110. The Interview

Varma stopped the person who came out of the interview room and asked him, "How was the interview?"

"It was easy. They asked only about my experience."

"Did you tell them about the wrongs committed by you?"

"We can't hide anything from them. They have 
our complete dossiers. It seems they may even have the scan taken when I was in my mother's womb!"

"How is it possible?"

"There is one Mr. Gupta in the room. It appears that he has our entire dossiers in his laptop. Browsing through the laptop, he brought out the things concealed by me."

"Really?" asked Varma, showing his disbelief.

"Yes. They asked me whether I didn't get a job by giving a fake degree certificate. I was shocked. I don't understand how they came to know of this. In my thirty years' career, no one had found out this."

"Perhaps, the person who made the fake certificate for you had revealed this."

"He had prepared fake certificates for hundreds of people. I am only one among them. Why should he tell about me? And why should he tell these people? It is puzzling to me."

"Ok. What did they say about this? Are they going to punish you for this?"

"I don't know. But I have done a lot of good deeds. They mentioned those also. In fact, they even mentioned some of the good deeds I had forgotten about, by getting the details from their laptop and commended me for those deeds!"

"Oh!" said Varma, expressing his surprise.

At that time, a young woman came there, said, "Mr. Kasi! Please come with me" and took him inside a room.

Varma was able to take a quick look into the room, when the door of the room was opened for a few seconds and closed. The shiny floor and the bright walls made the room look like a suite in a high class hotel. The sweet fragrance and the pleasant chillness of the air that emanated from that room lasted for several seconds. Varma noticed the inscription 'Paradise - 103' outside the room. 

'Where are they taking him?' wondered Varma.

After a while, Varma was called in.

The interview went on for more than thirty minutes. Varma was sweating, in spite of the air-conditioned atmosphere inside the room. He wondered whether it was an interview or an interrogation.

"Mr. Varma! You have concealed one important information about you" said the interviewer.

"Which one are you referring to?" asked Varma. He felt that the sweating of his body was becoming more intense.

"After you had lost your job, you struggled for a long time, without getting another job. You were on the verge of being on the street. At that time, one Mr. Arthanari took pity on you and gave you a job. He reposed faith in you and within a short time, entrusted you with a responsible position in his organization. But, after learning the intricate details of his business, you joined his competitor's firm, pulled some of the valuable customers of Mr. Arthanari to your new firm and sabotaged his business. After some time, he was forced to wind up his business. Rather than being grateful to the person who had helped you during a critical period of your life, you betrayed him."

"Sir! In business, such practices are common" said Varma, in an apologizing tone.

"Forgetting the good done to us by someone is an unpardonable crime. Betraying that person is a punishable offense" said the interviewer and pressed the buzzer on his desk.

A hefty person entered the room. After the interviewer nodded his head, he gripped Varma's arm and pulled him out of his chair.

"What are you doing? Stop. I will come with you. What kind of a practice is this - pulling a person by his hand?" protested Varma.

The force with which he pulled Varma made Varma fall on the floor. He dragged Varma out of the room, without giving Varma a chance to get up and walk.

He opened the door of a room and pushed Varma inside the room. Varma got up with some difficulty. The room was semi-dark, with poor lighting. The floor was rough and stepping on the rough surface hurt his feet. Varma thought that his shoes should have fallen off his feet when he was being dragged.

'Will the shoes have fallen off from both my legs?' 

His thinking was abruptly interrupted by a strong stench that pervaded the room.

"What is this room? Why have you brought me here?" asked Varma.

"This is where you are going to live" said the man. who dragged him to that room.

"Why?" asked Varma, angrily.

At that moment, a phone in that room rang. The man took the receiver and spoke. He then handed the receiver over to Varma and told him, "You can ask your doubts to the boss."

Varma received the receiver and spoke. It was the interviewer who was at the other end of the phone.

 "Why are you putting me in this horrible place?" asked Varma.

"This is the punishment for your crime of betraying a person who did you good" replied the interviewer.

"I have done a lot of good deeds. Won't you consider them?"

"If it was some other offense, we would have considered the good deeds and condoned the offense. But, no amount of good deed can compensate for the offense of betraying a person who did something good to you." 

Varma recalled how Kasi, who got a job by producing a fake degree certificate was taken to a luxurious room, because of the good deeds done by him. Varma remembered the inscription 'Paradise - 103' outside that room.

'In that case, this place is..."

"What is this place, sir?" asked Varma, in a trembling voice.

"Your guess is right. It is HELL!" said the interviewer, laughing.

"Who are you to push me into this? What is your name?"

"Dharamaraj*."

* As per Hindu mythology, after a person dies, Dharmaraj, also called Yama, the God of death, decides whether to send the person to heaven or hell, according to the deeds done by the person, when he or she lived in the world. 

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 11
Gratitude

Verse 110 (In Tamil)

ennanRi konRArkkum uyvuNdAm uyvillai
sey nanRi konRa magaRku.

Meaning:

There is salvation to those guilty of any other sin; but there is no redemption for the sin of ingratitude.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'interview' by the same author)

Verse 111 (Soon)
Verse 109