Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Section A

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- The story within the first section of the Ramayana that caught my attention was the story of Ahalya.
- Sage Gautama tells her story to Rama after a brush of Rama's foot against a stone transforms that stone back into the woman, Ahalya.
- The unfairness of the events that surround Ahalya's transformation into the stone, and the ridiculousness of her being forced to accept blame for Indra's deception stood out to me from the tale.
- Ahalya was raped by the use of deception, was turned into a stone as punishment, and was then was told to return to her husband (the very man who had punished her for her own rape rather than comfort her), be a good wife, and let bygones be bygones.
- Ahalya should not have responded to the events that occurred with meekness and acceptance. Anger is the only healthy reaction to such unreasonable and unjust treatment. This tale, and the actions that occurred within it, make more sense as a revenge story.



Bibliography: Ramayana by Narayan. Web Source.

Feedback Thoughts

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I read the articles 8 Things Students Should Do When They Make a Mistake and Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head. The advice for students in the first article seemed spot on, particularly in finding a balance in your life and being willing to ask for help when you need it. It's very easy to fall into a rough spot, but not want to bother other people with it. It's sometimes difficult to see how understanding and helpful people can be when given the opportunity.

The article about silencing your own critical voice really struck a chord with me. I used to be extremely self critical. I always felt that I wasn't as smart people told me I was, and I would tear myself apart over any perceived weakness. It took a long time to develop the self confidence necessary to accept honest criticism graciously. However, I think it's important to present criticism kindly, and to give positive feedback in addition to the negative. When I am in a position to give feedback, I make sure to only say something if it is helpful, and if I can say it in a way that doesn't cause undue distress.

Topic Brainstorm: Too Many Options, Too Little Time

Ravana (Wikimedia)

Rakshasas - I really love the Kate Daniels book series, it's an urban fantasy series by Ilona Andrews. The third book in the series, Magic Strikes, has Kate and some of her allies fighting against a team of rakshasas in a gladiatorial style tournament. Since reading it, I have been particularly interested in this supernatural creature, and have wanted to learn about them. I was thinking that I would probably approach the project by focusing on the three brothers: Ravana, Vibhishana, and Kumbhakarna.

Reincarnation - I have always liked the concept of reincarnation. Although, I don't believe in it, it has a certain logic that I appreciate. People are not all good or all bad, so when contemplating the idea of an afterlife, it doesn't make much sense to divide them into only two possible categories, with their eternal destination being based on that simplistic categorization. Being reborn, and getting the opportunity to learn and get it right, is a reasonable compromise. I know very little about the Hindu approach to reincarnation, so I'm interested in learning more.

Karma - Like reincarnation, I have a very general interest in the concept of karma, but little actual knowledge. The difficulty with this subject is how exactly to approach it. Daśaratha and Arjuna seem like a good place to start.

Surasa and Hanuman (Wikimedia)

Supernatural Characters of the Ramayana - The particular topics me, because I love supernatural creatures/people (like Rakshasas) and it seems to provide a variety of approaches. I would like to find a way to incorporate Surasa and Kubera, because what I've read about them so far is really interesting and I'd like to learn more.

Week 2 Story: A Jungle Can Hide Many Secrets

NOTE: Please read the updated version of this story is located in my short story Portfolio Website

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The men hacked their way through the jungle, fighting viciously for every foot of progress that they made. They’d run out of food the day before, and unless they found a water source quickly, they wouldn’t make it another two days. The rendezvous point, with its waiting helicopter, was a three day walk north. Aiden lowered his machete, needing a moment to rest more than he’d ever needed anything in his life. Looking around at his six companions, men that he had been through so much with, he realized that he’d lost any semblance of hope for their survival. He closed his eyes and felt himself droop. “Captain, do you hear that?” Aiden opened his eyes, “Hear what?” “It sounds like there’s a woman singing over there.” The men froze, no one even breathed. After standing motionless for what felt like forever, Aiden heard it off to the left of their position. It was definitely a woman, and she was close. Feeling a renewed sense of purpose, Aiden began frantically hacking at vines, making a beeline toward the mysterious song.

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The trees and lush undergrowth seemed to disappear from one step to the next, and the exhausted men stumbled into a large clearing that was dominated by what appeared to be the ruins of an ancient temple. Seven small and tidy thatched roof cottages surrounded the imposing ruin. The singing woman had frozen at the edge of a small pond, seeming surprised by the sudden appearance of sweaty, disheveled men. Hesitantly, the woman began to step towards the group, smiling in welcome, and asking who they were. Achingly weary, and swamped by a sense of relief that was so intense that it was painful, Aiden didn’t think to question how the strange woman spoke English. The beautiful woman, who introduced herself as Dakini, said that her village would be happy to provide food, water, and shelter. 

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After bathing and gorging themselves, Aiden and his men met with the other residents of the village. There were seven of them, and they were all stunningly beautiful women. “We were always a small village,” Dakini explained, “but a year ago all of our husbands and children went missing. We never found what happened to them. The village is rich in food, there is little work for us to do, but we are lonely. We have prayed every night that we might find new husbands one day. Please, get some rest and we will talk again tomorrow.” Alone with his men, Aiden asked his men their thoughts about the woman’s tale. Conversation went back and forth for several minutes, before coming to a consensus. Sam, the oldest member of the group summed up the groups thoughts, “Captain, we’re mercenaries. We have no family, no one that loves us, no friends except for each other. Maybe we found this place for a reason. Maybe this is fate.” So, the men determined to offer themselves as husbands to the most beautiful women that they had ever seen. They settled into village life, and for several weeks the men enjoyed the first sense of peace and happiness that any of them could remember. However, Aiden could not shake off the feeling that something wasn’t right in the village. One night, waking up from a nightmare that he couldn’t quite remember, Aiden realized that he was alone in the cottage. 

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Slipping quietly into the night’s darkness, he heard chanting coming from the ruins of the temple. Flowing from shadow to shadow, he quietly made his way to the door and slowly peaked inside. What he saw would be imprinted on his mind for the rest of his life: seven hideous  goblins, wearing the clothes of the village women, feasting on the flesh of a spitted, roasted man. Aiden stumbled back to his cottage, realizing that if he wanted to save his men, he would have to act like nothing was wrong when his wife returned. The next day, while the wives were off washing clothes in the stream, Aiden gathered his men and told them what he saw. At first, several doubted Aiden’s account. But, he was their captain. He had saved them all on many occasions, and such trust is not easily broken. The men realized that they would have to escape quickly before they became dinner themselves. Grabbing what supplies they could carry, the seven men set off through the jungle, headed north. Aiden and his men traveled through the jungle as quickly as they could, constantly looking over their shoulders, terrified that the goblins would find them. When they stumbled into the rendezvous point three hours later, they were stunned speechless. It was far closer than they had thought, and the helicopter was still waiting. Relieved, the men piled into the chopper as quickly as they could, and told the pilot to take off immediately. As they lifted up above the jungle, Aiden looked down into the upturned face of his goblin wife. His men had survived, he had gotten them out safely, but he would forever have nightmares about how close a call it had been.

Author's Note - I chose to do a variation of the jataka called Goblin City. In the story, 500 shipwrecked sailors arrive on the goblin island of Ceylon, which was filled with female goblins. They marry the goblin women, not knowing that they are man eaters who marry men for a time, but then eat them after they grow bored. The captain discovers this ruse and tells his men. Some believe him and some don't. The ones who do escape with him thanks to the help of a fairy on a flying horse. The ones who don't stay and get eaten. I liked many of the ideas in this story, such as the goblins ability to create illusions. However, in mine I limited their illusion to their appearance. I also used fewer people, because I didn't want it to feel unwieldy. One of the most important changes that I made is that I didn't have any of the men disbelieve their captain. I didn't want anyone left behind to get eaten.

Bibliography - Goblin city from The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse. Web source

Reading Notes: Goblin City

Taraka Vadh (Wikimedia)

I think that there are about a thousand ways to use the story about Goblin City as an inspiration. The story of sailors who are shipwrecked on an island full of man-eating she goblins, who marry human men, then eat them. Some of those men escape, while a few stay behind to become dinner. There were a couple of details within the story that I saw as a jumping off point to create my own:

- Demons who have the ability to alter the perception of reality

- A society full of women who use men for a short period of time for breeding purposes, then kill them (it reminded me a bit of the Amazons).

- The addition of the demon women using the men as a source of food in addition to a breeding source.

Interesting Reading Options

There were many interesting reading options in the UnTextbook to supplement our readings of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It will be difficult to narrow down were I want to focus my attention, but there were several stories that stood out to me.

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One of the first readings that sparked my interest was the story about Krishna written by Sister Nivedita. I liked the fact that the religious significance of the Krishna stories is a focus of this author, because I want to understand him in that particular context.

Sita's ordeal by fire (Wikimedia)

Another good reading option that jumped out at me was Sunity Devee's retelling of stories about Sita, Promila, and Shakuntala. I like the idea of seeing these stories from the women's point of view.

Savitri (Wikimedia)

For the same reason, I am looking forward to reading Sunity Devee's stories about Savitri, Damayanti, Sati, and Uttara. Women are so often given short shrift in stories, particularly older stories. They might be plot devices, impediments, or catalysts, but it sometimes seems that they rarely get a fleshed out representation.

Time Strategies

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The first article that I read for this assignment was "The Myth of 'Too Busy.'" I had a lot of problems with this article. The general concept of taking an active role in prioritizing your own time, and being honest about it instead of just saying you're 'too busy', I think is a goal that everyone should strive towards. I believe that my problems were mostly with the author. He was very judgey. I didn't like it. He talked a lot about time wasting stuff, things that are unnecessary and should be cut out of your life. For one example, he stated that he does not "read or watch any news outside of a few particular niche media channels that I feel are important for my business or personal goals." I fail to see how maintaining ignorance of the world and events around you, outside of your own immediate and selfish interests, is a laudable goal. I suppose that it just struck me as a judgmental take on what a person should view as important vs a waste of time. Personally, one of my life goals is to have plenty of relaxation time. I enjoy it, and I see little reason to do all of the things that I must do if I don't have time to just be, and do things because they're pleasurable rather than necessary. However, I do see the value in taking ownership of your own time and prioritizing your own personal goals.

(The Blue Diamond Gallery)

I also read "How to Build a Realistic Study Plan that You'll Actually Stick to." This article was really informative, straightforward, and helpful. It provided simple, useful steps to organize and maintain an effective study plan. In intend to utilize a lot of the advice provided in this article to keeping up with my work in this class and my others.

The schedule that I devised for this class is as follow:

Tuesday - Reading (2 hours)

Wednesday - Storytelling (1 hour)

Thursday - Project, Project Feedback (2 hours)

Saturday - Blog Comments (1 hour)

I believe that I will be able to follow this schedule with very little deviation. It's reasonable, and not too arduous. The orientation assignments have take a bit longer than I expected. However, I believe that was valuable, not just for learning the necessary tools required for this class, but also in developing a more visceral understanding of how much time I will need to allot to it.

Ever Changing Technology

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In recent years, technology has evolved so rapidly that it's impossible to keep up with advancements. My technological literacy is somewhere in the middle: I don't understand it intuitively the way my nieces and nephews seem to, but I'm not as confused/baffled by it as my mother. My approach to learning about new things is to just explore and push buttons to see what happens...it's not like I can break it!*

Basically every part of this class (outside of reading...I'm good at that) is completely new to me. I am excited to learn about some of the tools we will be using, particularly the image editing and graphic creation. I see things online all the time that people have created, and I'm fascinated by it. I have no idea where to even start! I have enjoyed the introduction to blogging, and I think I'm getting the hang of the basics. I can't wait until until I've added a few more tools to my belt!


*Note - If I ever do break it, I will claim that of course I didn't just randomly push buttons, how reckless do you think I am?!

Storytelling Assignments: Words That Fill Me with Dread

Because I prefer to begin things on a positive note, I'm going to start with the parts of the class, and the assignments, that I'm really excited about.

This is me excited (Flickr)

I like the way the class is organized. So far, everything that I have started out confused about quickly began to make sense. Although it's extremely new to me, the blogging is already starting to grow on me. It's been really neat to look back on my posts (even though there are only a couple) and think that not only are they not totally embarrassing, but I'm actually kind of proud!

I am really, really looking forward to the reading. I am taking both Myth-Folklore and Indian Epics, and I honestly can't decide which stories that I'm most excited about.

There were quite a few extra credit assignments that looked enjoyable. The Wikipedia Trails assignment was particularly appealing, since journeying into the depths of Wikipedia is something I already do when bored (that and TV Tropes).

But, there's also some dread...

This is me panicking...(Pixabay)

I have never done any creative writing before. I am a voracious reader, and it always confused me that I never had a drive to write. As I looked over the information on the class, I got into a conversation with a good friend who probably knows me better than anyone. I told him that I didn't know if I was creative enough to do the storytelling assignments, that I didn't even know how I would approach writing, and how I've always found it odd that someone who reads as much as I do never had the urge to write. He told me that I'm not a creator, I'm an absorber. I started to be offended by that; everyone wants to be creative! But as he continued explaining, I realized that he was right. He told me that I absorb everything around me, like a sponge. I take it all in, analyze it, organize it in my mind, then use it. But, like a sponge, I don't want to give up what I've absorbed, not without outside pressure. He told me that a lack of creativity isn't a problem for me. The roadblock is my unwillingness to share the thoughts and ideas that are constantly racing around in my head. So, this semester's challenge to myself is to figure out how to express things that I've never expressed before, and how to overcome my aversion to publicly exposing my mind. I think that I'm looking forward to it...but, there's also the dread.

Learning Growth Mindset the Hard Way

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I had heard of Carol Dweck and the growth mindset concept in passing, but I didn't know any details. Everything in the videos made complete sense! I have always found it odd that children are expected to learn at exactly the same speed, and the children who fall behind are shamed and discouraged. Meanwhile, the kids who pick up specific things a little faster than their peers are expected to stop once they've reached a specific plateau of learning, then wait around to be guided to the next one. I believe that some very intensive and wide ranging changes need to be made to our educational system, and incorporating a growth mindset into all aspects of learning would vastly improve it on every level. The videos reminded me of lessons that I learned the hard way about failure and perseverance. As a child, I had an intense fear of failure. School was always easy, so when I faced a difficult challenge, I felt that failing would be the end of the world. It was a sort of perfectionism, I suppose: If I couldn't do it perfectly, why bother doing it? It took a lot of real life failure, in situations that were far more consequential than the classroom, to realize that failure doesn't hurt, not in any way that's lasting. It's just something to be learned from, even if the only lesson you learned was not to do it exactly that way next time. Learning that changed me; it changed how I approached life, and how I interact with other people and the world around me. I guess it made me braver...I just wish that I'd learned that lesson earlier.

Introduction of a Frustrated Cat Owner

My name is Nancy, and this is my last semester before graduating from OU. I'm particularly excited about that fact, because I'm one of those older students who put off going back to school for entirely too long! My major is classical studies, with a minor in history...two things that basically have zero to do with my career. After high school, I wandered around aimlessly for a little while before deciding to enlist in the Air Force, a decision that was literally made with a coin flip...it was also the best decision that I've ever made. That coin did good. I did eight years active duty, was stationed in Guam, Germany, and California, broken up by the occasional stint in Iraq.

Balad AB, Iraq

While in Germany, I traveled around Europe as much as I was able. I loved Ireland and England, but Germany holds a special place in my heart. For one thing, the food is amazing!

Kylemore Abby in Ireland

Me and my mom at Neuschwanstein Castle

My job is aviation management, which has quite a few different parts, but essentially I make sure that the airfield is safe for aircraft movement. After separating, I took a contracting job in Afghanistan for about two and a half years. The hours were ridiculous, the food was terrible, the living conditions were horrific, and people kept trying to kill me. It was a pretty good time. That type of environment creates a bond between you and the other people stuck with you that's difficult to describe, and impossible to replicate...plus they paid me a lot.

Our Christmas Wish Lists in Afghanistan (you have to make your own fun)

Eventually, I got tired of being far away from my family and good restaurants, so I came back home. I enrolled at OU and got a job at Tinker AFB, and I've been working and going to school full time for the last couple of years. But, as much as I have loved it, I've always been a little nomadic. Staying in one place for too long makes me antsy, so I'm considering going back overseas for a few years after I graduate. The only thing stopping me is my cat. His name is Dante (short for Dante's Inferno). He's awesome. However, he makes doing homework difficult...

Dante

Dante making life difficult...

Seriously, does anyone know how to keep a cat off a laptop?!


All images from my personal collection

Storybook Favorites

The first storybook that captured my attention is a continuation of a storybook from the Myth-Folklore class, "My Brothers Grimm: The Diary of the Only Grimm Sister." This second part to the storybook is called "Grimm in India," and it follows the exploits of John Christiansen, the husband of Charlotte Grimm, after he is kidnapped and taken to India. John is expected to help solve some of the problems currently facing the unusual companions that he now finds himself with, including helping Rama defeat the demon Ravana. For a part of the storybook, there is is also a side story following Charlotte, accompanied by her useless brothers, and her search for John. They eventually meet up, and Charlotte is instrumental in Kali's defeat of the demon Raktabija. The storybook was creative, funny, and interesting, with a framework story that was well fleshed out. The storybook continuation approach was quite inspiring, and if I am creative enough to figure out a way, I hope to do something similar.

Grimm in India

The storybook "Dharma News Weekly" was extremely creative, and I enjoyed the overarching theme of the author, which attempted to illustrate the concept of dharma in a way that was more accessible to a modern, western audience. Each individual story was written in the form of a newspaper article. For example, The Arts and Culture section of the paper included a review of the new album by gangster rapper Ravana. This was followed by Celebrity News, and a gossipy story about Queen Sita. The design of the storybook was thoughtful, and did an excellent job of presenting these stories as distinct, but related articles in a newspaper.

Dharma News Weekly

"Vahana Therapy" is a storybook about a support group for the vahanas of several gods that has been organized by Ganesh. Each of the vahana are encouraged by Ganesh to tell a story, in an effort to come to terms with some situation or feeling that they need to address. I enjoyed it, because it is so very different from how I would approach telling a story. I would have never thought of such a framework, but it made so much sense once I began reading it!

Vahana Therapy

Image Sources:
Rama and Lakshmana
The Earth, centered on India
Ganesh

Neuschwanstein Castle, My Favorite Place

I was in the Air Force for 8 years, and I spent a little over 2 of those years stationed at Ramstein AB  in Germany. I loved the beauty and the history of Germany, but there's beauty and history all over Europe. What I cherished most about Germany, the thing that was unique about it, was this whimsical sense that, just over your shoulder and out of sight, a fairy tale was happening. I would drive down winding roads, through the forest, and almost catch myself looking for Hansel and Gretel or several bears chasing a blonde. When I visited Neuschwanstein Castle, it seemed to encapsulate that feeling. It had all of the beauty and the history combined with that visceral sense of wonder and enchantment. It always made complete sense to me why Disney would choose to use it as the model for its fairy tale castle.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Wikipedia

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