Storytelling for Week 9: And So It Began

King Shantanu let out a sigh of frustration.  He was exhausted from hunting all day and he had nothing to show for it.  Normally King Shantanu is a great shot when it comes to hunting deer but today something was different…

He was walking to a river to cool off when he noticed something.  It was a woman.  She had long dark hair that was tinted blue in the sun.  The beautiful woman sat up on the bank with her legs in the water and was humming a sweet melody to herself.  

“Maybe my luck is beginning to turn around,”  King Shantanu thought to himself.  From that moment the King knew that he would never encounter a more beautiful creature no matter where he ventured.  Before she finished humming the last stanza in her melody the King had fallen in love.  After professing his love to the beautiful woman with her legs still adrift in the river she had agreed to marry him on one condition.  

“It would be an honor to marry you and I will do so full heartedly, however I can only be wed to you if you promise me one thing,” said the beautiful woman whose name was Ganga.  

“Anything you ask you shall have,” replied the King. 

 

(Image of Shantanu and Ganga meeting from Wikipedia.)

“If you promise to never question me on any of my actions, I will be your bride,” she told him and The King quickly complied.  

A small part of King Shantanu’s mind told him this was a bit odd and that this could perhaps be a bad omen.  He shook the thought away and reasoned that he now had his whole life to get to know Ganga.  “Why should I ever question her about her actions when she will be spend an eternity living and confiding with me.  I shall soon know her beautiful mind and will never have to question her because I will understand her completely.”  

Their wedding was one that would rival Rama and Sita’s.  The kingdom embraced their new Queen and applauded the King on choosing a woman who encompassed such a benevolent presence.   It was not long until the Queen announced that she was pregnant with their first child.  

After nine short months Queen Ganga gave birth to a baby boy.  The King was overjoyed.   His mind went back to the first time he gazed upon his beloved wife at the river.  He could never imagine his life without her.  And to think that when he went to cool down from the water he thought he was having an unlucky day…

Author’s Note:  I chose this story because I thought what Ganga what was doing to her sons was a completely reasonable thing for the King to question.  I wanted to show that Ganga was one with the water and decided to portray her very mermaid esque.  This part of the story is not very detailed in our reading, so I wanted to show what King Shantanu might be thinking.  Him not having a good day out hunting could even be a bad omen.  I decided to title this story "And So It Began" because I feel that these events catapult the rest of the stories in The Mahabharata.

Bibliography -

Narayan, R.K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Storytelling for Week 7: Rocky Start

The time had come.  Every moment for the past few thousand years came down to this.  Ravana the undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the entire world would be facing a nobody, small-time boxer Rocky Rama.

This was the event everyone was talking about.  Ravana, one of the greatest ever who had never been defeated, agreed to fight a local boxer.  There were even rumors that Ravana in his earlier years made a deal with the devil to be the greatest boxer ever and that no boxing champion could ever defeat him.  However, there was a tiny detail that the great Ravana overlooked.  He had no protection against a boxer who was not a champion.

When his brother informed him of this teeny-tiny detail Ravana barked in his face, "You really think that anyone who has never won a bout of boxing and has never been proclaimed a champion could ever defeat me at my own game?! AHAHAHA."  He erupted with laughter and Ravana later forgot this conversation.

It wasn't until Ravana's sister, Shurpanakha, met Rocky Rama that this entire ordeal would get started.  After Shurpanakha had an embarrassing stalking incident she soon realized that Rocky Rama was not willing to give up his blossoming relationship with Sita/Adrien to run away with her.

She devised a plan to have Rocky Rama embarrassed in front of the entire nation in the perfect fashion, by getting pummeled by her brother.  Her initial idea was to just have Ravana assault Rocky Rama while walking down a dark alley one night, but that was not humiliating enough.  "No," she thought. "It should be on a grand stage.  And what is more grand than the World Heavyweight Championship bout."  

Her plan really took off from there.  All she had to do was bruise her brother's ego and then convince him to fight a local challenger who had never won a fight before and that's how it all got started.

Finally, it was Diwali and the two opponents were in the ring squaring off.  Ravana did nothing special to prepare for this fight and wears his arrogance as a cape, while Rocky Rama has been waiting his entire life to finally go the distance with the King of Boxing.

Immediately into the bout Rocky Rama unexpectedly knocks down Ravana with his first punch.  This embarrasses Ravana and the match turns tense.  Both fighters sustain massive injuries while the match lasts for 15 rounds, the longest Ravana has gone without knocking out his opponent in his career as a boxer.

Finally after 15 rounds Ravana just can't take it anymore and falls to the floor with a final punch from Rocky Rama.  The crowd goes wild and rushes into the ring to congratulate Rocky Rama who just screams for his loving girlfriend.  And so ends the epic tale of how Rama defeated Ravana.

(Rocky theatrical poster from Wikipedia.)

Author's Note:  When I started this story, I had no idea it would turn into a Rocky Balboa fan fiction. haha. But it somehow did.  I think I wrote it this way because I originally wanted to write about Ravana and Rama's final battle and then I made an association between the battle between Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed.  I feel like my stories have been a little depressing lately and have dealt with sadness, so I wanted to write something that was lighter and a little more fun.  Sorry if this was just super bizarre.  It's been a weird week.

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

Storytelling for Week 5: Ravana's Love Letter

Ravana's Love Letter

Dearest Sita,  

As I write this letter I am gazing at you from a window in my extravagant palace.  The fire is roaring and the servants are being most obedient.  The only thing missing is…you.  I gaze at you in the garden day in and day out, your courage and determination is unparalleled by any other human or asura woman in the entire universe.  (And I would know since I have lived quite a long time and have known  a variety of human and asura women.)  

I just want you to know that your point has been made loud and clear.  Whenever you get done moaning about how I should not have stolen you from the forest feel free to come inside the Palace of Lanka.  I understand how we did not get off the right foot but I am willing to make it up to you, if you give me a chance.  You know I would never intentionally hurt you, and you also know that I literally cannot physically harm you unless you give me your consent.  So please, my dear Sita, do not let our love story end before it even begins! 

I know the garden must be cold at night.  A woman like you was not made to live among shrubs and worms.  You should be here ruling over multiple universes beside me.  I want every king and queen from here to Timbuktu to look at us with envy.  When we are married, men will quake with fear of my incomprehensible strength but they will also marvel at how beautiful you look beside me on the throne.  

I hope to have ten sons with you, one to match each of my heads.  Our sons will bear my strength and women will line up to be their wives.  We will carve up the world and split it into ten pieces to give each of them a quadrant to command while both of us rule over its entirety.  I have done so much with my life but I wait here incomplete without you beside me.  

I know you still wonder about Rama, but you are destined to be next to me while the human world burns.  It baffles me how you have not thanked me for rescuing you from that life of peasantry.  The kind of life Rama made you endure.  You lived in a comfortable human palace before, but Sita you have no idea what I can offer you.  However, if a forest life is what you really want I will have Maya build you an entire palace in a garden.  

I hope after this letter I will see you at the gates of the palace soon.  

Your Most Humble Adorer, 

Ravana

(Ravana approaches Sita during her captivity from Wikipedia.) 

~ ~ ~

Author's Note:  I wanted to write about Ravana's point of view after he kidnaps Sita because he must be absolutely astounded that she does not want to be with him.  So I figured with Valentine's Day just around the corner why not write about it through a love letter.  Ravana is very arrogant and I wanted to show how he really cannot grasp how this woman refuses to be with him.  I wanted the reader to take away that Ravana is so focused on himself throughout the entire love letter that he will never understand WHY Sita will not belong to him.  Just like at the end of the epic when he cannot grasp that he could be defeated by a human.  

Bibliography - 

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

Storytelling for Week 3: Prisoner in the Sun

All days were the same here.  Every morning when the sun became too bright to bear, I sat up on a little pile of dirt that had become my spot in the garden of Lanka.  My formerly yellow sari was now covered with the filth of my garden domain.  I stared at the sun because it reminded me of Rama, we used to joke about how his smile was as blinding as the sun’s rays.  Every night ends with the rising of the sun.  Just like this nightmare, this place, my spot in the garden, the cowls of rakshasis.  They were all temporary.  Like how the moon temporarily replaces the sun in the sky.

(Picture of a painting by Vincent van Gogh from Wikipedia.)

“Always staring off into space dear?  Are you trying to remember what your little lover looks like?”  One of the rakshasis cackled at me.  They appeared and disappeared periodically to torture me in the garden, their movements always silent.  It was hard to tell the difference between the rakshasis, all had jet black hair with ghostlike skin.  Or maybe I couldn’t tell any of the rakshasis apart from each other because every time they appeared my eyesight would go blurry.  They always knew how to bring tears to my eyes.  It was their voices more than anything.  

“How could the foolish girl even remember what her little Rama even looks like?  It’s been far too long and humans do not possess the longevity of memory like us asuras.  You know he has long forgotten you, he probably cannot even recall your name.  Besides, even if you were with him it was only a matter of time till he took another wife.  One with a slighter waist and more delicate feet.  He would never want a girl who lies around in the dirt all day.”  Another rakshasis bellowed at me.  There were three of them dressed in black from head to toe.  They mocked me as they danced around my spot in the dirt.  

“Oh precious and beautiful Sita born by mother nature herself.  Look at you now.  You were a princess and future queen of a pitiful human kingdom but now you’re exactly back to where you came from, dirt.”  Remarked the last rakshasis as they all cried with laughter.  They made obnoxious royal gestures to me and started to throw chunks of dirt.  My eyes became hazy with tears, “This is only temporary.”  

“Listen to me you foolish little brat.  Ravana cannot touch you without consent, but there is no curse to prevent us from bashing that pathetic brain out of your dainty little skull.”  The first rakshasis pulled my face towards hers and I was finally able to look one of them in the eyes.  They were like a shark’s eyes, cold and lifeless.  

“King Ravana wants you as his Queen.  I am certain that he will not mind if not all of you is intact.” With this statement all three of them jeered and pranced on me.  Their hands ruffled and violated every part of me.  They acted out breaking off my limbs from my body and snicked the entire time.  Just as I thought their pretend game was about to turn very real, an order to stop echoed across the trees.  All three immediately stopped and backed away, leaving me tussled and unkempt, lying on the ground.  

“I told you to guard her, not barrade her.”  It was Ravana, all of this twenty eyes glared at the rakshasis with displeasure.  

“We were just trying to convince her to go to your house my lord, and live out the rest of her piteous life in the pleasure you provide,”  hissed the rakshasis that had grabbed my face.  

“My sweet Sita, you are filthy.  I would not have resorted to having you stay in my garden if you had not refused to sleep in the palace.  Come inside and bathe.  I shall set you up in your own room and tell you latest of Rama’s excursions.  This is no place for a woman of your stature.  If you fear the rakshasis I will bring the people of your land to wait on and serve you.”  Ravana pleaded to me.  It was difficult to avoid his gaze because there were ten heads avertly paying attention to my every move.  I could not even bring myself to imagine what he would do to me if one of his tentacles could touch me.  When I did not answer him he continued with frustration.  “Give me one reasonable answer why you will not enter the palace.”  

“You cannot see the sun rise.  And that is the only thing keeping me alive.”  I replied as a swift movement caught my attention. Something flickered behind a tree in the forested part of the garden. For a moment it looked like the tail of a monkey. "Impossible," I thought to myself. "It must have been a cattail flower flickering in the wind."

Author's Note: Sita was definitely my favorite character from the Ramayana. I loved her loyalty, so I decided to write this story about what she endured while being held captive. I think Sita's captivity will be the basis of my storybook project that I will expand upon. However, I wanted to end this short story on a happy note with Sita noticing Hanuman. It was pretty difficult finding a picture to match this story, so I just went with a beautiful landscape of a sunrise.

Bibliography: 

Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.

Storytelling for Week 2: The Pearls of Peril

Cries and sobs erupted outside the palace walls, the people of Ayodhya were in disarray.  They chanted the name of Rama, their lost king, who was forced to live in exile for the next 14 years due to conditions step by his stepmother Kaikeyi.  

Far away from the revolt of the kingdom, there sat a woman hunched over in a dimly lit room.  Kooni was seated in the only furniture of her quarters, the best accommodations from being a servant to the king’s third wife Kaikeyi her whole life.  The only light in the room was from a small fire in the corner, as Kooni sat in the chair she twiddled with a string of pearls.   She smiled a devilish grin as she twirled the pearls of her exploits around her hands.  

Kaikeyi then burst into the room bringing in a gust of air, she had been running after her son asking for his forgiveness before racing to the servant quarters to see Kooni.  

“This is all your fault!”  She shouted while her eyes burned with resentment.  

“Calm down.  You received exactly what you wished for.”  Kooni countered without even looking away from the pearls.  

“I am your queen, address me when you speak.  I never wanted my son to despise me or the kingdom to protest me.  You must fix what you orchestrated you serpent.”  

Kooni began to cackle when Kaikeyi called her a serpent, she finally turned around and faced her accuser.  “My, my.  You certainly have aged in the days since our last discussion.  As I said previously, you only have your youth and your beauty.  Do not let these setbacks take away the only things you have ever had. In only a short time you have become years older and far less pretty.”  

“All I ever had was my sons.  I shared four sons with Dasaratha and his other wives.  Now the king has fallen from shock, none of my sisters will look at me and my son wants nothing to do with me.  I was perfectly content watching Rama grow to be king, you manipulated that away from me.”  Kaikeyi screamed at her trying to preserve the tears behind her eyes.  

(Image information: Picture of Kooni and Kaikeyi
from Story of Rama.) 

“You are so unfortunate.  I will keep you in my prayers.  I shall pray for the strong woman who was queen and fought for her son to receive what is rightfully his.  I shall pray for the girl, who has taken that woman’s place, to one day realize that you had everything handed to you on a silver platter and you squandered  it.  So the wives of the king, despise you?  Only because of their envy, you sacrificed two wishes granted by the king in favor of your son.  Oh the kingdom cries because they support their beloved Rama.  Rama is so perfect, Rama is so righteous.  What about your own son Kaikeyi?  I would rather have a king that has never crippled a poor, old handmaiden.”  Kooni then stood from her chair and the pearls fell to the ground, her back struggled to regain its former shape.  Kaikeyi had seen Kooni’s hunchback before, but never knew what had caused it.  

“Take what is yours, and never let the small minded people in this city change you.  You are not selfish for pronouncing your son as king, the people are selfish to not give him a chance.  Rama may have their affection now, but if he were king he would show his true colors.”  Kooni uttered, as her mind flashed back to the time when Rama accidentally struck her with a stick while playing a game with his brothers.  An occurrence that ignited her to knock Rama off the throne ever since that day.

Kaikeyi turned and left the servant quarters with confidence to face her harassers and for this moment in time both women got what they wanted. 

~~~

Author's Note: When reading The Ramayana I was really interested in why Kooni manipulated Kaikeyi to use her wishes to dethrone Rama.  The book did not really give an explanation of her motives until the end when it said Rama used to throw clay at Kooni.  So I decided to write my own version of why she intervened.  I consulted Wikipedia and it talked about another episode where a young Rama broke Kooni’s knee on accident while playing a game.  I decided to alter that and make it the motivation behind her character to dethrone Rama as well as be a reason that she was hunchbacked. It was a lot of fun to write because I felt like her dialogue resembles Olivia Pope's father in the TV show Scandal who is a master manipulator.  I chose an image that I thought would represent the strained argument between Kaikeyi and Kooni, with Kaikeyi being torn on what to do.  I wanted the reader to take away that Kaikeyi was in a tough predicament and that in her mind she wasn’t being selfish making her son king.  In her own mind she is being selfless and sacrificing her two wishes for the betterment of her son. 

 

Bibliography -

Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.

Week 1 Storytelling: Lucky For Me

THE LUCKY MAN AND THE SEA

"Two men, one of whom was considered lucky, and the other unlucky, went out fishing in the sea. A storm arose, and upset their frail craft. They swam for their lives; but, as the shore was far, and the sea rough, they gave up all hope of seeing land again.

The man who believed himself specially unlucky said to the other, "But for me, you would be safe; it is my ill-luck that has raised the tempest."

While the other was endeavouring to reply, he felt a rock under the water, and stood upon it, as if in water knee-deep, and soon gave a helping hand to his com- [85] panion. "Behold," said the latter, "to the lucky man the sea is knee-deep?'"

(Original fable)

“The Lucky Man And The Sea” by Ramaswami Raju, from Indian Fables (1902). Web Source: The Baldwin Project.

~ ~ ~

"Lucky For Me"

On a morning like any other, two unordinary men went to find work in a small coastal village.  The first man, who was called Felix was looking for a small job to help pass the time while on his countrywide expedition.  Felix was embarking on a journey of self-discovery and adventure before his plans to attend medical school.  Financing his journey was of no issue since Felix was born into one of the country's most powerful families.  As he arrived at the village the townsfolk immediately took notice of the traveler, whose golden hair and warm smile distracted them from their daily duties. 

With the town's attention centered on Felix, the arrival of another traveler went seemingly unnoticed.  A young man, who was similar to Felix in age and stature, was unfortunately dissimilar in finance and family.  The people who knew the second man growing up called him Mal, but he was unsure if this was his birth name, since he had never met his parents or any surviving family to confirm his identity.  Mal often drifted from town to town looking for work, but because he received no schooling growing up, any job that came his way would soon be lost to "unforeseen circumstances."  People often had a hard time warming up to Mal.  He was raven-haired and had sharp, angular facial features that made him look unapproachable.  

Eventually, both men heard news that a local fisherman was looking for help bringing in his nets during the busy fishing season.  Felix and Mal agreed to share a boat as they drifted out to sea to retrieve the fish from the nets.  As they sailed further from the dock, Felix told tales of his previous adventures that all seemed to include him being caught in impossible circumstances before miraculously escaping at the dire moment.  Mal would not have believed him if he did not have tokens to go along with each of his tales.  

Suddenly, the amber sun disappeared behind the clouds.  When the two men were over a mile away from the shore, rainclouds appeared as dark as Mel's hair.  The fiendish wind pierced their sails as Felix and Mal scrambled to turn their small boat back towards dry land.  Alas, their boat was too small to last against the bellowing winds and thrashing waves and it soon split in half with both men being pelted into the water.  Felix and Mal attempted to swim back to land, however it seemed impossible as the currents kept pulling the men deeper into the sea.  

Picture of a 1796 oil painting done by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) entitled “Fishermen at Sea.”  Source: Wikipedia.

"I'm sorry friend, but I never should have stepped off shore.  Quite literally there always seems to be a black cloud that follows me wherever I go," said Mal to Felix as he assumed it would be best to atone for his misfortunes before the sea swallowed him.  

As Mal was talking, Felix felt the wind start to calm down, this in turn caused him to relax as he stopped thrashing about in the water.  His foot graced a rock and he began to feel around with his feet and discovered that somehow, the water was only knee-deep.  

As Felix stood upon the rocks, the waves lessened and he reached out to Mal with a triumphant grin.  "Oh Mal, had I not just been telling you of my excursions? And how they always end with a timely escape.  Stick with me and I'll get us out go any bad situation!" Felix exclaimed as he laughed and started to march down the improbable rock path towards the shore.  

"At least when you're unlucky all of the time, you don't have to be thrust into terrible situations just to be thrust out of them."  Mal mumbled to himself as he followed Felix up the path, with newfound affection for his afflictions.  

~ ~ ~

Author’s Note: This story was based on "The Lucky Man And The Sea" from Indian Fables written by Ramaswami Raju where two men, one who was lucky and the other unlucky, are fishing when a storm arrives and their boat is destroyed.  They are swimming for their lives when the lucky man stands up and says, “To the lucky man the sea is knee-deep.”  In my interpretation I decided to add a backstory for these two characters and even gave them names (Felix means "lucky, successful", while Mal is short for Malvolio and means “ill fated”.)  I added adjectives that stood for darkness and light to further express the contrast between Felix and Mal.  I also decided to end the story on a happier note with Mal realizing being lucky isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.  I chose this image because I felt like it has a great contrast between light and darkness, which was a motif throughout my story.  I wanted the reader to take away that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.  If you’re used to always being lucky, then maybe you don’t realize that there are probably quite a lot of unlucky things happening to you as well.