Famous Last Words for Week 2

This past week has been great! I found out that my mom is getting me an iPad! I am pretty excited. I got behind on my work this weekend because my best friend turned 24 Friday! However, we have had some good food and have made some unforgettable memories. Wow, 24 what an oldie! I am going to have to visit him in the nursing home soon! Anyways, Martin Luther King Jr. day caused me to think I could be lazy and not do much. It was a great weekend, but I am in a hustle this Sunday. Luckily, there is a "Long Island Medium" marathon to keep me company. :) There aren't many options to pick my best writings this week, so I guess I will pick my storytelling assignment. I felt like my focus this week was to brush up on my quoting skills. I feel that aspect of writing will be important this semester. I read a great story this week from a classmate, Scott. He had a great outlook on Rama and the Bow to win over Sita. He was really creative. My other classes are going well! I am really loving the Principles of Health and Exercise class. Dr. Black is awesome; he knows a lot of random facts that I love learning. I always take classes in my major and think. I am so glad that I picked this major. It is so perfect! I discovered a new option for a career, a Cardiac rehab therapist. I am excitedly looking into it. Also, I learned that an active obese person is healthier then an inactive moderate sized person. So get up and enjoy the fresh air people! As always, I am just trying to take this semester one week at a time! Come on SUMMERRR! Tomorrow, I am going to see my granny for some good food and visit time! This week should be fun and hectic too! 

(A photo I got when I caught my granny enjoying ice cream on my Papa's birthday) 

Topics: Storytelling Project

1. Women Characters: I choose women characters because I love to see and hear about women being in a place a man would typically be in. For many years women have been oppressed. However, in recent years, I feel that women have been taking a stand by showing men that women can do a job just as well as he can, maybe better! In history, women were not placed in a position of power. To read about goddesses would be intriguing to see how a woman handled her position. I am really interested in Sita because she is the reincarnated version of Lakshmi, and her beauty is breathtaking. Although she is beautiful, she is adamant about the purity of her body. She is stolen by the demon Ravana, and Rama refuses to believe that she remained pure. This relates back to today's society as some of these girls out here are grimy and untrustworthy. This story sends the message that not all girls have the wrong intentions.

• Research: I have reviewed the Encyclopedia for Epics of Ancient India to research more about the story of Sita. I found this topic on the E-storybook Central. Wikipedia was also able to give insight on different aspects of the story of Sita and her beautiful purity.

2. Love Stories: I choose love stories because I'm cliche. Just like every other girl, who doesn't like a good romance novel. Something about being able to imagine the perfect person and the feeling that follows along with it. I think that learning about Kaikeyi and Dasaratha's love story would be interesting because Dasaratha has three wives. The dynamic of having to please three women and how a women feels having to share a man is intriguing. I couldn't imagine acting as a mother to my husband's other wife. I am not sure if I would be able to keep my sanity, so it would be interesting to learn how Kaikeyi did this. I have already learned of one instance where she was unable to treat Rama as her own, when she exiled him in order to allow her own son to be king.

• Research: By reviewing Kaikeyi story on Wikipedia:Kaikeyi it will be easier to understand where she came from before Dasaratha and how she managed to exile his beloved son. Also, obviously, learning about Dasaratha and all of his wives on Wikipedia: Dasaratha  will be insight to his actual love story with all of these women.

3. Animal Characters: I love animals! They have a way of showing people how to love one another and how to treat everyone with respect and loyalty. I loved the character Jatayu in the story Ramayana. He was a loyal friend of Dasaratha, and after discovering his son, Rama  living in the forest Jatayu takes a vow to do all he can in order to protect him, his brother, and his wife. Jatayu dies heroically after trying to stop Ravana from kidnapping Sita from Rama. However, Ravana's strength was too much for Jatayu. This story shows the character of animals. Another option could be the bear Jamabavan. This story is interesting because he is reincarnated to protect Rama, and be of assistance to Rama in his battle against Ravana. There are many other options in the topic of animal characters that would be fun to research and learn more about.

• Research: The story of Jatayu is the one that is most intriguing because loyalty means a lot to me. I found some good information on Wikipedia: Jatayu about Jatayu's past and his historic death. On the topic of Jamabavan, I found information on Wikipedia: Jamabavan. This bear was a created for the use of Rama.

4. Birth stories and death stories: Even though death is generally a difficult topic to discuss, in books there seems to be a dramatic death of the antagonist or the supporting characters of both sides. To research about the deaths of some of these protagonist in Indian Epics would be interesting. One example I am interested in right now is the death of Ravana. On the other side of death, the topic of birth has been found interesting in Indian Epics because some of the most heroic characters are reincarnated. One example of births are Rama and his brothers. As the God's gave them children so that Rama could be created to destroy Ravana. These two characters are protagonist and antagonist against each other.

• Research: I found the story of Ravana on Wikipedia: death. This source also helped to give background information of Ravana's character in the book, Ramayana. In order to discover more on Rama's and his brothers' births, I used Wikipedia: births. This source is actually the story of Dasaratha, but it includes the tales of his beget sons.

       (Image Source: Lakshmi photographed by abhisays website)

Storytelling for Week 2: Kaikeyi fears her future

After Kaikeyi talks with Kooni, she finds herself having a panic attack about her future. She decides she is going to spend her night in the Kopa Gruha. The Kopa Gruha is a room where Kaikeyi goes when she has fallen into an ill mood. Kaikeyi knows that when the king learns about her whereabouts he will come looking for her. As she is alone in the Koba Gruha her mind begins to race about her future and what the best possible scenario is in order to correct it. She comes to the conclusion that she has no choice but to force the kings hand in crowning her own son in order to remain royal. As very common for a woman, she begins to act out the scenarios of how the King, Dasaratha, is going to take her plans for the crowning of Bharata instead of Rama. She begins by asking Dasaratha, "Why didn't you tell me your plans before you began making the arrangements? It would have been nice to hear of the ceremony from you instead of the people of the kingdom. I am the queen still after all, am I not?" Dasaratha replies with his apologizes but she doesn't care to hear them. She moves on to ask him, "What made Rama more worthy then my son? Am I not worthy enough?" Then she imagines his reply. "Rama is more fit for King. He went out into the woods with Visvamitra and destroyed God's. He will protect this kingdom. I trust him." In which she replies, "But my son has been with my father learning the traits of being a king. He possesses all the required qualities to rule a kingdom as well!" She imagines Dasaratha response, "Well I am more fond of Rama. He is my eldest son and he has made me very proud." With this Kaikeyi gets angry! She assumes Dasaratha is also more fond of his first wife, Kausalya, due to these comments. She then hisses, "Well remember when you promised me those two promises? I want to use them now!" With this Dasaratha will become irate she imagines. She knows he is going to know what she is up to. She continues, "I want you to exile that adored Rama, and make my son the king of Ayodhyra, so that I will remain in my rightful place at the top." With the thought of saying this greedy remark to Dasaratha, Kaikeyi begins to cry. "Exiled!," she whispered to herself. This greedy feeling that has overwhelmed her is against her character, but she is so fearful of her future. She sees herself slowly drifting out of wealth, and the kingdom praising Kausalya instead of her. She is frightened. She imagines it won't happen immediately, but she is scared of the long-term effect for her in crowning Rama instead Bharata. She has always been accustomed to being praised and being blessed with all the luxuries of the world. While being so obsessed with her well-being, she has forgotten how Dasaratha is going to react to her earth shattering news. She then imagines that Dasaratha will leave her, but reassures herself this won't matter once her son is king. He will be so overwhelmed with gratitude for her, he will make sure to take care of her as an effort to return her favor in making him the king. She never imagined that her request was going to kill Dasaratha. She even thought she was doing what was right for her son not just herself. However, even Bharata becomes appauled by her and shuns her because of her greedy behavior. Now she is going to end up worse then she could ever imagine because of her actions.  After this drama, Kaikeyi became so exhausted with her emotions. She found herself limp laying on the floor, where Dasaratha finds her later that night. Furthermore, even though Kaikeyi thought she was helping her and her son, she was solely focused on her future. Greed can be a detrimental factor of any relationship. Always take a step back and analyze your actions to ensure you aren't only concerned about your own outcome.

 (Kaikeyi laying on the floor in the Koba Gruha when Dasaratha finds her

photographed by Ravi Varma Press Kaikeyi in Koba Gruha)

Author's note: While reading what Kaikeyi did to Dasaratha and Rama, I couldn't help but think how this ugly amount of greed had overcame her. This emotion was so overwhelming, she forgot to step back and realize how she was affect others that she loves. Sometimes when something happens, we all need to stop only considering the outcomes on ourselves. From the stories about Rama's character. I know he would have made sure Kaikeyi was taken care of. She lost sight of what really matter, people. 

Narayan, R. K., Two Promises, The Ramayana, (1972): 41-44. Print

Week 2: Reading Diary B: Exiled

Encounters In Exile

• Rama moved further into the woods 
• Lakshmana built a beautiful hand made home
• A creature appeared to Rama, Soorpanaka. She says she has repented her demon ways
• She was a human form of Ravana's sister, the demon Rama was reincarnated to kill
• Soorpanaka is infatuated by Rama's looks the same way Sita was, and tries to use her beauty to trick Rama into marrying her
• Soorpanaka sees Sita and creates a plan to get rid of her
• Lakshmana chops her up, but Soorpanaka tries to convince Rama to marry her still with threats
• Soorpanaka sends attacks and get step brother Kara killed
• Soorpanaka goes for Ravana
• It is interesting to me that Rama knows his purpose in this life and doesn't let Soorpanaka's beauty persuade him
• Soorpanaka doesn't understand that her threats of sending Ravana his way is exactly what Rama wants
• If Rama had made any of the wrong moves by listening to his temptations his purpose for incarnation would have been ruined (obedient)

The Grand Tormentor

• Ravana is "king of kings" (demon) makes lots of God's his servants
• Soorpanaka convinced her brother, Ravana, to steal Sita from Rama due to her beauty
• This plan was created so she could win over Rama not for the good intentions of her brother's happiness
• Instead of facing Rama, Ravana tricked Sita by showing her  a golden deer she wanted and Rama wanted to give it to his wife so it drew him away from his wife
• The deer was Ravana's uncle, Mareecha
• Mareecha knows he is going to do. He is making a sacrifice for his nephew. I think he wants out of his demon life and wishes he could return a new "man"
• Rama got pulled far away from his cottage before he realized it was a trick and killed the deer
• When Mareecha died he shouted Lakshmana's and Sita's name to trick them into believing Rama was hurt
• Sita was fooled and this drew away Lakshmana
• Ravana swooped in once Sita was finally alone 
• Jatayu tried to stop Ravana, but he can't be stopped by any God's or demons. Only humans and monkeys --> Jatayu dies (eagle)  
• Everyone keeps warning Ravana about Rama, but he tries to act big and bad. However, he wont face him
• I thought it was interesting that Ravana knew Sita was being taken not by her will, and he had to take land with her just to obtain her
• Rama still hasn't encountered Ravana --> chicken

(Sita and golden deer photographed by Evelyn Paul

Amazed She Saw the Magic Deer)

Week 2 Reading Diary A: Narayan's Ramayana

Rama's Intention's

• Rama was a God designed to defeat demons
• The God's couldn't destroy them because some at special protections against all things but humans
• Rama was an obedient man
• Traveled to several countries

The Wedding

• Got to return home after Mithila, where he found his wife
• Sita and Rama were originally husband and wife in their God forms
• Felt the forgotten connection despite being incarnated
• Sita was denied marriage by her father until a man could destroy Shiva's bow due to a deal he made with the God's
• Only Rama could destroy  Shiva's bow 
• Shiva is an uncontrollable God
• The entire kingdom of Ayodhyra came for the wedding
• The other brothers found wives in Mithila as well

Two Promises

• The king, Dasaratha, plans a grand festival to crown Rama his successor
• Dasaratha has bad feelings about his plans of Rama's ceremony because of karma catching up to him for accidentally killing a boy in the woods in earlier years
• Tells him what to do tonight and to no matter what go through with the ceremony
• Rama follows instructions  perfectly
•  Dasaratha goes to his late wife's, Kaikeyi, palace where he finds her in a bad mood
• Kaikeyi uses her 2 open ended promises to force the King's hand in the re-crowning of King from Rama, Kausalya's son, to her son, Bharatha
• Kaikeyi also exiles Rama which Rama obeys without question to help maintain his father's honor
•   Rama's departure kills the King
• Bharatha is summoned to Ayodhyra and he comes to find the mess his mother created
• As Rama refuses to return until his exile terms are met, Bharatha promises Rama to rule the land for only 14 years until Rama is willing and able to take his rightful place as King of Ayodhyra
• Bharatha says that he isn't even going to go into Ayodhyra during those 14 and sets up house outside of town

(Dasaratha with Rama author: keshava

The Two Fathers)