Reading Notes: Ramayana, Part D1

In The Bridge, I wonder why the God of Ocean sacrifices did not work when Rama performed them. As I read, I am amazed with just how much power Rama seems to have. Will he truly be able to dry up the waters of the sea? I guess so since they listened and Nala constructed a bridge named after Rama. I feel as though I can make this into a story where Rama thinks he hold this much power, but then is defeated by the Ocean.

In Rama Attacks, I was shocked that the monkeys returned to tell Ravana of Rama's power and that he still refused to surrender Sita. I was also surprised when Ravan faked Rama's death to Sita, bringing her a bow and head that resembled his. I was very glad that they vanished after he left for war and Sita knew him well enough to know it was an illusion.

In Indrajit, I did not think all of the monkeys and rakshasas were doing to fight as well with Rama, Sugriva and Ravana. I am also curious as to why the rakshasas are strongest at night. I was very worried once Ravana's brother, Indrajit, injured Rama and Lakshmana. But, luckily Garuda came and restored their lives and told them that they will rise up and succeed.

In Kumbhakarna, the rakshasas awoke Kumbhakarna, the mightiest of all demons. They danced and made loud noises all around him, but he would not wake up until a beautiful woman caressed him. He was angry when he woke up as he usually sleeps for 6 months and only wakes up for one day. When he woke, he was ready for a large meal and started eating everything and then asked where the apes are so he could eat them too. He went on his was to find them and the apes were terrified, but Sugriva got them all together to fling items at him. None of those phased him and he defeated Hanuman and seized Sugriva. Kumbhakarna went against Rama which Rama responded to by flinging flaming arrows at him until he fell into the ocean injured.

In the mountain, Ravana became worried about defeating Rama. Indrajit vowed that he would slay both Rama and Lakshmana that day and performed sacrifices that provided him with more weapons in addition to being invisible. Rama saw him and counseled a semblance of defeat leading Indrajit to go home to Lanka victorious. Jambavan called to the wind-god's son for the 4 life-giving herbs from Himalaya, king of mountains.Hanuman leaped across the ocean, but the herbs were hidden from him and he uprooted the whole mountain in frustration and brought it to heal the monkeys and they rose up as if they had just taken a nap.He then returned the mountain to Himalaya and returned to Lanka.

In Lakshmana and Indrajit, Indrajit was angry and sent a message to Rama saying he would slay Sita. But, Rama was reminded that he would never do this as Ravana wants her as his spouse. Vibhishan went against his people and was shunned.



I think that I may mix some of these stories with the wind gods and their inability to lie and maybe have Sita ask them if it was true that Rama had been killed and then to maybe deliver him a message. I am still deciding as I need to read the last 10 stories. I feel as though these had much more action making it almost overwhelming with all of the ideas I have floating around! I am excited to write my story tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

(Photo by WikiMedia.)

Rayamana, Part D. Sources used: M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder.

Famous Last Words: PROcrastinator

WELP. After a week of productivity and trying to get ahead, those snow days put me on vacation mode. I definitely was not as focused over those free days and am suffering those consequences now. I am going to do some extra credit tonight as I feel it is too late for me to do my weekend assignments to the best of my ability. Hopefully, I will wake up early and get to work so I can finish up those assignments before the grace period ends. I have already done half of the project assignment and made some edits, but I need to do an edit challenge. I also need to do my project feedback and blog comments. Whether I complete all of them or not, I am hoping this extra credit will ensure I don't fall behind in the course. I would like to be at least a week ahead, but I am definitely behind on that goal at the moment.

On the bright side, I have learned a lot by taking my time on my revisions for my project. I did not realize how often I use passive language where simply rearranging my sentence and changing my passive verbs to active make such an impact on the overall story. I hope to be more aware of this as I write future stories in order to make them stronger. I know it takes practice and this is the perfect place for that!

(Photo taken by me at the OU Men's Gymnastics meet on Saturday, February 24th).

Besides that, I did have a great week. I made Oreo balls for the first time since sophomore year which was a blast. I used to bake all the time and I forgot how much fun it can be. I also went to the women's gymnastics meet on Friday and the men's gymnastics meet on Saturday which is always a good time. Our gymnastics teams are both so talented and deserve SO much more recognition than they get.

Tech Tip: Google Timer

I chose to try out this google timer because I always find myself getting distracted when doing homework on my laptop. This has been very difficult while being in 2 classes that require a semester-long research paper. I always end up somewhere I am not supposed to be like Facebook or Pinterest. 

I am going to pause and use the google timer right now to go and write my story for the week to see if I like the idea and if it helps me stay on task. I am setting the time for 30 minutes, then will take a 10 minute break, and set it for 30 minutes again.

After doing this, I feel as though I saved SO much time. I promised myself not to stray from the pages I was using for school work and, although hard, it worked. I feel as though having a set amount of time really helps me tackle whatever task I need. I will say that I know this will take A LOT of self control to implement on a daily basis, but I am going to give it a shot and see how it goes!

(Photo from Pexels).

Reading Notes: Ramayana, Part C2

(Photo from WikiMedia).

In Hanuman in Lanka, I loved that Hanuman snuck into Lanka in the form of a cat. I feel as though this is the first time I have seen a more house-hold animal in an Indian Epics story. I was surprised that the palace was full of so many people. I pictured the king being much more strict about the amount of people in his palace, but instead it seemed as though it was a party. I was also confused as to why Ravana was asleep while everyone else was awake in the palace. Maybe more time had passed before this point. At first, Hanuman thought Mandodari, Ravana's queen, was Sita and began to celebrate. Then, his reflection spoke to him reminding him that Sita would not eat or drink or decorate herself without Rama. He looked everywhere and could not find her so she though she must have been killed so he left the palace. 

In The Ashoka Grove, Hanuman wandered to this place and found Sita! She was surrounded by she-demons that were terrifying.

In Sita and Ravana, Hanuman saw an imprisoned women with jewels similar to those of Sita's that were described to him and he shed tears of joy as he thought of Rama and his brother. Ravana awoke and arrived with a trail of women. He went towards Sita and she was terrified and sobbed at the sight of him. He continued trying to woo her and continued to refuse. He then gave her a 2-month term and if she had not accepted him by then he would have her tortured and slain.

In Hanuman and Sita, Hanuman was close enough to talk to Sita in secret. She thought maybe is was Ravana in disguise at first, but then was reassured when shown the ring of Rama. Hanuman offered to carry her away, but she refused to touch the body of any male besides Rama. Instead she gave Hanuman a bright jewel as a token. I thought this was pretty insane. Someone came to rescue her and went through great trouble to finally find her and then she wouldn't let Hanuman carry her to Rama.

I think this was my favorite potion of reading C. I feel as though I could write my own version of this part of the story by having Hanuman take Sita anyway. I may make Hanuman disguise himself as Rama which would then allow her to touch him even if he isn't the real Rama.

Rayamana, Part C. Sources used: M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder.

Reading Notes: Ramayana, Part C1

In Sugriva and Hanuman, I love that we were able to see Rama and Lakshmana's true colors yet again. Both of the brothers are seen by the monkey-god, Hanuman, and are asked why they are wondering in the woods alone. When the trust was again in the monkey, they disclosed that Rama was banned from his home and his brother promised to stay by his side. By the end, we learn that Sugriva is in the same position as Rama in the sense that his wife had also been taken and has been banned from his kingdom.

In Sugriva's story, I was a little confused. I think that the brother followed some evil into a cave and Sugriva waited outside the cave he entered for a year only to never hear his cries and assume his brother's death due to the presence of blood. But, Valir (the brother) had not been killed and ended up destroying his enemy. Sugriva filled the opening with the top of a mountain which led to Cali having difficulty getting out. Once he returned to Kishkinda, he refused to believe what his brother told him had happened and thought that he filled the cave to hold him prisoner allowing him to be promised the kingdom without any competition. Vali stole Sugriva's wife and banned him from the kingdom. Rama begged Sugriva to challenge his brother in battle after hearing his story.

In Sugriva and Vali, Rama became very close with Sugriva. They went to Kishkindha together to challenge Vali. Sugriva ran away in terror and pain. I find it difficult to dissect the readings done in such a poetic way. I always end up lost in the language halfway through.

In the next story, Vali's Death, things became more clear. Sugriva returned to take on Valir and they battled. In the end, Valir is killed!

In King Sugriva, Tara is saddened by the loss of Vali and Sugriva comes to reality as he sees his brother lying dead. Sugriva is then named the lord and is returned to the kingdom at last.

In The Rainy Season, I was a little confused as to what all happened. I understood that they endured a year of rain and that Rama and Lakshmana are still out of their kingdom. It seemed to me that Rama was talking about how much he misses Sita in this time. It seems as though he is falling into a depression of some sort due to his deep heartache. He wants to free Sita and get her back more than life.

In The Armies, Rama became worried as Sugriva was supposed to help him go get Sita back, but he did not seem to care as he kept drinking wine and celebrating. Lakshmana then visited Sugriva and threatened him with death for breaking his promise. At this time, armies were sent out to search for Sita. 

In Sampati, after a month of searching, Sita has yet to be found. Those searching met an aged vulture named Sampati in a cave after he heard the monkey that were searching talking about his brother Jatayu. Sampati then heard their story and told them that he had seen Sita carried away by Ravana and that she was now hundred of leagues across the sea in Lanka.

In Sampati and Jatayu, it starts with Sampati reminiscing on old memories with his brother, Jatayu. They had been racing and he passed out and awoke without wings and dimmed sight. Death did not take him though. He asked the Saint why he lived and he was told that his wings would be returned once a chance of service comes along. He thinks that Rama make be the person he must be of service to. The Simians led him to the seashore to mourn the loss of Jatayu and then it seemed as though he was purified and youth had been given back to him.

In Hanuman's Leap, the monkeys regained their hope as they had some guidance. They then saddened after realizing how far Sita was and that they could not get there. The they remembered Hanuman was born in the mountains and sprang 3000 leagues with ease when young. They chose him to bound across the ocean. He climbed the mountain and prepared himself for the leap. After he left, a grim of rakshasi rose from the sea and caught him, but he dashed her and grew even better, bursting away until he saw the shore of Lanka.

(Photo from Wikipedia.)

Rayamana, Part B. Sources used: M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder.

Famous Last Words: Rest

The week before last was a crazy one! In order to get all of my assignments for other classes, I put this course on the back burner. I am happy to say, I jumped right back up and completed all of my assignments this weeks and completed plenty of extra credit as well!

I spent most of my weekend relaxing and getting ahead in some of my other classes to ensure I have enough time to tackle this course. I have a feeling it's going to be a great week!

My goal for this week is to get just as much, or more, done as I did last week. I am also hoping to finish some of my other class assignments a tad bit earlier so I am able to go get help in office hours if needed. Nothing is worse than spending hours struggling on an assignment that you know would be so easy if you just had a few minutes of help.

Other than that, I don't have too many exciting plans. I may go see an OU theater show this week since my friend is in it and they are always amazing. All of my plans will just depend on how much I end up getting done throughout the course of the week.

Another goal of mine is to get back to working out this week. I have been doing very well this semester, but I took most of last week off in order to get all of my school assignments done without causing myself too much extra stress. I know this will be a struggle becasue I have been so sleepy lately, but I am making it a priority. I feel as though I have more energy and motivation when I have my workout routine in place.

Other than that, life is great and I am excited to see how this week goes!

(Photo from PixaBay.)

Learning Challenge: Sleep Deprivation

This week, I chose to watch the TED-Ed video about what would happen if you didn't sleep.
I think that sleep is such an interesting thing. I have always been a pretty hard sleeper, but I always go through phases where I can't seem to fall asleep at all. Recently, I have been having lots of sleep trouble so this was interesting to listen to and definitely had me digging out some melatonin to reset my sleep cycle this week!

(Photo from Flickr).