Reading Notes: Ramayana Part B

Ravana and Sita (Wikipedia)

Bharata's situation at the start was pretty sad to me. He expected a happy occasion and instead he found his father dead and his brother exiled from the land. His hatred for his mother seemed palpable when she admitted she exiled Rama and made him the new heir. I could have that manipulation story I mentioned earlier incorporate these events too, showing some kind of backfire. Bharata leaving the city and begging Rama to become king makes him seem really righteous too. I liked the story of Soorpanaka, she reminds me of a changeling. It also reminded me of the story where Shiva transformed into a man to take his wife. I thought it was pretty cruel for Lakshmana to chop off parts of her body though. Her speech on how her and Rama getting married would solve everything reminded me of every movie scene where the bad guy makes a last ditch offer to bribe the hero. I could have something like that in my story. One disappointing part of this story is that the fighting scenes begin and end within the span of one or two sentences. I would've liked to see some more detail put into how Rama and Lakshmana defeated an army. Maybe I'll come up with a story for that later. The idea of gods having to do housework is really funny to me, maybe I could make a story about greek gods having to work in a restaurant? The part where Maricha distracts Rama and then Lakshmana so the others could kidnap Sita makes me think of a heist or something. Someone would distract a guard, knock them out, then use their pager to call other guards to their position as they sneak into a vault or something. I think that could make for an interesting story if done properly.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part A

Rakshasa (Wikpedia)

When Rama left to go defeat the rakshasas, it felt like he was departing for an adventure. I think I could use this in a story. I thought Thataka's story was interesting too, particularly the part where Thataka builds herself up to be this powerful demon that destroys every fragment of life around her, then dies immediately. It was a bit comical and I could include something like that in my story too. I thought "holy crap" when Rama shot Mareecha so hard he flew into the ocean. It was funny that the other demons saw him do this and started running away. The story of Sakara was pretty confusing with the buried man vaporizing everyone by looking at them, but I suppose it's a lesson on not to displease the gods. What's sticking out to me throughout this story is the apparently closeness the gods have with humans. They seem to interact a lot and they keep a presence on Earth in the form of avatars often. I guess I'm more used to gods being more watchful and dealing mostly with other gods. The story about Ahalya makes me think of a ghost story where the person being told the story suddenly becomes involved in it at the end. It'd be neat to have a twist like that. As a reference to Viswamithra telling Rama and Lakshmana these stories, I could have an old man telling my story to two boys. Rama lifting Shiva's bow reminds me of the story of Excalibur (pulling the sword out of the stone), and the concept is interesting. Maybe I could make a story centered around the suitor's attempts to pull it out, their failure, and their attempts to take Sita by force? Kaikeyi being manipulated and telling the king to exile Rama is an interesting idea too. I could use it as baseline for a story about usurping power.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

Learning Challenge: Happiness Jar

Sticky Note (Flickr)

I think I'm going to keep a list of things that made me happy on my phone's note app. I'll update it every night with what's made me happy that day. I can write down stuff like "I finally finished x assignment" or "I played x game with x and x happened" or "I went out to eat at x with x", or "I finally learned to play x on piano". Though if I do this I might as well just keep a regular journal.

Growth Challenge: Student Quotes

Stars (Wikipedia)

"The way I saw it, I couldn't get higher than an A, so why put in any extra effort? Then college happened and I all but failed my first semester. My perspective and my GPA have grown a lot from that point of failure. I know how to deal with failure now, and I can push through when it happens."

"In order to perform well in a course, I cannot limit my learning to what's required. Difficult topics become easier when I dive deeper into details beyond what I will be tested over. Memorization is no good; I pay tuition in order to truly learn and better myself with the help of my professors."

Never really thought of going beyond what's required of me when it comes to schoolwork. I always do the minimum of what's required to make an A, but I can see the use in delving in deeper and putting forth extra effort to really grasp these concepts. It's a good point the second quote is making with the fact that I'm paying for all this. I shouldn't be seeing schoolwork as an obstacle to overcome, but rather as an opportunity to gain more knowledge.

Of course, I'm probably going to end up seeing them as both.

Bibliography: Growth Mindset padlet

Reading Notes: Week 2 Extra: More Jatakas

(W. Robinson)

The Pious Wolf: So this one is a story about a wolf who finds himself in a situation where he has no choice but to fast, so he pretends to make it look like a good deed. His true intentions are made clear later. I could make a story where someone who yells at others all their life wears down their voice, and is forced to stay silent for a day. He appears to be a nicer person with more self control but ends up yelling at someone else again, and everyone's opinion of him goes back to how it was.

The lion and the crane: I remember reading something similar to this in my mythology and folklore class. It's about a crane that saves the life of a lion by removing a bone choking it, and expecting payment, gets told "your payment is living after sticking your head between my teeth". I could have a similar story where someone saves another person's life, goes by thankless, and then refuses to help the next time the person needs help.

The Golden Goose: This one is a classic, and it reminds me of the goose that laid golden eggs. It's a story about taking advantage of one's kindness because of greed and ending up losing everything. I could write a story with an injured fox taking up residence in a family's home. The family accepts the fox and caters to it, feeding and tending to its wounds, but as time goes on the fox acts more and more recklessly. It eats the food it wasn't fed, chews through furniture, and eventually ends up biting a child. Around this point, the fox is finally kicked out in the middle of winter, where it must fend for itself and find its own shelter to live in.

Bibliography: The Jatakas Blogspot

Wikipedia Trail: Hanuman to Kali

Kali (Wikpedia)

Hanuman: Hanuman appears as an important character in the Ramayana, which is why I chose him as my starting point. He's one of the Chiranjivi (immortals) and also appears in the Mahabharata. He's often depicted as the monkey god.

Chiranjivi: I was curious to know what this was after the article mentioned Hanuman being one of these. Apparently it describes seven individuals who live until the end of the current Kali Yuga. Interestingly, there's a line that says that by remembering the names of the immortals, you can live healthily for 100 years.

Kali Yuga: I saw that Chiranjivi live until the end of the current Kali Yuga and wondered what it was. It's one of four stages the Earth goes through as part of a cycle. The current Kali Yuga is said to have started in 3102 BC. In this stage, human civilization is said to distance itself from spirituality and religion.

Kali: Since Kali Yuga is named after Kali, I was interested to know who Kali is. Kali is the archenemy of the final avatar of Krishna, Kalki. He's in the Mahabharata as well. In the Kalki Purana, he's said to be the root of all evil.

Week 2 Review

I have to admit, when I saw that he wrote nonsense verse, I was under the impression that the verses would be made up of strings of random words. The story being nonsense instead makes it much more enjoyable though. The stories felt pretty whimsical to me. The illustrations added a lot to the experience.

Comic by BizarroComic

And this is my favorite graphic just because it's really funny.