Reading Notes: PART A: Gaia's Secret 1-2

For this weeks reading I did another video series. This week was the Seven Secrets of the Goddesses, Epified series. This first week focused on Gaia and female Goddess. I thought this video was really interesting. One story that caught my eye was not even an Indian story. It was an example of how female deities are frequently brutalized and sidelined by their male counter parts. This was a story from an Inuit tribe telling the story of Sedna. she is married to a seagull and begs her father to take her away in his kayak. When they leave they are attacked by seagulls and her father throws her in the water to save herself. When she tries to climb back in he cuts of her fingers. When she tries again he cuts of her arms. She then sinks to the bottom of the ocean and her dismembered body turns into all of the animals= in the sea. This story was really dark and intense. I would like to find a way to relate this back to the Epics. It would be neat to possibly relate this story to Sita after she is rescued by Rama. This series does a good job at explaining the mythology in a quick way. However it can be a bit confusing to follow along. I also liked how they parallel the Indian stories with that of other religions. The second part focuses more on femininity and prostitution. I thought the part dealing with sacred prostitution was interesting and the aspect of desperation due to this being the only thing they had control over, and even that was taken away.

Mean Seagull
maxpixel

Seven Secrets of the Goddess
Author: Devdutt Pattanaik
Playlist Link

Tech Tip: Design Templates

For this tech tip I did the blogger design templates. I was surprised by the amount of control I had over my blog layout. My first change was changing the theme to one called Awesome Inc. I liked the darker, more sleek look. I also made the right sidebar smaller. I also changed the font to one I liked better.

Reading Notes Pattanaik's Calendar Art: Part B

For this reading I am continuing the 7 secrets of Hindu Calendar Art videos. This video focuses on Narayan. It goes into the Hindu belief of rebirth and how this is not present in other cultures. This belief is closely related to Narayan. One thing I found interested was how he lays on a ocean of milk, which represents possibility. Narayan is required for the existence of Narayan, who operates outside of time. This goes into a more philosophical argument of whether anything cab exist if their is no observer to observe its existence. Once again these videos are really philosophical and confusing. I am not finding much material here for a story. I will probably go back to prior reading and use an idea that I have not already used. It is interesting to learn about figures such as Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Who is also portrayed as a cosmic cow. Narayan is her keeper. He is also known as Vishnu, due to his role as the protester of the world. Later in the video the Hindu concept of souls is disused. This explained with Vishnu. One story is the story of Hiranakashipu and his son Prahalad. Hiranakashipu believes he is a god because he is immortal from all dangers in the natural world. In response the gods send a hybrid from outside the natural world to kill him. In this story are more little riddle loopholes, like last readings. He cant be killed on, above, or below the ground. Somehow being on the creatures lap is a loophole for that.

Statue of Narayan
Wikimedia Image

Devdutt Pattanaik's Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art.

YouTube playlist

Reading Notes Pattanaik's Calendar Art: Part A

For this weeks reading I did another video series. It comes from a series of videos. This first one is about Ganesh and details how Hinduism and Ganesh relate. Near the beginning their is a good story. In this one Ganesh and his brother decide to race around the world three times. Ganesh never moves and his brother quickly races around the world. Just before his brother wins he gets up and runs around their parents. Then he says he won. He said "you went around the world, but I went around my world". This was used as an example between the objective and subjective, the rational and the emotional. I thought this was really cheesy and could be used to make a funny story. This would be easy to replicate in a modern setting and the ending could be replaced with another silly cop out. This was followed by an interesting discussion of the parallel thinking that exists in Hinduism. How two opposites can be true at once. Divinity is formless but we require forms to comprehend it. I thought this video did a really good job at explaining how the gods can be gods but not The God, and the relationship between everything. However, the more I watched the more confused I became. The video also did a lot explaining the complex relationships between the different gods. I think it would be neat to make a story attempting to personify these complex relationships. I could see them working in an office together or going to school together. I think this would be a good setting to flesh out their personalities and relationships with each other.

Statue of Ganesh
Wikimedia Image

Devdutt Pattanaik's Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art.
YouTube playlist

Week 13 Story: The Magic in the Sky

     Despite the planes roaring overhead, and the cheer of the large crowd, Bheem found himself falling asleep during the airshow. He decided he would slip of behind the nearby hangar and take a nap. This way he would be well rested before the night flying. The large basket of a hot balloon would be the perfect place to take a nap. Quickly Bheem drifted to sleep.

      Suddenly Bheem was awakened by a violent shaking and a loud shriek. All around him he could only see sky. The ground was not even visible below, only crowds. Bheem realized his friend must have turned on the hot air balloon. He would not have long to curse his friends because he saw where the shrike was coming from, giant birds were attacking his balloon. Thinking quickly Bheen created a slingshot out of his belt. Thankfully he had a lot of change in his pocket and began shooting it at the birds. A mighty battle took place, the birds diving and clawing at Bheem, but they were no match for his quarters and dimes. Bheem killed many of the birds and the last few flew of to escape their prey turned tormentor.
 
      Bheem was safe for the moment but he was still climbing higher and higher into the sky. Soon all he could see was clouds all around him. Some of the clouds even seemed to look like buildings rising above a distant cloud city. As he continued to arise Bheen gasped in amazement as he arose before a mighty sky palace. Suddenly his balloon stopped as if he was on solid groud. Timidly Bheem began to test the clouds around him and discovered they would support his weight. As he approached the palace he was approached by the a giant and magnificent golden bird.

"Behold I am Vasuki, King of the sky, It is good to see you Bheem" siad the bird.

"How do you know my name?", asked Bheem.

"We are relatives Bheem, it is time for you to reach your full potential, take this bottled air, it will give you the strength of a thousand eagles."

      Bheem took the bottle and inhaled the sweet aroma. Instantly he felt energized and powerful. He knew it was time for him to become the leader he was destined to be.




Authors note: I based my story on a video series from the Mahabhartha. In the original Beem is tied up and thrown in the ocean. He escapes his bondage, fights off sea snakes, and sinks to an underwater kingdom. He meets Vasuki, the snake ruler of the underwater kingdom, who gives him a magic potion. I decided to do the opposite with my story. Upwards instead of downwards.

Bheem meeting Vasuki
flickr image

Blogspot link to video Playlist

Epified: Mahabharata

Reading Notes Epified: Mahabharata Part D

Part D continues with the epified YouTube series. I am really liking these videos. One thing I have noticed is that the videos are not very related. There is not much relation between the different episodes. This makes it a little difficult to keep the stories strait. Part 28 Karna's Humiliation was a really interesting chapter. This episode had a lot of big names present who had gathered for the courtship of Draupadi. among those present was the King of Anga. He was a skilled and powerful man but also came from a less than noble birth. This led to him being humiliated in front of everyone by being declared unworthy and had no business being in the presence of real kings. His eyes showed how angry he was. This would foreshadow future war and destruction. I think there is a good story here about the humiliation and the foreshadowing of future conflict. Another interesting episode is episode 33 Arjuns Exile. This detail the arrangement between the five Pandvarian brothers and Draupadi. Each brother takes turns having her as a wife, breaking this leads to 12 years of exile. One day Arjun must fetch his weapons from the bedchamber to go fight thieves. Unfortunately it his not his turn and thus cannot enter. Despite hearing them together, he enters, gets his weapons, and goes to fight. Upon return he decides to go in to exile despite many telling him it is okay. I really liked how ridiculous this story sounds, especially by todays standards. I am not sure how this could be turned into my own story but it has a lot of potential as something. I was also surprised by how willing he was to honor this arrangement. I would also like to focus on Arjun's sense of honor in a potential story. He was willing to face exile in order to help someone.

Angry like the King

Pixabay Image

Epified Mahabarthana

Video Playlist

Reading Notes Epified: Mahabharata Part C

For this weeks reading I am continuing with the epified Mahabharata YouTube series. I really like this series. It is a quick and entertaining way to get the details of the stories. The live drawing is also really interesting to watch. One episode that interested me was 21 Drupad humiliates Drona. This tells a story of two friends who are training together. Due to this friendship Drupad promises his friend half his kingdom when he becomes king. Years later Drona has fallen oh hard times and goes to see his old friend, confident he will keep this old promise. Instead he finds that his friend has changed and is drunk with power. In the next episode we also see a king acting poorly. In this one he wants to kill the Pandava's. These brothers were very popular and may one day threaten his rule. He decides to build an entire castle out of flammable materials. he even placed their beds in the highest flammable areas. He then invited the brothers to a spectacular feast in their honor. After the banquet they would go to sleep and be burned alive. This plan would keep the people from hating him if it remained a secret, unfortunately the plan would be discovered. Both of these, as well as others in this section have a lot of story potential. I like all the angles for an evil king and the betrayal. I also like the story of two friends who pledge to each other. one becomes rich, one becomes poor. Te rich one then turns their back on the poor who pledges revenge. I think this would be a story that could easily be replicated in a modern setting. It also leaves a lot of opportunity to change details.

Palace Fire

Wikimedia palace fire

Epified: Mahabharata videos

YouTube playlist link

Reading Notes Epified: Mahabharata Part B

For part B I am continuing to watch the Epified Mahabharata videos. I really enjoy the simple quick presentation of the content. Part 9 continues where 8 left off. kunti is preparing to be married but has a dark secret. When she was younger she accidentally summoned Suryadev, the sun god to her room. After being embraced by the god and enveloped in his light, she is left with a child. A beautiful child clad in armor, destined for greatness. Because she was unmarried she decided to but the child in a basket and cast him off down the river. I think this has a lot of potential to be a story. One thing that surprises me with these stories is the similarities they have with a lot of the stories in the bible. Another interesting part was ep 14-The Magic Potion. Bheem is pushed into a body of water, asleep, and tied up. As he sinks he begins to be bitten by poisonous snakes. Instead of dying he breaks free and kills the snakes. He finds himself in another realm and meets Vasuki, the snake king and a relative. Vasuki gives him a magic potion that gave him super powers-strength of a 100 elephants. Bheem swims off and decides to become all he can be. This has a lot of good elements for a quest story. Him escaping and defeating attackers. Meeting a weird king. The magic potion. I can see taking this story the exact opposite direction. Instead of tied up and thrown in water to sink, my hero will tied to balloons to float away in the sky. Instead of sea serpents it will be giant birds. I will replace the underwater kingdom with a sky/cloud kingdom with a giant bird creature ruler.

A castle in the sky

Pixabay link

Blogspot link to video Playlist

Epified: Mahabharata

Reading Notes Epified: Mahabharata Part A

For my reading this week I did the Mahabharata series of YouTube. This is a series of short videos that narrate while an artist draws. I did another series like this a few week ago and liked it a lot. I was interested in this reading immediately. The first story is about the king Shantu and his wife the river goddesss Ganga. Ganga married him under the stipulation that Shantu could never question her decisions. This is put to the test when she has his child. She kills the child immediately. She does this for their first 7 children. Before she kills child number 8 Shantu questions her. Shantu explains that she had to give birth to the 8 Vazus. Celestial spirits cursed to live as mortals. Ganga agreed to kill them at birth to release them from the curse. Because Shantu questioned her Ganga left with the 8th child. This story reminded me of a lot of fantasy style writings like lord of the rings. I can see using this material in a lot of different types of stories. Some ideas I have is telling a story with animals. I also could see this story working in a sci fi setting. A Post apocalypse world where live births are very rare. I will need to think of why the first few will need to be killed. I also think having someone who does ridiculous things, but can not be questioned would be another story direction. Maybe have a boss or military leader who does increasingly crazy things. In the end it is revealed to be for an important purpose. A Nazi life regime where questioning your commander is death. One underling finally cant take it anymore and has to question his orders. A lot of the other stories did not have a lot of striking details for me to latch onto. The last story the Blind Bride was also interesting. A blind king must marry. A suitable candidate is found but her family does not want her to mark a blind man. She knew she was destined to marry a blind man so she decided to blindfold herself for life. Another story detail is the kings younger brother actually has most of the power.

Ganga leaving with child 8

wikimedia image

Blogspot link to video Playlist

Epified: Mahabharata

Reading Notes: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales Part B

For todays reading I read the second part of Inayat's Twenty Jaka Tales. These stories continued in the trend of the others. They usually have a lesson and theme to them. This theme is usally taought through animals. One story I liked was The Quarrelsome Quails. This story tells of how the birds must always work together. As long as they work together they will always be able to escape the net. The bird king tells them that if they fight and do not work together they will die. This eventually happens and two birds begin to fight. The king and those who heeded his warning left. The fighting birds were captured as well as those around them. The message being to stand strong and work together. This story is short and impactful. This leaves a lot of room open to create my own unique story. I can writa story about a group of people that must wor together to survive. When they stop working together, this leads to their demise. I could see this story taking place in a modern, desperate survival situation. Another story i enjoyed was "The end of the world". This story tells the story of a small mouse that has a piece of fruit fall on his head. The mouse panicks and sets of a chain reaction of all the animals panicking over nothing. I like the message of rationale thought an not getting caught up things.

The sky is falling
flickr image

Title: Twenty Jataka Tales
Author: Noor Inayat (Khan)

Reading Guide

Reading Notes: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales Part A

For my reading I read the first part of Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat. I really enjoyed these short stories. What I liked most about them is the theme and message that they carried. One popular message was that of a leader being willing to sacrifice their selves for their people. Also that a leader should lead through love and compassion. In the first story the monkey king says to rule your people through love because they are your children. I think this message of self sacrifice and leadership would be easy to turn into my own story. This is a theme that is present in a ton of literature and media today as well. I liked the first story, The Monkey Bridge. A monkey tribe wants to keep their delicious fruit secret. It must never float down the river to be discovered by man. When this happens the king comes to take all the fruit and kill all the monkeys. The monkey leader sacrifices himself by using his body as a bridge to allow his people to escape. This kills him, but he has a minute to share why he sacrificed himself for his people to the human king. I also liked the story Banyan. In this story two kingdoms of deer are herded and captured in the human kings yard. every day one of them is killed for food. In order to prevent further harm and pain they decide to send one deer a day as a sacrifice. One day a young mother is chosen, the first deer king says she must do her duty, the second king goes in her place. The human king is so moved by this act of co0mpassion he frees all the animals. Important to note the leaders were special golden deers that were never to be killed. 

Majestic Golden Deer

Wikimedia deer link

Title: Twenty Jataka Tales
Author: Noor Inayat (Khan)

Reading Guide

Week 10 Story: Riding the Bull

      Krishna never fit in, in his hometown. All anyone cared about was hunting, fighting, and bull riding. Krishina was more interested in helping the less fortunate and spreading kindness. Krishina knew that if he could somehow earn the other cowboys respect they would come to understand and follow his teachings of love. After thinking it over Krishina knew what he had to do, he had to do what every other cowboy was too afraid to do, he had to ride the bull named Hastin.

       Hastin was the biggest meanest bull in town. He was so mean that most people wanted to have him killed before he hurt someone. Krishina gathered the other cowboys around and told them what he planned to do, "In one months time, I shall ride the great bull Hastin in the annual rodeo," he declared! All the other cowboys mocked him, but he was undeterred and began his plan that night. Krishina knew that kindness was the ultimate strength and even Hastin could be rode if someone showed him some kindness. Every night Krishina would visit Hastin. He would play his banjo and feed Hastin the freshest grains and the sweetest moonshine. As the month wore on Krishina could tell his plan was working. Hastin seemed to love his music and even let Krishina feed him out of his hand. By the end of the month Krishina saw Hastin as his friend and he knew the bull felt the same way.

       The morning of the rodeo, Krishina was exited to show off and earn the other cowboys respect. Before he rode Hastin, Krishina explained what he had done.Looking out at the crowd Krishina said "This past month I have been able to tame and befriend Hastin; not through cruelty and fear, but through kindness and compassion. Kindness is the ultimate strength. With his motive explained Krishina sauntered over to Haskin. With one last wave Krishina leaped onto Hastin. As soon as Krishina's butt grazed Hastins back, the bull went wild. What Krishina thought was his friend was still the same wild bull and Krishina went flying off into a pile of manure. Covered in manure as the crowd laughed at him, Krishina decided it was time to go spread kindness somewhere else. 

Authors Note: I retold the Story of Krishina rides Haskin. In the original he is able to ride the bull. This shows his message of  "Kindness is the Ultimate strength" and shows his glory. Krishina is the God of compassion and love. I retold the story in an American setting and had Krishina fail in his task and be ridiculed. 

A bull rider attempter

Link to Bull riding Article

Title:  Krishna

Author:  Epified TV (India)

Year:  2015

Link to Video playlist
Krishna rides Hastin

Reading Notes - Epified: Krishna

For this weeks reading I watched the krishna YouTube shorts. I really enjoyed this format. They were quick, to the point, and I loved the illustrations. I thought that a lot of these shorts had potential for my story this week. The first story Krishna Humbles Brahma had a lot of potential. I like the aspect of people dissapearing and being replaced with a doppelganger. The rest of the village did not notice for the entire year their people were missing. I think this leaves a lot of room for a sci-fi or horror story. In the original Brahma realizes  Krishna's power when he comes to return the people and see's everything has been replaced by Krishna and continued on as normal.  The next story, Krishna rides Hastin also interested me. This one is about a mean bull that everyone wants to kill. Krishna decides he will ride this bull in one month. He spends the month feeding the bull and playing music, building up the bulls trust. At the end of the moth he is able to ride the bull through the street. This is a theme I have seen in popular culture before, and I think it would be interesting to do a story on this. I would like to do a story where at the end the bull is still mean and Krishna gets bucked off.  What I liked most about this story is the end message. Krishna says "Kindness is the ultimate strength. this seems to be the overarching theme of the videos and Krishna later on in Episode 16. Krishna has compassion for an old crippled woman and heals her. The woman comes to him as her savior and his healed by her faith. i saw a lot of parallels between Krishna and Jesus in the Bible. A lot of the stories were similar to parables in the Bible and both Krishna and Jesus act very similar. This also opens up a lot of new ideas for potential stories.

Man is unsuccessful at riding bull
Pixabay bull rider image link

Title:  Krishna
Author:  Epified TV (India)
Year:  2015
Link to Video playlist

Week 9 Story: The Last Boy Scout

The scouts all gathered friday evening. They all bought ther survival gear and everything else they would need on their camping trip. Tents, rope, matches, trailmix, it was all there and they were eager to step off into the wilderness. "Today we will finally earn our survival badge, and with that I will have all the badges a scout could earn," the leader of the group Yudhisthira declared. The other three scouts all nodded in exited agreement.

          They arrived at the park shortly before sundown and quickly began to set up camp. Arjuna was eager to show off his knot tying skills and created a haphazard shelter of ropes and canvas. Sahadeva attempted to start a fire with his new flint rock, before conceding to use his lighter. The boys told a few ghost stories and quickly fell fast asleep

     They woke to the morning sun already beating down upon them. Thirsty, the boys began to look around for their water. " Hey who has an extra water bottle, I forgot mine, " Nakula said. "I forgot mine too," replied Arjuna. Quickly the boys all realized they were in trouble and they would have to figure out how to survive if they ever hoped to earn their survival badges. Yudhisthira attempted to contain the panic but even he was starting to become worried. "I think there is a pond nearby, why dont you check it out Nakula," he said.

     Nakula ran off and quickly reached the pond. When he reached the shore suddenly the pond spoke to him and said "before you may drink, riddle me this". Nakula was to thirsty to be bothered by a talking pond and quickly drank anyway. Almost  immediately, he fell over dead.

      Worried Shadeva decided to go investigate. He too reached the pond and saw his friend lying dead. He too heard the voice of the riddling pond, but was so thirsty he decided to drink anyway. He too fell over dead almost immediately.

      Next Arjuna grew impatient and went off over to the pond. He saw his two friends lying dead and then the pond spoke to him. Arjuna would not be taunted by a talking pond, and with a mighty "Come at me bra," began to throw rocks at the pond. When this did nothing he too decided to go ahead and drink from the pond anyway. Unsurprisingly he too fell over dead.

      Alone Yudhisthira decided to investigate the pond as well. When he saw his friends dead he bagan to cry. Suddenly the pond spoke to Yudhisthira as well, "Riddle me this, scout," the pond declared. "I will answer your riddles magic pond, but first tell me what happened to my friends," Yudhisthira replied.  The pond was silent for a moment and then said "Your friends died from drinking dirty water from a stagnant pond, look at me, this water is full of all kinds of bacteria. Now for your first riddle; What three things are needed for a fire?"

Yudhisthira remembered his scout training and confidently declared "Heat, oxygen, and fuel."

Immediately the voice said "If you do not have any water, what should you drink?

For this question Yudhisthira had to dig deep. He thought about all the Man V Wild with Bear Grylls he had watched. Again he confidently replied "You drink your own pee"

The pond then spoke again "What should you do with pond water before you drink it?"

"You should always boil it," Yudhisthira replied.

Suddenly the pond transformed into William Dickson Boyce, the founder of the boy scouts."You have passed my test wise scout, You may have two wishes," Said Boyce.

"I wish my friends were alive and I wish we could all get our survival badge, exclaimed Yudhisthira.

Suddenly all three boys arose and the four of them happily left the forest, shiny new badges in hand.

The Great scout Yudhisthira and all his badges.
Yudhisthira Image
Scout Image

Authors Note. I told the story of Yudhisthira from Chapter 50 of the Mahabharata reading: Riddles at the Lake. The story is about five warriors who encounter the God of wisdom disguised as a pond. Yudhisthia is able to answer his difficult riddles and save his friends. I was pretty pleased with how the story turned out. I think telling the story as boy scouts worked perfectly and fit the theme of the original story. The story turned out a lot longer than most of mine, but I like the details I was able to include, such as their complete lack of survival skills, and the absurdity of multiple men drinking form the same pond that just killed their friend.


The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie (1921). Mahabharata

Reading notes: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu.Part B

I was exited to read this version of the reading when I saw that it was taking a down to earth approach. I liked that it was not going to be clouded with all the drama of the gods and all of the magical elements. Unfortunately I did not like how hard to read this reading was. It did not have much flow and seemed bogged down in details. It kind of read like the bible or another really old book. Something in the reading I would like to write about is the mighty battle that took place starting on page 102. The battle has Duryodhan on one side against Krishna and Arjun. Arjun is at first unwilling to fight because he does not want to fight his old teacher. Krishna must remind him of his duty. Arjun and Krishna are losing badly and begin to fight heroically. Dodging and firing arrows, even leaving their chariot. By the end of the day the battle is at a stalemate rather than a defeat.  This leaves a lot of open interpretation for a battle story. I have not yet done a modern battle story. I think it would be interesting to do a gritty modern war story. The details I took away from the source material fit this theme perfectly.

Krishna and Arjun
Wikimedia Image

The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu
Author: Richard Wilson

Week 8 Progress

I am fairly pleased with my progress so far. I would like to start doing some of the extra credit to get some more points. I would like to have enough for an A. My weekly routine is OK, but I need to make the smaller assignments a bigger priority. I tend to put of the weekdays readings a bit to much.
Looking forward I would like to continue with the quality of my stories and comments. Something new to try is to put more effort into the reading assignments. I would also like to check back with some of the peoples projects I have seen.
My motivational image is a WW2 propaganda poster. They are motivating and most importantly available for reuse.

WW2 Motivation

 

 

 

Pixabay Poster Image

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

I have been very pleased with the comments I have been receiving. I really like seeing that other people are liking what I wrote and that people are actually reading it. I like the comments where people give me suggestions for improvement. A lot of people have ideas on what I should expand on or make more clear.
I think that my feedback is pretty good. I always try to tell people the things I like about there writing, as well as include something that I think could be improved. Seeing how creative some people are is encouraging me to be more creative in my writing.
I do feel like I am getting to know the people in the class. I read peoples introduction and then read their stories. A lot of people have their own unique style and I feel like I know the people better than most of the people in my physical classes. I think my blog and introduction also accurately represent me. In the future I would like to try to be more specific with my blog comments. I would also like to make my blog a little flashier. I like this image because it is an easy to read chart with a lot of good information/

How to give Consructive Feedback

Growth Mindset Memes

Week 8 Reading and Writing

I think that the reading and writing is working well. My favorite reading so far has been the The Divine Archer. This book was easy to read and was full of great content. I am also enjoying the Mahabharata. This had a lot of great stories that I will be able to write about. I am especcialy looking forward to my next story, which I have already planned. My notes have been helpful in remembering the basic plot outline and important details. I try to write down anything I may need so that I do not have to look at the readings when writing my story.  I am pleased with my project so far and how my stories have been coming along. I like how the writing challenges and criteria are forcing me to expand and improve my writing. My biggest accomplishment in my writing is being able to write creatively and in a way that does more than just convey information.
In the future i would like to try to be even more creative and outside the box in my writing. a lot of people in the class have had some stories that were really out there and they turned out great.
my favorite image i have used so far is this image of Ravana. i really like how ridiculous he is portrayed and this is how I picture him in the readings and my writings.

The Great Ravana

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ravana.jpg

Week 7 story Planning: The Last Boy Scout

Something I would most like to write a story about is chapter 50. Riddles at the Lake. The mail character in this story is Yudhisthira. He was a very capable spear hunter and a man of character.  The first thing I thought of when reading about his background was a boy scout. I think it would be fun to tell a story about a group of dorky boy scouts. Yudhisthira will be the greatest of the boy scouts. They go off on an epic quest to gain their survival badge by camping in the nearby park. They pack all of their survival gear and rope tying equipment. Unfortunately, despite all their training they do not bring enough water. Desperate to not die in the park their search will bring them to the magic pond. My favorite part of the original is how they each drink and then die. I would like to expand on how ridiculous it would be for the third to walk up, see two of his buddies die from drinking from the talking pond, and then drink from the pond anyway. I could show what the third scout is thinking or even what the pond is. Finally Yudhisthira listens to the pond and does not immediately drink.  Another big part of the story is the many riddles that the hero must answer. I could make them anything I want like survival skills or pop culture references. In the original Yudhisthira is able to answer them all and gets two wishes. Using his two wishes the scout will be able to bring his friends back and even get his survival badge. I think this will be a really fun direction to take the story. Following this format will leave a lot of room for expansion into a great story. 

The Haunted pond

Wikipedia link Vinegar Pond

The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie (1921). Mahabharata

Reading Notes: Narayan's Mahabharata Part C

This section of readings was heavily focused on war and prepping for it. One chapter that interested me was 48. Karna and Indra. This was an interesting story. Karna has natural armor and earing that protect him. Indra is worried that this puts his son Arjuna in danger so he wants to take them away. This story includes details like turning into a cow to trick Karna, the gift of a thunderbolt, and a lot of other creative details. This would be a good story to retell. It has a lot of those classic elements to it. A hero with a great strength, a trickster wanting to take it away, them making a deal, and the epic weapon to kill any foe. This story could be told in modern day or in another anchient culture. Another interesting chapter is 50. Riddles at the Lake. This chapter is really funny. One by one the men approach a pond, hear a voice, deink anyway, and then drop dead. You would think if you see your two friend laying dead after taking a sip you would reconsider. Also I can picture Arjuna randomly shooting arrows at the talking pond and then deciding to drink anyway. The last of the four good through a series of riddles and the pond reveal itself as Dharma, God of wisdom. Using wishes Yudhishthira is able to bring his three friends back to life so they can continue. This story has a lot of potential to be a good story. One idea would be to crank up the absurdity of the story and tell it as a sort of dark comedy. I could also try to tell it with modern times, or substitute it as a completely different folktale. Either way this story has a lot of potential to be one of my best so far. 

Yudhisthira in a Lake

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The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie (1921). Mahabharata