the universe. Before he can appreciate the equality, he notices that the other figure is slightly darker. The immortal told him that the blacker the smoke, the sinner was the creature in his earthly life. He wonders if there can be anyone sinner than a grad on the earth.

“Hey I was Tom before death!”, the newly arrived figure introduces himself.

“Call me GVR!”

Tom, then, tells him that he died in a road accident. Tom was drunk and driving a car. Tom was hit by a truck and died on the spot. He was an undergraduate student and was about to complete his degree in his earthly life.

“Ohh an under-grad! I knew who could be sinner than a grad”, GVR pities the poor soul.

“Ohh a grad student! What a loser?” Tom pities the whole grad community, upon knowing that GVR was a grad student.

GVR faced many under-grads in his life but he feels uncomfortable facing Tom.

“You know! I can be very frank now, since you are not gonna grade my exams, are you?”, Tom starts talking.

“You must know what we always think of grad students.... You are big time losers”, Tom is really being very frank.

“And do you know the reason?... or I must say reasons?.... how could you??? you yourself are a grad. Ha ha ha.” Tom laughs at grads.

“You guys have no social life, you always look for the cheapest place to eat, though you earn and save enough. And you b*st*rds screw our grades whenever you get chance, that's the only way to show off your studness... but you should also know that you guys are no geeks... you guys are j*rks, big time losers... you couldn't study enough during your under-graduation and now reading the same old stuff again... Dude! you guys should get some life!” Tom can't be more frank. He represents his views for grads.

GVR smiles.

This smile, for Tom, is a surrender.

For GVR, this smile is a go-f*ck-yourself-I-dont-care attitude. GVR is mature enough to discard Tom's comment without taking any offense.

“But we are dead now!”, GVR finally speaks.

“Yes true! and these guys gave me wine.”

“What's wrong with the wine?”

“They know I was killed by over-drinking. I have already been f*cked-up by alchol and am so tempted to finish this in one shot. There could have been a better way... may be something to eat, say some fruit, instead of wine... may be an apple... yes I wish there were one apple, one big-red apple. I hate apples, and I would have never eaten that apple without throwing these bricks away.” Tom looks very pissed of.

“Apple! Thank God! You didn't get an apple. The whole mankind has already suffered ill-fate of apples twice.” GVR argues, but Tom looks non-pulsed.

“Recently it was a weak apple, that couldn't hold itself on a tree and jumped upon Newton, and result, we suffered from gravity, Newton's laws, complete physics, and almost all engineering and sciences.”

“And lately it was a strong apple, that stayed forever on a tree, and tempted poor Eve so much that she grabbed it, and we all suffered mortality. Those two apples have really scr*wed us big-time, don't you think so?”, GVR concludes.

“What a poor joke? Dude! you surely didn't have any social life, did you?” Tom's pride is too tough to be invaded.

“That's enough! This son of a b*tch is insulting me again and again”, GVR can take no more...

“Whatever! lets have some fun. Come on, who is up for a bottoms-up”, GVR raises his bottle and challenges Tom.

“You got to be kidding. You can't beat me, can you?..... Do you really think you can?... Oh! f*ck it, I will prove it in a minute... on the count of three”, Tom is ever-ready.

“One... two... three...”, before GVR can even finish counting Tom starts gulping wine from his bottle. GVR knows that they can't afford this bottoms-up. The very bottle of wine is their only hope to explore the endless road and reflect on their sins. But poor Tom has been trapped, he is paying for his blasphemy.

As soon as Tom finishs his wine, he disappears. GVR laughs, a hearty laugh. “Now tell! Who is your daddy?” GVR just gave life to one guy. Is it a crime?

After departure of Tom, GVR is alone again. He is tired. He wants to take few sips of wine. It is time to celebrate his victory over a poor undergraduate. He has seen many under grads in his life. Undergraduates are frisky, empty-headed, over confident and exuberant. They can only party, but can't do well in exams and projects. They always need help in homeworks, but in bars, they need no help. They are rude, over smart and good for nothing creatures. They come to college, but can never leave their high-school attitude behind. They are plainly unthinkable. GVR hates them, and he recently saw real face of an under-graduate. His perception about them was completely right.

But he, still, can't afford a sip, can he?

“Lets get rid of some bricks first.”
He looks at the first brick in the bag. It reads ENVY

Although he never understood the whole procedure of reflection and repenting, yet he assumes that thinking of a sin will serve the purpose, so he starts thinking his deeds reflected by the sin.

“Jealousy! Well this is not tough. I have always been jealous in my life and I won't wonder if my bag is full of ENVY bricks...”

“I remember that I was always jealous of my batch-mates who publish papers frequently and my prof. I wish I could be a master the field like him.”

He, then, tries to think of every single event induced by jealousy, but nothing happens. No brick disappears.

“What's wrong? at least some bricks should go away.... Go! Go! Go!! let me celebrate my victory. I wanna drink some wine...” but all in vain.

“I might be doing something wrong? lets start all over again... The brick says, ENVY... means jealousy, and I have thought of every event when I felt it... what could be wrong? Lets see Dictionary. The immortal was so convinced that it would help me....”

He refers to his dictionary which is kind of a thesaurus. The entry at ENVY says:

'ENVY: It is not jealousy. It is a silent, secretive process and not always verifiable.'

There are couple of other statements.

'One is jealous of what one has, envious of what other people have.'

'People hate those who make them feel their own inferiority.'

GVR can't decode the hidden meaning. He desparately wants to enjoy his victory. He always hated undergraduates in his life, for they could afford fun on every weekend even on every weekday.

“Wait! it must not be hatred, it must be my envy.”, GVR realizes and starts seeing the big picture. He remembers that he used to have similar opinions for grads when he himself was an undergrad. He always mocked them, but finally he himself opted to be one. His opinions changed. He started complaining of all things that he could do as an under-graduate but couldn't afford in grad life. He longed for maturity and after becoming a grad student, he started coveting immature undergrads. How biased he was in his life. His envy made him feel so jealous of undergrads. He forgot that he himself was an under-grad. He used to cherish the happy-go-lucky attitude. He never cared of world when he was young. He misses these traits now and feels that his juniors are no good. They get what they don't deserve. How could he overlook their life and undermine his?

Humans exist on at least three levels, there is the person as he appears in public, the person who is known to friends and family members, and deepest of all, who is only known to himself, where all the aspirations, resentments, fantasies, desires & much else that is not ready for public knowledge reside. That's where envy resides, it's hard to discover.

“Look what I have done to a poor kid?” GVR finally feels sorry and some of his bricks disappear.

PS:
1.This piece is fictional. And opinions presented here should be read with good sense of humor.
2.Reference: 'Envy', Joseph Epstein. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.