Story: Tale of Four Mates

Story: Tale of Four Mates 

       Ravana and Rama grew up together in a small town near the beach. They both were in their mid-20s and were in search of their soulmates. Rama was a super shy guy who loved to read, while Ravana was an adventurous guy who could strike up a conversation with anyone. One day, when taking a jog in the neighborhood, Rama saw a pretty lady gardening. He contemplated if he should go up to her and say hi, or keep jogging. As he got closer and closer to the lady, he became more and more nervous. It was now or never; he was right next to her house. As he passed her, he knew instantly he should have stopped and talked to her.
       The next day he went for another jog. The lady was outside once again, and this time, Rama knew he had to say something. He jogged straight to her and introduced himself. Having just one conversation was enough for Rama. He told Ravana all about Sita, the lady he had met. Ravana was excited that Rama found a girl he was fully into. Ravana met Sita and thought she was the perfect person for Rama. Ravana found her pretty, a bit nerdy, and loved her personality. After a few days and months, Rama and Sita decided to get married. 

Sita putting a garland on Rama symbolizing their marriage. Photo credits : Holydham

      Ravana was, of course, Rama’s best man. Now that Rama had found his partner for life, Ravana felt slightly sad. He was still single and wanted to find someone to share his life with. A few years went by and Rama, Sita, and Ravana became even closer.
      The three of them decided to take a trip together to the Bahamas. On the trip, Ravana met a woman named Shurpanakha. He found her to be beautiful and could really see himself marrying her. He loved that Shurpanakha was a bold person who did not let anyone push her around. She was very strong mentally and physically. He had always thought he would find a woman who was just like her.
      As their relationship progressed, it seemed as if Shurpanakha would prefer to invite Rama and Sita along with her and Ravana, rather than spend time with Ravana alone. Shurpanakha would even at times ask Rama if he would want to go get dinner with her when Ravana was busy. Ravana didn’t think much of it, since Rama was his best friend, and was married. Sita started to become jealous and told Rama that she believed Shurpanakha was in love with him. Rama kept telling Sita that Shurpanakha loved Ravana and that he would never think of anyone else to be as wonderful as her. Sita finally agreed that their marriage was strong, and nothing would ever happen to it.
      One day, when Sita was at work, Shurpanakha showed up to Rama’s and Sita’s house. Rama opened the door and let her in. She told him that Ravana had told her to go to their house and he was coming in an hour. Rama didn’t think Shurpanakha was lying since she and Ravana would come over all the time. As time passed by, Rama asked Shurpanakha if he should call Ravana and see if he was on his way. Shurpanakha told him there was no need because Ravana texted her saying he would be there in 30 minutes.
      Rama offered Shurpanakha some wine. As he was handing her the drink, she hit the glass and spilled it all over Rama’s shirt. She quickly apologized and got a towel. Rama tried to take the towel from her to wipe off the wine, but Shurpanakha wanted to wipe the wine of herself. Rama began to feel a bit awkward. He told her it was okay, and that he would just change his shirt. She kept insisting that she could clean it off for him. As Shurpanakha was wiping Rama’s shirt, she leaned closer and closer to his face. Once she was close enough she kissed Rama. Rama immediately stood up. He was in shock and questioned Shurpanakha. She began to strip and tell Rama that she never loved Ravana and believed she only met him to find her way to Rama. Rama asked Shurpanakha to leave that very moment and told her he was married to Sita. As Shurpanakha was gathering her clothes, Sita walked into the house.
      She was in utter shock at what she saw. She started to cry, yell at Shurpanakha, and ask Rama how he could do this to her. Rama tried to explain himself, but Shrupanakha overpowered his voice. She told Sita that this wasn’t the first time she and Rama were together. Sita stormed out of the house and vowed to Rama he would never see her again. Rama went after her, but Sita was too far gone. He tried and tried to get Sita to return to him, but in the end, she never came back. Ravana broke it off with Shurpanakha, and both friends were once again left to be single.

Author's Notes: 

This is a story is based off when Rama was exiled, and Sita went away with him. Along their journey, they went to a forest and met a lady named Kamavali ( Shurpanakha). She instantly tries to marry Rama and remove Sita from the picture. She points out that she is not like her brother Ravana who still lives the demon lifestyle. As Sita is saved by Lakshmana ruining Kamavali's plan, Rama remains with Sita. I decided to change the ending of the story. Instead of Ravana being Rama's enemy, he actually is his good friend. I changed Ravana to be a human throughout this story and not a form of a rakshasa. I also decided to make Shurpanakha a brand-new character that is not related to Ravana although she is in the original tale. She still in a way uses Ravana to get to Rama. She even told her brother that she did not care what he did with Sita, as long as he got her far away from Rama. Even though in the original text this was not said directly, I thought Shurpanakha used her own brother to get what she wanted. Though Sita catches on that Shurpanakha really wants Rama, Rama gives Shurpanakha the benefit of the doubt and believes she isn't after him. In the end of the original story, Rama and Sita stay together and do not let Shurpanakha come in between them, but clearly this is not what happened in this story.

Bibliography : 

Narayan's Ramayana, By Kamban & R. K Narayan, 1972, Bizzell Reserves.

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Section B

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Section B

·             The way Rama is exiled, his wife wants to come but he says its not her fault, and she doesn’t have to come. I could incorporate how she doesn’t feel as just though its her duty, but she doesn’t want to leave her loved one.

·             You can see how much Darsaratha loved his son, and how much he wanted to make him king. This family bond when broken kills the father.

·             I can portray the mother as the evil step mother from Cinderella.

·             Relating to Cinderella, the mother wants to make her daughter the chosen one just like Bharatha’s mother. He could be the step child that eventually sees what his mother is planning and though decided to do the right thing in the end, it is too late. Bharatha is trying to do good, and all his actions he assumed were for the right reasons. Just Ciderella’s step sisters. Then when he actually goes back to rule in Rama’s place at request maybe the land goes in turmoil under his ruling and he realizes that he should have given Rama his rightful leadership ahead of time.

·             Shurpanakha is an interesting characters. She claims to be not a demonist, yet her actions show otherwise. Not sure how to play her into a Cinderella story, but she could be the “hotter, prettier” woman that almost ruins true love; maybe even she does… Though in the story Rama defeats the demons and stays with Sita, there could be a twist.

Surpanakha trying to get Rama to switch his attention from Sita to her...As shown, becoming very desprate. Photo Credits: Quora -What happened to Surpanakha in Ramayana  

·             Since Ravana ends up wanting Sita, although originally she doesn’t want him, she could fall in love with him. There could be a double twist, where two love stories of a couple and a brother/sister occurs.

·             For Sita not to hurt her husband by not being in love with him, she could have been in on the plan with Ravana. With Rama thinking that he was doing what his wife wanted him to do for her, could all just be a trick in disguise. Once Rama goes for the deer, Sita could escape with Ravana, without hurting Rama’s feelings.

Bibliography :
Narayan's Ramayana, By Kamban & R. K Narayan, 1972, Bizzel Reserves.

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Section A

Reading Notes

Vashishtha comes to Dasharatha the king to ask to perform a ritual. In this ritual he wants Dasharatha to send his son, Rama. Dasharatha feels as though Rama is still a child, and too young to associated with evil. He eventually gives in to the fact that he cannot hold his sons forever, so he ends up sending Lakshamana with them. They arrive where once Lord Shiva performed his rituals. They found the land to be of a desert, and very dead. They run into Thataka who now is a demon. Then because Vashishtha tells Rama not to see Thataka as a woman but as a monster he carrys out Thataka’s wish and kills her. Then the story of Mahabali and Vishnu was told. Vishnu played the role of a dwarf and asked for three pieces of land. Without listening to his guru, Mahabali gave it to him. Vishnu ended up taking, all the space on earth, the heavans, and the the area on top of Mahabali’s head. Then they came to finally performing the sacrifice. Though many Demons came; including Thakata’s two sons, it was successful. Rama’s journey will be beginning now. First, a story of the Ganga River was told. The Ganga was brought to earth from the grandson of Sakara, who is an ancestor to Rama. He approached a different method of retaining kingdom power than his elders. With the help of Lord Shiva, he was able to bring salvation to his family, and the river to earth. The continue their journey to Mithali. There they here the story of Ahalya. She was a beautiful woman who was wanted by Guatama. Tricked into thinking he was her husband; she was turned into stone. Her real husband than turned Guatama into having woman appearances, and later becoming Indra the god with many eyes. Eventually Rama meets Sita, and they both instantly fall in love. Since Sita is a daughter to a King, Rama must be able to overcome Janaka ( Sita’s fathers) trails. Rama was able to complete the task and the gods showered them with flowers. Rama’s father becomes old and must appoint succession to someone else. Although he wants to choose his son, he promised Kaikeyi he would give his son the position. Eventually Rama’s father has to banish him from home. Then the pain from loosing his son, Dasharatha comes to a realization of how the son of the man he killed in to forest felt of loosing a loved one.

This is a Picture of Rama cracking the bow and ending Janaka's tribulations and trials. Photo Credits :Wikiquote

Bibliography:
Narayan's Ramayana, By Kamban & R. K Narayan, 1972, Bizzel Reserves.

Week 1 Review

Review: Week 1 


Thursday, August 25 Daily Class Announcement

I try to avoid procastination... Lets be honest, we all bank on it! Photo credits: Meme Generator

I really like how we have a "Wednesday Grace Period". As it is, my wednesdays start off early, and end with a lab. Usually with lab days, all I want to do after is take a nap. This Grace Period will allow me to still write my blog post if those "naps" turn into me sleeping into the night.

Tech Tip: Blogger Templete

Tech Tip: Blogger Templete

I went ahead and added my own flavor to my blog. I stuck to keeping the "Simple" template, and changed the contents within it. I decided to change the background to a personal image of a picture I had my sister take of me on top of the beautiful mountains of California. One of my favorite colors is marroon; I chose to add alittle bit of color, and make my text in marroon. I also decided to change the layout just a tad bit, and hopefully when I find time to added to my "about me" column it all comes together. It is really easy to flow through the different tabs of changing your blog. I also found it helpful that you could see the changes as you did them.

Hope my Blog insprires others to change it up a bit, and put a personal flare to their blogs as well.

Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset

I have learned about the "Growth Mindset", actually very recently. My Introduction to Biochemistry teacher taught our class about it. He didn’t necessarily show us the TED Talks video, but described the main idea of the thought. After learning about it, I found myself to be 50-50 with having the “Growth” and “Fixed” mindset. I realized that with subjects or topics I was interested in, I would have more of a “growth” approach to it; while if I didn’t have any interest in the field, I would have a “fixed” mindset. I have learned that having this growth mindset for my passion and my interests, has helped a lot through out college. I love chemistry, and with this “growth” mindset, I tend to do more practice problems, ask questions, or try to understand why I got something wrong to avoid the problem again.

I chose this meme because it describes exactly how I feel about learning new topics in Chemistry. Photo Credits : Larry Ferlazzo

I don’t get discouraged if I don’t get the best grade on the exam, or even an A in the class. Since it has helped me a lot, I think I will try to apply it to classes I’m not so excited for, such as Quantative Analysis. This class is part of my major, and is one of the more difficult courses. I am worried I might be able to grasp the material in enough time, or not do great in my labs. Therefor, I am definitely interested in learning more about the Growth Mindset, and using it towards this class that I am worried about.