Week 7 Reading Diary B

• The whole scene of Rama's journey back to Ayodhya is so memorable. Rama tells Sita about what happened at certain places, how he met Hanuman ,and etc . Hanuman reminded me of Abu from Aladdin because they are both monkeys and they help out with the person's life.
• When Bharata heard that Rama was coming back, he was so excited that he cried! Because Bharata was going to kill himself if Rama did not come back, it was definitely a  good news.
• The coronation was just filled with Joy. I thought it was really cool that Sugriva gave collection of water from all world's river to Rama. Also, Sita gave a pearl necklace to Hanuman because Hanuman was the one who told Rama the message about the necklace that he picked up when Sita was abducted.
• I thought it was wrong for Rama to abandon Sita. Although the people were talking about about Sita, Rama should have kept her by he's side. 
• It was nice to find out the wishes Kaikeyi had to send Rama on a exile.Whenever Dasharatha was wounded, Kaikeyi took care of him and that is why she was grated those wishes/
• Sita gives birth to two sons in Ganges. 
• I thought it was crazy how the festival lasted for a year. They sang songs of the Ramayana.
• The friendship between Hanuman and Rama was amazing. When Rama was about to leave Ayodhya, he offered his jewelry to Hanuman to keep. Hanuman ripped opened he's body and showed Rama that his bones have name of Rama. This showed a great significance on how much Hauman respected Rama. 

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Week 7 Reading Diary A

• I thought it was very interesting for the Time or Kala to threatened Ravana. Because Ravana thinks he is the greatest one, there was nothing that could hinder him. Although time is something that could be stopped, Ravana was not scared.
• I saw it coming, but when Rama cut Ravana's head, it grew back again. Because Ravana had several heads, it was probably no big deal for him if the head was cut. The final between Rama and Ravana was very dramatic. When Ravana paralyzed Rama, I thought Rama could not survive. The suspension that was created during the battle made the story more fun.
• It was nice to see Rama defeat Ravana. Although Rama was paralyzed, at the end, Rama was able to kill Ravana. I like happy endings. 
• I thought it was very unexpecting to find the letter from Ravana to Rama. In the letter, it said that Rama should take Sita back. This was confusing because why did Ravana take Sita  in the first place? 
• I felt really sorry for Mandodari because she seemed like a good women. She was in sorrow because of Ravan's death.
• The significance of jewelry comes out again in this weeks reading. Whenever Sita was brought back, Sita pit Rama's ring on his finger. The whole ceremony had a significant meaning. 
• Because Sita was gone for so long, the fire God Agni came and proved Sita's innocence. All the ceremony and rituals describes how things were in India.
• It was nice to see that Hanuman getting rewarded for the things he had done to help Rama and other people.

The final battle ( image source)

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Week 6 Reading Diary A

• My favorite episode was when Hanuman was swallowed by Rakshasa Sinhika. The content was fully described and it was fascinating how Hanuman was able to come out from her ear. This episode reminded me of one biblical study. When Jonah was inside the shark's belly, he was eventually brought out. Although Jonah did not come our through the ear, the story seemed pretty familiar. 
• I thought it was very cool that Hanuman was able to change into a cat. It was a very smooth move.
• I loved the character Hanuman. He is very adventurous and spontaneous. I enjoyed reading over what he did in Lanka. He made a mess of  Ravana's house and destroyed the temple. It was nice seeing Hanuman giving revenge to Ravana. 
•  It was interesting to see the jewelry as a significant item. I thought it was interesting seeing Sita giving Hanuman a pearl to give to Rama.When ever Ravana captured Sita, she droped ehr jewelry too. I've noticed that jewelry has a lot of meaning in the Indian Epics because it happens redundantly. 
• For this week's reading, I think Hanuman plays the biggest role. He goes to Lanka and found Sita. Hanuman also sets Lanka on fire and brings back the pearl for Rama.
• I felt so great seeing Ravana mad because everything that was happening was a karma. Ravana have been evil since day one and I felt like Hanuman was punishing him for what he have done. Hanuman was the hero of this week's reading.

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Famous Last Words for Week 5

This week was a busy week! I had to work and there were some assignments I had to finish. Also, my first Physiology test in on Monday so I've been studying for that exam. Work was okay, except the new person that I had to train was a no call no show. Because of that, I had more time to spend at school. Work is getting pretty stressful. I might look for another job soon.

Valentine's Day was great! I met up with a friend and went to dinner. I went to a restaurant called the drum room and they had the best fried chicken! I mentioned that I love going on food adventure and it happened on Valentine's day, which was great! Since it was Valentine's day, I wanted to watch a romace movie. I decided to watch Fault in Our stars. I've always wanted to watch that movie, but I never got a chance to till this Saturday.Since my friend never watched it too, it was perfect! The movie was great, but I didn't cry. Everyone said that it was the saddest movie, but I didn't cry which was surprising.

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Next week is going to be busy! I have some exams and lab reports due. I just wish I can just graduate right now. I am pretty nervous about the test tomorrow. I also have couple days off this week which I am pretty excited about. I might enjoy sometime not worrying about school and go spend some more time with friends. I should probably go watch the fifty shades of grey. I wanted to watch that movie, but it was all sold out :(

I enjoyed reading many stories this week. I realized that a lot of the students in my class are very creative. I am starting to get used to the assignments which is great!

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Storytelling for Week 5: Diary of Shurpanakha

Dear Diary,

Its been too long. I am so in love with Rama. Although he is married to Sita, there is nothing that stops me from loving Rama. I cannot just stay still and wish that he will love me back in the future. I need a plan to earn Rama's love. Even though Ravana and Rama are not on good terms, there is nothing that can change my feelings for Rama. I know it is very stupid of me to have this affection for him, but I really can't control myself. I remember when I first saw Rama. He was looking for something to eat in the wild. Whenever he was struggling to find things to eat, I would leave some food in front of his house. Rama is just so attractive and good-looking. Although he does not know me or recognize me, my love for him will never fade away. I am going to tell him how I feel about him tomorrow. 

Dear Diary,

I appeared in front of Rama and asked him if I could marry him. Without hesitation, Rama rejected me. It hurt so much that it made me want to kill Sita for taking my love. My uncontrollable instinct caused me to act like a jerk. I slapped Sita's face and she slapped me back. Because she knew that I loved her husband, she was mad at me also. I understood her side too, but there was nothing I could do about how I felt about him. I tried to rip her hair out and beat her up, but Lakshmana stopped me. Lakshmana knew that I was going to hurt Sita and become Rama's wife. To them, I was just an evil man's sister. Lakshmana knew that I was Ravana's sister because I told him before.I regret telling him that I was Ravana's sister. The world is so unfair to me.



Dear Diary,
On the next day, Ravana heard about the fight. Ravana wanted to pay back to Rama for beating me up. Because Ravana has so many heads, his thought process was unpredictable most of the time. I sensed that he was going to do something to Sita. Ravana's servant pulled me aside and told me Ravana's plan. She told me that Ravana was going to go visit Uncle Maricha and ask him to capture Sita with him. Out of all of my family members, Uncle Maricha had the reputation of being the strongest one and he was unbeatable. Ravana needed Uncle Maricha's power to capture Sita. I just did not understand why Ravana wanted Sita so bad, but I hope he does capture Sita. Now that I think about it, it is probably because Sita is beautiful. Although I don't see it, I heard many men wanted her as their wife before she married Rama. If Sita gets captured by Ravana, I might have a chance with Rama and become his wife. I am going to go pray to God so that Ravana and Uncle Maricha will win the battle against Rama. If they win, I will be able to have Rama by my side.

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Author: Warwick Goble

Rama spurns the demon lover

Author's Note
I chose this character because Shurpanakha appeared to be a very unique character. I like the fact that she was related to Ravana which made the story more intense. The story reminded me of those typical love stories such as Romeo and Juliet in which you fall in love with your enemy. Rama and Ravana were the worst enemies at the time and the story makes it more dramatic because Shurpanakha is Ravana's sister. It was sad to see her  rejected in the story, so I wanted to elaborate on how she felt about Rama. Although she knew that Rama loved Sita, she was brave enough to confront Rama about her feelings. I chose to write a diary so that I could explain how Shurpanakha felt about the whole situation. I added some details about Shurpanakha's action toward Rama such as bringing food and slapping Sita. The book does not provide enough details, so I decided to add little pieces of details to make the story seem more dramatic. I made some changes to characters from the story. I had Ravana get involved with the story and made Maricha one of the strongest demons. I picked the image of Rama spurning the demon lover, Shurpanakha. The image portrays the feelings of both Rama and Shurpanakha. The picture clearly portrays how she felt when she got rejected. In the picture, it seems like Shurpanakha is on the ground mourning and Rama is telling her to go away.

Bibliography: Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Week 5 Reading Diary B

• The fighting scene between Jatayu and Ravana was very dramatic for me. While I was reading the detail description from the book, I was able to imagine the scene in my head.
• Reading for this assignment made me realize that Ravana was truly evil. There were events before where Ravana seemed evil, but the story of him taking Sita away and killing Jatayu was just too  cruel. Also, When he saw Rambha , he raped her. I was surprised by the fact that other women had given into Ravana's trap. I felt so sorry for all the women and how unfortunate it was for Rambha.
• I thought it was very smart for Sita to leave her mark so that Rama could come and find her. Whenever Jatayu was wounded, Sita knew that she had to do something. Whenever she saw the two monkeys, she let her jewelry fall so that the monkeys could come and grab it. This portion of the story was similar to the Nayaran's Ramayana.
• Thank God for the monkey brothers! I thought the monkeys had a interesting birth story. 
• I really liked the picture that Dr.Gibbs posted of the Hanuman and the sun. I thought it was very random, but interesting that Hanuman thought the sun was a mango.
• Here is a repost of the picture

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For my D2L profile, I picked a picture of myself. I took this photo like a month ago in my car right after I bought the red scarf! This is a favorite picture of myself.

Famous Last word for Week 4

This week was a busy week! I had so many assignments due and also had a crazy work schedule.

I was sick on Monday so I was unable to do Diary A, but I put a lot of effort on Diary B.

I wrote Diary B with some bullet points and I think that is a good way for me to write the diary assignment because it makes it easier for me and the reader to understand the main idea of the stories.

I read Nidhi's story and I really liked her story. Her story had full of details and did an awesome job changing the story of Rama's successor story into the fight between the Queens. I think her story was successful because she did a great job changing up the plot a little which added more drama between the character. She also did a great job at organizing the story because it was really easy for me to follow along.

My other classes are going well and I have start studying for exams which are coming up next week!
I am currently taking Human Physiology and it is getting harder and harder every week. I need to find a time to sit down and go over the concepts.

I went to Dallas this weekend to hear Nick Vujicic speak. He is a Christian evangelist who does not have arms or legs, but he turned his weakness into hope. He was talking about how there is hope and that the hope is in God. He also made me realized that there is a never-ending hope even for a person like him. I also volunteered at the autism mission center in Dallas. My church college group went and helped out the the program.

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This week made me realize a lot of meaning in life and that I should be thankful for what I have.

Love Stories from India : Styles Brainstorm

 Topic My storybook will be about love stories from India. My goal is rewrite stories over four different love stories from India. One of the main story I will include is the story of Rama and Sita. There will be other love stories from India which I can use as storybook material. I am thinking about incorporating couples like Pandu and Madri, Santanu and Ganga, and Gautama and Ahalya. By making this storybook, the other bloggers and readers will get to enjoy more detailed and exciting love stories. There are a lot of stories to choose from so I have to be wise with my choices.

Bibliography:
1.Sita's diary from the Love diaries, by Amita Zavari.
2.Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.

Possible styles

Counselor: I think it will be interesting if I become the counselor and the couples coming to see if they can get some counseling over their relationship. In this way, the couples are explaing each others opinion and telling the story. It might be a little confusing for the readers, but I think it will be fun to write in a third person point of view.

Diary : I could write a Diary of each women's perspective. I can  describe the events that happened with the male character. I think in this way, I will be able to understand how specific women thought about the relationship. Because I still write a diary, I will imagine myself as the character and describe what happened and how I feel as the character.

narrative: This will be a traditional way of writing the story.  I will be in the third person point of view which I can just tell the story like a typical book. This might be the easiest way and easy, but not as fun. I will just add some details and events which can spice things up!

Tv Show: If I decide to  choose this style, the storybook won't be a anthology anymore. For this, the characters will be somewhat related to each other. Similar to the movie Love Actually, all the couples might be friends, co-workers, family, and etc. This will require a lot of thoughts because I will have to integrate the relationship between the charaters.



My storybook is going to be anthology.

Rama and Sita

Storytelling for Week 4:Diary of Kaikeyi

           Today, I heard that Rama was going to be successor after Dasharatha. After Dasharatha appointed Rama as a successor, he was so excited for the coronation ceremony. Dasharatha was telling me about all the great ideas he had for the coronation ceremony. I was happy seeing my husband happy about something because he has been stressed about a lot of things. Dasharatha had too much on his plate that he could not sleep well for weeks. Dasharatha had to deal with the Gods and kings from other kingdoms, so making Rama the next successor was definitely good news.

            I came back to my room all happy for Rama. I told Manthara, my maid, to prepare some hot water so that I could take a bath. While she was preparing the water, she told me she needed to talk to me. I told her that she could talk to me while I took bath.

After Manthara brought the water, Manthara said,
" Your Majesty, this might sound crazy, but you cannot make Rama be the successor. I heard from Rama's maid that once he becomes the ruler, he is going to kill you and your son."
When I heard this, I was devastated. I fell on the ground with anger and was scared for the future. I could not believe that Rama would back stab me in this way. I've tried so hard to become Dasharatha's beloved queen and I felt like I was about to lose everything I had worked for. I could not let Rama ruin my life or Bharata's life. I think this is enough chaos for the day. It is time for me to go to bed, but I do not know if I can fall asleep. Good night.

Image Source : Dasharatha and Kaikeyi

Next day
          I could not sleep at all last night, and I cannot fall asleep again tonight either! I could not sleep at all last night. I was stressed and worried about what I should do to stop Rama from becoming the successor. I thought about killing him, but I was too scared to do that. I also thought about requesting a battle between Bharata and Rama so that they could fight for the throne.I went to go talk to Dasharatha first thing this morning. A long time ago, I had two wishes which Dasharatha granted me for doing him a favor. I decided to use both of them to save my life. First, I told Dasharatha to make Bharata the king. Second, I told Dasharatha to send Rama off to the forest for fourteen years. Dasharatha was upset because of my request, but he promised me that he would listen to my wish.

Although my request was out of the blue, Dasharatha listened to my wish and made my wish happen. Although I felt a little bad for Rama, I could not let him ruin my life. I also felt bad for Sita, Rama's wife. After all the chaos, the day ended up being a joyful day because Bharata came back from grandfather's house. I could not wait to tell him the good news! Bharata was happy to hear about the great news that he was going to be the new successor. For now,I made sure that he did not know what I did to Rama because I didn't want him to feel bad for him. Honestly, I think Bharata will probably figure it out sooner or later though. As a mother, all I wanted to do is to make my son happy. If people find out about what I did, they might think that I am evil and greedy. I do not know if I did the right thing, but hopefully, there won't be any Karma. I am going to sleep now. Good night.

Author's Note: I decided to write a diary of Kaikeyi. Kaikeyi was one of the three wives of Dasharatha. When she heard that Rama was going to be the successor, she was happy, but later, she decided to make her son, Bharata, the king. Because Kaikeyi's servant told Kaikeyi about Rama's supposed plan, Kaikeyi try to stop Rama from becoming the successor. I decided to write about how Kaikeyi felt during the times. I've made some changes from the original story to add more drama and detail. To make the story more intense, I had Manthara create a rumor saying that Rama was going to kill Kaikeyi and Bharata. I believe that this added more reasons why Kaikeyi sent Rama into exile. I also condense the time frame to fit Bharata's arrival from the grandfather's house. I also change the reaction of Bharata when he heard that he was going to be the successor. I found Kaikeyi's character pretty interesting because she had both good and evil in her. I added some details which could go with the actual events. Although she is an evil character, I wanted to add some humane side of her and thought that writing a diary is a good way to show that she had some good in her. In the picture on the left, Kaikeyi is lying down because she was so jealous when she heard that Rama was going to be the successor. That scene was in the anger room and the picture depicts how angry Kaikeyi was.

Bibliography : Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Week 4 Reading Diary B

• It was interesting to see how Buck's Ramayana differ from Narayan's Ramayana. The story had more details and character compared to the Narayan's Ramayana. Although the story slightly corresponds to each other there were many differences between the two books. I personally thought the Narayan's Ramayana was easier for me to read.  
• The story of Kaikeyi reminded me of how evil and selfish she is once again. Because she was scared of Rama becoming a king, she demanded Dasharatha to make Bharata the king. She also demands Rama to be sent out to the forest for fourteen years. Kaikeyi's actions showed insecure and greed as her characteristics. Kaikeyi also tried to ask Dasharatha to teach her the language of animals. When I read this, she reminded me of the women from the bible name Delilah. Delilah was a women who Samson loved and she led Samson into downfall because Samson told her his secret. I feel like if Dasharatha had a better wife, he would've had a better overall life. I was glad to see that Dasharatha did not tell Kaikeyi the language of animals because she probably use it against him. The character of Kaikeyi made me mad because I felt like she was controlling Dasharatha. 
• I was glad to see that different people and sage were willing to help Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana. When they were sent to the forest, they had Sage Bharadwaja and Guha to help help them in various ways.  It was nice how housing was provided by Bharadwaja and that Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana had place to stay.

Image Source: Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana