Week 7 Story: Framed

Updated Story

2:00 am.  What do you picture when you think about 2 am?  What you see in your head is exactly what the Hastinapura Palace courtyard looked like on this chilly February night.  The town and palace were pitch black and silent.  King Hastin was out after a long night of well.. whatever you do at 2:00 am.  He came through the courtyard with his carriage and six horses.  Too tired to bring the horses back to the stable, he got out of the carriage and went to bed in his castle.

The only other creatures awake at this time were the palace dogs.  After a lifelong spell of obedience to their king, they were itching to break the rules for once.

One of the palace dogs whispered, "This is our chance to have a little fun.  Lets go chew up the leather straps and harnesses of the king's carriage."

The dogs tip-toed into the courtyard, tore up the straps, then slid back into the shadows.

Morning, well, later morning came around and the king woke up.  He ventured into the courtyard to see the carnage.  He yelled, "Who did this?!"

A man, who was part of the royal guard, said, "I saw some dogs sneaking across the courtyard last night.  It was probably them."

In utter rage, the king exclaimed, "I want all of the dogs in the city put down before sundown!"

There were over 700 dogs in the city.

The leader of the city dogs, Arjuna, heard about the king's demand and said, "I will find a way to fix this."

Arjuna knew it was unfair that 700 dogs were sentenced to death for the offense of a few.  He began to investigate.  As he walked around the city talking to different dogs, he realized that the palace gate is always closed.  At this moment, he knew exactly who committed the crime.

Arjuna walked through the streets and up to the palace gate.  The king's men who were out to kill dogs left him alone because they could see his character through his eyes.  They knew he was full of love and innocence.

The palace gate keepers let him through the palace gates for the same reason.

Arjuna stood before the king in the throne room and testified for all of the city dogs.  He said, "Your highness, the palace gates are always closed.  There is no way any city dogs could have entered the palace courtyard last night because the gates and walls are too high.  The palace dogs must have destroyed the straps and harnesses to your carriage."

The king, realizing his mistake, apologized to the dogs of the city.  He also began to show kindness to them.  This kindness was unlike any kindness the king had shown before.

The palace dogs, with their tails between their legs, came into the throne room.  King Hastin said to them,  "You served me well for years, how could you go against me like this?"

The palace dogs were too embarrassed to respond.

The king then banished them from Hastinapura for life.

Author's Note

This story is a retelling of The Guilty Dogs by Noor Inayat.  I really enjoyed the original story and wanted to stay as true to it as I could.  The original story however, did not name any of the characters.  To make the characters a little more personal, I gave them names.  I used the names King Hastin and Arjuna from the Mahabharata even though their personalities in this story are much different than their personalities in the Mahabharata.  King Hastin was a good king, and Arjuna was not a dog but a great archer and the central character in the Mahabharata.  I guess that is why I chose the name Arjuna over the other character names from the Mahabharata.  He possessed the heroic quality that I wanted the leader of the dogs to have.

Bibliography

The Guilty Dogs from Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat

Drona in Command from Mahabharata, Epic of the Bharatas by Romesh Dutt

King Shantanu and Ganga from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie

Image information: All personal pictures of my dogs

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part D

Drona in Command

The Pandev warriors were struck with fear when they heard that Drona was leading the Kuru forces.
Drona was out to get Yudhishthira and even vowed to bring him back as a prisoner to Hastina.
Arjuna, Yudhishthira's brother, would not allow for this.  He is faithful and virtuous.
Arjuna prepares to fight Drona.
Drona was Arjuna's and Yudhishthira's teacher.
Arjuna does not really want to fight his teacher, but he will do whatever it takes to protect his brother.
Other chieftains under Yudhishthira gathered around him to protect him.
Then the battle begain.
A warrior named Abhimanyu dragged a man named Paurava by the hair as he rode in a chariot.  This sight was compared to a lion dragging away its meal.
Arjuna knows there is no one better with a sword and a bow than his teacher.
Despite this he will fight for his brother.
Abhimanyu went forth and fought Jayadratha.
All men watched as the two battled.
Jayadratha pierced Abhimanyu's armor but his sword broke.
Weaponless he ran back to his car and escaped death.
Shalya was there to rescue him.
Then all of the fighters went at it.  Mace to mace, sword to sword.
It was a brutal battle.
Blood was shed and thrown everywhere.
The warriors looked like tigers, lions, or eagles fiercely fighting with reddened paws.  The paws being their weapons.
It appeared no one was winning.  Each side was just beating up on the other.
The heroes of both sides came closer together as the battle went on.
Drona was making easy work of the men that tried to fight him.
The twin brothers finally met Drona.
Drona ended up capturing Yudhishthira like he planned.
Drona went on to slay many noble warriors.
Despite Arjuna's promise to protect his brother even to his death, he was unable to chase down and attack Drona.

Laying down ones life for another is one of the greatest demonstrations of love one can show.  Many men died for Yudhishthira.  He was greatly loved.

Bibliography

Drona in Command  Mahabharata, Epic of the Bharatas by Romesh Dutt
Image Information: Lion vs. Tiger: Wikipedia

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part C

Bhima and Hanuman

Bhima was getting lotus for Draupadi when he found a monkey along his path.

The monkey was immovable.

Bhima tried to lift up its tail with all of his might but could not do it.

On his path, just for fun, Bhima killed elephants, lions, tigers.

He even was able to pick up dead elephants and use them as a weapon against other animals.

This monkey was no normal monkey.

Bhima demanded that the monkey to reveal his identity.

The monkey said he was Hanuman, fiend of Rama.  He told Bhima some memories he shared with Rama.

Bhima repeatedly asked Hanuman to show his full, huge figure.

Hanuman eventually did it.

He said, at the beginning of time there was no performing religious acts, no malice or pride, no sin, and no gods or demons.

There was no caste system as everyone was a Bhramin.  All were created equal.

He said that men became divided when men wrote the sacred books.

He said this books were made in passion and feeling.  They distracted people from the truth.

When they fell away from the truth, evil came.

Disease and selfishness came about at this time.

True virtue was lost.

Now evil, famine, disease, sloth, and anger prevail over what is good.

The Brhamin became religious leaders.

The Vaishya became the farmers and business people.

The Kshatriya were the worriers.  Their job was to protect.

The Shudra was the working caste.

The fact that Hanuman is never to leave the Earth until the Ramayana is no longer being told gives endless possibilities of stories.  Where was he during during the Roman Empire, the British Invasion of India, WWII?  Tracking Hanuman through this times in history could be really cool.  I could even write a story about Hanuman in the present day.

Bibliography

Bhima and Hanuman from The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie 

Image Information: Hanuman in his total form: Pixabay

Reading Notes:The Guilty Dogs

The Guilty Dogs

This is my third Jataka tale to read as extra credit.  I just love these stories.

A king, in a chariot pulled by six white horses, enters a city.
He returned the horses to the stables.
He left the chariot and harnesses in the courtyard of the city.
It was a rainy night and everyone was asleep.
Some dogs saw the leather harnesses in the middle of the courtyard and got excited.
They were going to play with them.
They sneaked quietly into the courtyard, chewed up the harnesses, and left before anyone even noticed they were there.
The stable keepers where furious when they found these shreds of leather that were once harnesses.
They were scared to tell the king what had happened.
They told the king and accused the dogs of tearing up the straps.
The king told the stable keepers to kill all of the dogs in the city.
There were 700 dogs in the city.
The leader of the dogs said that the guilty dogs should be killed but the innocent ones should keep their lives.
Nobody could kill the leader dog as he approached the king's gates because of the love that was in his eyes.
The guards even let him through the palace gates.
The leader dog spoke on behalf of the dogs of the city.
He asked the king why so many innocent dogs should pay for the crimes of a few.
You see, the only dogs that the king was going to let live was the royal dogs.
The leader dog argued that the dogs of the city could not have entered the palace gates.
Therefore, it must have been the palace dogs that chewed up the harnesses.
The palace dogs were then brought before the king at the court of justice.
When they were given food, they ate.
When they ate, pieces of leather fell out of their mouths.
The palace dogs were proved guilty.
The city dogs were given rich food and were cared for for the rest of their lives.

Bibliography

The Guilty Dogs from Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat
Image Information: A Guilty Dog: Flickr

Week 6 Lab: Testing Twine

Using twine to create a small story was a ton of fun.  It added a lot of excitement to they story writing process.  I could definitely see myself using Twine to create a story this semester.  One thing that I really love about it is that it gives the reader a change to determine the outcome.  If they do not like the outcome, they can go back and chose a different one.  In some ways, it is like telling more that one story at the same time.

It could also use twine to create a game to play with family or even a biology study tool.

Disney Murder Mystery  Check out my Twine here!

Image Information: Cinderella's Castle: Flickr

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part B

The Pandavas Victorious

The Pandavas were very powerful.
Yudhishthira was the eldest son and was ready to perform his Rajasuya sacrifice.
This would display that he was incredibly powerful.
Krishna who was an avatar god of Vishnu came to Indraprastha and let the people there know that there was one more rajah that needed to be destroyed.
The name of this rajah was Jarasandha who ruled over Magadha.
Jarasandha had unmatched bravery and strength.  No human nor god could kill him with a weapon.
He had two mothers in a miraculous birth.
To go take out Jarasandha, Krishna, Arjuna, and Bhima dressed up like Brahmins and went to Magadha.
They brought Jarasandha flowers.
Krishna was the only one who spoke.  He said the other two were observing vows and wouldn't speak until midnight.
When midnight came the two revealed themselves as warriors.
Jarasandha was confused because he had never done anything against them.
The three challenged Jarasandha to a battle unless he let all of the other rajahs free from his dungeons.
Jarasandha does not let them go because he plans on sacrificing them to Shiva.  He made a vow to do this.
Bhima then broke Jarasandha's back with his knee.
The word got out to Yudhishthira that Jarasandha had been slain.
He sent four armies to reach all of the rajahs in the world assure their loyalty to him.
These rajahs were tracked down.  They all joined the Pandava force.
Krishna gave a lot of money and an army to Jarasandha at the ceremony.
Arguments soon broke out between the rajahas about who was the greatest.
Bhishma said that Krishna was because he was the reincarnation of the creator god.  Therefore, Krishna was everlasting and unable to be understood by man.
Another rajah named Shishupala said that Krishna was neither of the things.
Shishupala hated Krishna for taking away his fiance a little while back.
Krishna slayed Shishupala in front of all of the rajah's.  He threw a discus that severed Shishupala's head.
All were amazed at this great show of power.


Bibliography

The Pandavas Victorious from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie
Image information: Krishna Playing the Flute: Wikipedia

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part A

King Shantanu and Ganga

King Bharata had King Hastin who had King Kuru who had King Shantanu
King Hastin built the great city of Hastinapura.
King Shantanu was a good king. He was just.
He married the goddess Ganga.  She was goddess of the Ganges River.
There were 8 celestial beings called the Vasus who were cursed to human form by the sage, Vashishtha.
They came to Ganga and asked her to be their human mother.  They wanted to be cast into the Ganges river so that they could return to their celestial from.
Ganga became their human mother.  Maybe could write about adoption of some sort.
There were strings attached though.  Ganga would only do what the Vasus wanted if 1/8 of each of their power was given to her real son.
This would mean that her son would have the power of a full Vasus.
Her real son was to be alive for a long time but never have any offspring.
King Shantanu was walking along the Ganges when he saw Ganga.  He fell in love and asked her to marry him.  She said yes, as long as she can leave him if he ever becomes harsh or asks her to do something she doesn't want to do.
She gave birth to a son and immediately threw him into the Ganges River.
Shantanu was horrified but was afraid to speak because she could leave him.
This happened with 6 more babies.
The 8th baby was different though.  King Shantanu finally spoke up in rage.
Ganga revealed who she was and why she cast the Vasus into the river.  Then she left with the 8th child.
She returned years later with their son Devavrata.  She dropped him off and never came back.

Ganga was smart in her plan of marriage.  She knew King Shantanu was moral and would not stand for what she was doing.  Here scheme gave her an easy way out of the marriage.  I am curious though why she brought Devarata back to Shantanu.  I do not know her motivation for her wanting him to have the power of the Vasus either.  Maybe I will see by the end of the epic.

Bibliography

King Shantanu and Ganga from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie
Photo Information: Ganges River Sunset: Pixabay

Week 5 Story: A Sage Never Stops Learning

Updated Story

I was born Agni Sharma in the forest and have not left the forest ever since.  Why would I ever leave?  I have a never ending supply of luscious fruits, a forever flowing stream of melted snow running down from the Himalayas, and a plethora of forest friends in the form of animals to keep me company.  This natural beauty is everything a young poet could ever ask for.

As a young boy I met an old sage name Narada.  I followed Narada around as his apprentice for three years watching his every movement and listening to all of his words.  I hoped that I could one day be as wise as him.  Narada taught me all about Vishnu, the god of protection and everything good.  The lessons learned from Vishnu became my favorite stories to write.

A little later on, in my teenage years, I was sitting on the ground during a warm spring afternoon trying to come up with a plot inspired by the rays of sun sneaking through the trees.  I wrote the story I envisioned, but I was not satisfied with it.  This story writing process occurred for the next 80 years.  I put story after story on the pages but never felt like any of them met my standard of perfection.  Everyone seemed to enjoy my books, but I knew inside that they had not yet seen my full potential as a writer.  One day, at the age of nearly 100, I found everything I was looking for.

During my morning stroll through the forest I came across a pregnant woman weeping.  She told me her name was Sita, and I knew immediately that I ran across the wife of Rama, king of Ayodhya and avatar of Vishnu.  Remembering all that I had learned about Vishnu from Narada, I was ecstatic to learn about Rama through Sita.  I asked her why she was crying and she told me her life story.  This story became the Ramayana, the epic I dreamed of composing my entire life.  Of course, I twisted Sita's story to focus on Rama.

The Ramayana became one of the most popular stories in the history of India.  Immediately after I wrote the epic, huge anthills began to rise around me.  This is where I was given the name that most know me by, Valmiki, meaning "born of an anthill."

Quickly, my dream story became a nightmare.  My Ramayana was ruined by the younger Indian poets.  They rewrote my story changing all the important details.  What was perfect became polluted and nobody seemed to know the real story of Rama.

While I was sulking and feeling sorry for myself I came across a young poet named Vyasa.  Vyasa was one of the poets who rewrote my story.  At first I was angry with him, but after spending more time with him we became good friends.  He told me his perspective on newer writers coming up with new versions of my perfect story.  Vyasa said that the Ramayana allowed new poets to explore their own creativity and grow them as writers.  It was an honor that they chose the Ramayana to rewrite.

My opinion of these writers quickly changed.  They were able to explore all the possible plot twists in ways that I would not have been able to do.  Maybe a story is greater when it is told from many angles.

Author's Note

My idea for writing this story came from Sita Sings the Blues.  Sita who is sad after Rama sends her into the forest meets Valmiki who she tells her story.  Valmiki is then credited with writing the Ramayana.  I found Valmiki very interesting and looked up his story on Wikipedia.  Some of his backstory I edited to make my story a little more interesting.  To advance the plot I thought about how an author would react if many other authors rewrote his or her story.  I imagine there might be some animosity towards the newer writers.  I know there are many versions of the Ramayana so it happened to be the perfect story for this plot.  I ended the story with Valmiki realizing that the rewriting of his story was actually a good thing for the new storytellers.  It allows them to learn how they can write a story using their own creativity.  After all, that is what I have been able to do in this class and it has been a bunch of fun.  I ended the story with a theme I learned during last weeks writing lab from

Bibliography

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley
Valmiki on Wikipedia
Vishnu on Wikipedia
Vyasa on Wikipedia
Valmiki's Name from The Name Meaning
The Danger of the Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Image Information: Sita Tells Valmiki Her Story: The Indian Express

Reading Notes: Well Actually Movie Notes pt. 2

Sita Sings the Blues

Rama finds out Sita was pure after all
The woman in the present day gets her heart broken by her husband.
After this a song plays for a couple minutes.  The song sounds like a modern song, I wish that the lyrics were included in subtitles.
Sita becomes pregnant.
She gains a bad reputation for staying in Ravana's house for so long.
This brings shame upon Rama.
This is a big cultural difference between the United States and India.  The United States is a guilt culture while India is a shame culture.
Rama tells his brother, Lakshmana, to take her to the forest and abandon her there.
Rama was king and needed respect from his people.  It is not that he necessarily thought she was unpure, he just wanted to gain favor with people and set an example.
In the forest Sita says that she must have committed terrible sins in the previous life.  In reincarnation, it seems that you pay for your sins in your lives to follow.
She meet Valmiki in the woods and tells him her story.
Valmiki then goes on to write the Ramayana.
Sita has twins.
Valmiki taught the two kids how to sing praises of Rama.
The song that was sung praised Rama but felt a bit sarcastic because it talks about how perfect he is and how he kicked Sita out of his house.
Sita loved Rama despite how he treated her.
Rama goes to the forest and hears two boy singing. He doesn't know who they are, but he is curious.
He learns that the two boys are his sons and tells them to come back to Ayodhya with him.
He sees Sita and asks her to do another trial.  Instead of trial by fire he asks her to do a trial by water  to prove her purity.
If she sinks she is unpure, if she floats she is pure.
Sita asks the gods if she is completely pure, let Mother Earth take her back into her womb.

One of the things that I find really interesting about this version of the Ramayana is that the narrators argue a bit over what actually happens.  This just shows how many different versions have been passed out.  It is likely that each of these narrators heard the story told different ways growing up or throughout their water.


Bibliography

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley

Image Information: Valmiki Writting the Ramayana: Flickr

Reading Notes: Well, Actually Movie Notes

Sita Sings the Blues

Sita has dark hair, green eyes, and four arms.
The beat during the intro credits is kinda fire.
Two gods, the sun god and the moon good riding on chariots. The sun god was pulled by four horses, while the moon god was pulled by two deer.
The earth was portrayed in a large woman's belly.

A long time ago B.C. in Ayodhya
Dasharatha had 3 wives, 4 sons
Sita's father was Janak
Janaki and Veidehi are other names for Sita
Rama was about to be crowned king
Dashratha was sick and was nursed back to health by Kaikeyi.  Dasharatha said he would do anything for her.  She said to exile Rama for 14 years.
Rama is described as noble, good, the embodiment of righteousness, a brave warrior prince, joy of heaven and earth, the ideal man.
Rama was not upset.  He said if that is your wish father, I will go.
Sita towards Rama "I cannot live without you."
Sita starts singing the blues because she is with Rama in exile.
Rama slayed monsters with ease in the forest.

Ravana was the king of Lanka.
Ravana kidnapped Sita.
Soorpanaka is Ravana's sister.
She told Ravana about Rama slaying his monsters in the forest.  She tells him to take revenge.
Ravana was told that Rama was powerful
He tells his sister to not come to him with petty requests.
She tells Ravana about Sita, the most beautiful woman in India, and Ravana changes his mind.
Ravana sends his servant to go as a golden deer to attract Sita.  She sends Rama to get the deer.  While he is out, Ravana takes Sita.
Sita drops here Jewelry on the way to Lanka.  This is how she was to be traced to Lanka.
Hanuman is an incarnation of Shiva: He was born to meet up and help Rama.
Hanuman locates Sita in Lanka.
Sita cries and prays to Rama.
The monster guards are impressed by her devotion.
Then Ravana tries to tell Sita to be his instead of Rama's
She stays devoted and tells Ravana to get lost basically.  She says Rama will come and save her.
Ravana tells her she has two months to marry him or he will kill her.
Rama and the monkey army slay the monster army.  Rama shoots Ravana with and arrow.

No kissing in public in India (fun fact).

Rama was cold to Sita when he first saved her.
He was cold because she had lived in Ravana's house for a long time.
She says she cannot bear to live without him.

Bibliography

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley

Image Information: Sita and Rama as portrayed in the film: Flickr

Reading Notes: The Great Sacrifice

The Great Elephant

The story take place at an oasis in the desert
The elephant that lives in this oasis is describes as a hermit.  He lives alone and is beautiful.
Even though he was alone, he was happy.
He ate fruit from trees and drank water from a stream.
He loved to dance.  If only he had someone to dance with.
The elephant was dancing one day when he heard the sound of men.  The seemed unhappy.
These men where not in the oasis, but in the desert.
The elephant went go see them and he found them all "huddled together at death's door."  I am not sure if this is literal or not.  They are either almost dead or there is a literal death's door.
This was the first time the elephant experienced sadness. He cried.
The elephant asked the men if he could help them.
The men were oh so happy to see him that they fell on their knees.  They even addressed him as "beautiful one."
These men where exiled from their home by their king.
They were wandering in the desert for days with no food and water.
The men said that they used to be a thousand strong, now there is only a few of them.
The elephant looked upon them.  They were in desperate need of water and nutrients.
He told the men to run to the hill he was pointing to.  There they were to find a large elephant that well provide them with food and point them to a stream of water.
Then the elephant booked it in the direction of the hill he pointed to.  He went quickly but did not go the way he came.
The men were confused.
The elephant climbed to the top of the hill and jumped off the fell with a crash.
The men went to the landing spot of the elephant to find their new friend.
There they found him dead.  He had sacrificed himself so that the men could eat him.
The debated among themselves whether they should eat him or not.  They did not want to eat the elephant that was so good to them, but they also did not want to waste the sacrifice.
The men ate the meat with tears in their eyes.
The had no more troubles after that day.

Bibliography

The Great Elephant from Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat

Image Information: The Elephant's Sacrifice: Wikimedia Commons

Comment Wall

Portfolio Link: Newfound Narratives

Indian Skyline: Wikimedia Commons

Week 4 Lab: Read More than One Story

The Danger of the Single Story

This TED Talk was one of the more powerful TED talks I have ever listened to.  It highlights how as humans, we often use one story to define a person, people group, or place.  When we do this, we fail to see the truth about people.  The reality is that every single person has multiple stories and experiences that make them who they are.  A couple examples Adichie uses are her college  roommate's view of Africans and her view of Mexicans.  When Adichie came to America from Nigeria, her college roommate was surprised and almost a little disappointed that Adichie had many things in common with her.  When Adichie visited Mexico, she realized that Mexican people were all that American media made them out to be.  I also find myself believing in the single story.  This talk opened my eyes a bit.  Storytellers often write stories that are related to what they are reading.  When a story is started also makes a huge difference.  If you do not start at the beginning, you miss out on so many important details.  One of the the most powerful lines spoke in this talk was "The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but they are incomplete."  No one can be summed up in one story.  Every individual is unique.

In my upcoming stories, I want to make sure I look at all the story possibilities.  I could give the backstory to a villain or the position of a main character.  There are many stories out there, but infinite stories yet to be written.

Do you actually know who you are following? pxhere

Imaginary friends and real-world consequences: parasocial relationships

A parasocial relationship is a relationship we make with someone we do not really know through media.  We take the characters we read about, celebrities we research, or people we view on social media and form parasocial relationship with them.  We feel like we really know these people, when we really do not and they do not know us.  The questions is why do we do this? Research has shown that we can draw social and emotional support out of parasocial relationships, especially when one is combating a feeling of loss or social rejection.  Jennifer Barnes and one of her graduate students did a study that showed that on average, a student would be more sad if their favorite character died than if a real person that they see often but to not actually know died.  This is quite alarming as the real person has real aspirations, real relationships, and real lives while the fictional character does not even exist.  We really need to be careful about what is happening to our minds and emotions when we create these parasocial relationships.


Bibliography

The Danger of the Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Imaginary friends and real-world consequences: parasocial relationships by Jennifer Barnes

Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part C

Rama Shoots Vali as Sugriva and Vali Fight: Wikipedia 

Sugriva's Story

Sugriva's older brother Vali was fighting a demon when he went down into a hole in the Earth.
When Vali went down there, he told Sugriva to wait at the opening until he returned.
Sugriva was faithful for a whole year.  He stood by the hole for a year and Vali never came out.
Thinking that his brother was dead Sugriva, he placed a mountain over the hole and left for Kishkindha.
Vali was not actually dead.  When he killed the demon, he came back to the hole to find it covered by a mountain.
It took him a while to get out.
Vali thought that his brother turned against him by trying to trap him so that he could take his throne.
He came at Sugriva with anger and Sugriva tried to explain what he was really thinking.
Vali did not listen and took Sugriva's wife.
Sugriva reached out to Rama to come help him get his wife back.  Rama also knew what it was like to lose his wife.  He knew the pain and was glad to help.
I could definitely use the elements of revenge from this story in my own story as well as the unbelief of Vali in Sugriva's truth.

Sugriva and Vali

Vali's wife Tara hears that Sugriva has teamed up with Rama.
She knows that Rama is powerful yet good.
She begs her husband to not fight.
She asks him to bring Sugriva back into the family
This story was written in the form of a poem.  The line that stuck out to me was

"Make thy peace with young Sugriva, nearest and thy dearest kin;
Brother's love is truest safety, brother's hate is deadliest sin!

Brothers are supposed to be there for each other.  Brothers are made to protect and strengthen each other.
Vali is stubborn and does not listen to his wife.

Vali's Death

Pride leads to the fall.
The brothers fought relentlessly as enemies.
This fight was brutal.  Midway through, Sugriva was losing.
Rama, who was hiding in the shadows, felt bad for his new yet close friend.
Rama shot an arrow fast and low while hidden.
The arrow struck Vali with a fatal blow.
This story, like the last one was written as poetry.  This might be a style I try this week.  It is definitely a more difficult style of writing.  If it goes poorly, I can write normally.

Bibliography

Sugriva's Story from Rama and the Monkeys by Geraldine Hodgson
Sugriva and Vali and Vali's Death from Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India by Romesh Dutt

Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana D

Hanuman and the Mountain

Indrajit promises his father, Ravana, that he will kill Rama and Lakshmana.

He sacrificed a goat to the Fire-God.

The Fire-God who had a flickering tongue gave him a weapon called the Brahma-Weapon.

With this weapon, Indrajit killed many of the monkeys in the army.

Many of the monkey cheifs, including Sugriva, Angada, Jambavan, and Nila went into hiding.

Somehow, during this mass killing, Indrajit was invisible.

Rama did not know what to do because he could not attack someone he could not see.

Indrajit went back to Lanka with a battle won.

Lakshmana and Vibhishana walked around the field when the battle was over.

It was a horrid sight as their were slain monkeys everywhere.

They found Jambavan, the king of bears, barely holding on to life.

Jambavan was also overjoyed to see that Lakshmana was alive and well after the gruesome battle.

Jambavan speaks to the Wind-God's son and asks him to protect the bears and monkeys because only he could.  He asks him to visit the Himalaya, king of the mountains, to find herbs for healing.

Hanuman goes and finds Himalaya and looked for herbs but could not find any.

He rooted the mountain and was able to acquire the medicine.

He brought it back to Lanka, and the monkey army rose to full health.

Then Hanuman brought the mountain back to its original position

Pushpaka

Rama is taking Sita to Ayodhya on a Pushpaka cart.

He recaps their entire journey together.

He talks about all the people he met.

He talks about the friends he acquired.

He talks about all the monsters he's slain.

He talks about all the places they've been

I think it would be cool to write a story blending these two together.  I would focus on the Brahma-Weapon.  I would talk about where the materials for it were gathered, how it was crafted, and all the times it was used.  It seems like a crazy powerful weapon that needs a backstory.  A little like the ring or variety of one of a kind weapons in Lord of the Rings.

Bibliography

Hanuman and the Mountain from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nevidita

Pushpaka from Ramayana, Epic of Rama, Prince of India by Romesh Dutt

Image Source: Rama and Sita on the Pushpaka Cart: Wikimedia Commons

Famous Last Words: OK MOM

Go Dentistry! Authority Dental

This week was really good overall.  It was a busy week, but I managed time well.  So far, this class has been very enjoyable.  I do not have much experience with writing my own stories, so learning how to become a better creative writer has been fun.  I also think I will progress in my storytelling skills as the semester goes on.  My best story so far I think is "King Crab vs. King Monkey."  In this story I really brought together the elements of three stories in a way that made sense.  In my following stories I wrote using themes or characters from only one story.  While these stories are good, they don't have the depth or plot twists that "King Crab vs. King Monkey" has.

My other classes are going well but are getting busier.  I have my first immunology test in a week and a half so I will start studying for that soon.  I also am about to start studying for the DAT.  I plan on studying for the DAT two hours a day until a month before the test.  Then I will start studying four or five hours a day.  I hope to take the test around April 20.

Yesterday, I spent seven hours volunteering at Oklahoma Mission of Mercy (OK MOM).  I assisted Dr. Spottswood who was an absolute blast to be around.  She gave me a hard time about my lack of assisting experience but she was just messing with me though so it was funny.  We helped 6 patients, among those was a man named Claude who might have been the best patient I have ever helped.  Claude had 5 teeth taken out.  The extractions took over and hour and a half because of how strong his maxilla was.  He stayed very calm and thanked us after it was over.  I think he will have way less pain in his mouth from now on!

Tech Tip: Blogger Template

Hey everyone! I changed the background photo and color scheme to my blog.  Before, the main color of my blog was a burnt orange color that was clean looking but kind of boring.  Now, I have a photo of an elephant in the background.  I know that elephants are important in Indian culture, so that influenced my decision.  Also, I simply think the new picture looks cool.

Reading Notes: Rama vs. Ravana

The Battles Begin

Ravana watched from the top of Lanka as an army approached.
This army, at the edge of the sea, started to organize themselves.
The story says nothing about Ravana being worried.
He seems to have a calm composure as he departs from watching the approaching army to talk to his prisoner Sita.
He told Sita that Rama was dead even though he wasn't
He showed her a fake head of Rama.  Because he was a magician, it was not difficult for him to make the head look real.
Sita's heart sank as she believed that Rama was really dead.
One line that I thought was particularly well written was "easy enough to fill the soul of the tortured princess with terror and to plunge her heart into the lowest depths of grief." the picture painted in this writing is so vivid.  Especially because almost all people know what it feels like to have their heart drop.
Ravana wanted Sita to love him.  Showing her the dead head of Rama did not help him.
Sita cried so hard that one of her guardians felt bad and told her that it was just a trick.
The guardian goes on to say that Rama is with the army that is on the shore just outside of Lanka.
Sita thanked the monster and was relieved.
The army, which consisted on monkeys destroyed Ravana's men.
They offered peace to Ravana and all those in Lanka if Sita was freed.
Ravana refused.  He had magic and evil gods on his side.  This made him difficult to fight.
He defeated the monkey army but Rama was not done yet.
Because Rama's mission was to destroy evil, he was able to get back up and join the fight.
Perseverance is an important quality of every great hero.  Almost every good story also has an element of perseverance.  Overcoming difficult situations is something that the human heart is attracted to.

The Epic Battle: Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography

The Battle Begins from "Rama's Quest" by Richard Wilson

Feedback Strategies: How to Praise

How to Give Praise That Builds Your Child's Self Esteem

This Article was really helpful for me to see what it looks like to give constructive feedback.  While this article was focused on giving feedback to your child, many of the strategies apply to giving feedback in any sort of position of authority.  The main strategy used was asking questions.  These questions allowed the child to self evaluate their work.  This is cool because the child knows exactly how much effort he or she put into a project.  When they realize they worked hard, they gain confidence.  Or if they did not work hard, they see how they could improve.

As someone who wants to be a dentist, it will be critical for me to give feedback for the hygienists working for me.  Using questions to help them evaluate their work and build confidence in themselves is something I think I will do.

Why Do So Many Managers Avoid Giving Praise?

This article shows the results on managers self evaluated productiveness when they give praise and do not give praise.  Many said that they do a better job when they give more negative praise.  The authors believed that these managers might have the wrong view on positive feedback because they give it in the wrong way.  They argue that positive feedback is very important but it needs to be brief and specific.  Sayings like "good job" do not suffice.  Giving specific positive feedback gives room for constructive criticism.  I intend on being specific when giving feedback for this class and in everyday life for now on.

Image Source: Feedback Faces: Pixabay