Reading Notes: Nine Ideal Indian Women, Part A

Week 11 already! I chose to read Sunity Devee’s Nine Ideal Indian Women this week, trying to get an idea of how to wrap up my storybook this semester.  The second half of this reading talks about Sati, the first wife of Shiva, which I’m hoping will help me write my last story.  However, I decided to go ahead and read the entire unit, which starts with Savitri and Damayanti. 

I really enjoyed the stories of these two Indian women.  They are women of strength and keen intelligence, which is often lacking in modern literature, at least without coming off as some sort of cliché or appeasement.  I really like that the stories focus on them and their power over their fates.  If I were still writing a storybook about Charlotte Grimm, I would probably incorporate one of these, but they don’t quite work with John’s storyline.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the readings this week so I can hopefully find something to use in my storybook!

Bibliography: Nine Ideal Indian Womeno by Sunity Devee (1919), Internet Archive.

Image Info: Savitri. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Story Planning: The Final Two

I came up with ideas for my last two stories in my storybook while doing my readings this week. My first idea involves inserting John into the story of Ganesh. Obviously, there are countless renditions of who Ganesh is exactly and how he came to be.  According to the story that I read this week, he is the son of Shiva and is considered the remover of obstacles.  In the story, Ganesh loses his head due to a curse placed on a man, who destroyed anything that he gazed upon.  As a result, Ganesh’s head was chopped off and he died.  Obviously.  However, Shiva told his messengers to go forth and bring back the head of the first living creature they came across, which was an elephant.  I thought it would be great to somehow get John in on this.  I think it would be fun to have Shiva send him out with the other messengers in search of a head to place on Ganesh’s shoulders, and John decides that an elephant head will do fine.  They like elephants in India, right? (John’s logic, not mine, I promise).  Somewhere along here, I’m going to find a logical place for Charlotte to show up, probably towards the end.

Okay, and my second idea for the very last story in my storybook is use the story of Parvati/Kali, the wife of Shiva.  My idea is for her and John to have their awesome reunion, but then have Parvati go and do battle with Raktabija.  I’ve still got time to figure this particular story out, but I want to somehow have Kali go do battle with Raktabija and then use Charlotte in the battle as well while John and Shiva sit on the sidelines and watch, talking about how scary their wives are.  It’ll take some more research and planning, but since it’s my last story, I’ve got plenty of time for that later. 

Bibliography: Tales of Ancient India by Edmund Cox (1887), Hathi Trust. 

Image Info: Kali. Source: Wikipedia. 

Reading Notes: Cox's Tales of Ancient India, Section B

I didn’t exactly love the second half of this week’s reading.  It was rather slow and a little dull, although the content itself was interesting.  This half of Cox’s Tales of Ancient India discussed the gods and their beginnings, more or less.  I was relatively unamused with most of it, although I did think of an interesting way to work one of the gods into my storybook.  I kind of wanted to work Kali into my storybook and have her and Charlotte work together in some way.  I think it could be very entertaining to see those two together with John and Shiva watching from the sidelines.  Maybe I can have Charlotte aid Kali in her battle, although in this reading she goes by the name Uma.

I think I might also work John into the story of how Ganesh ends up with the head of an elephant.  It seems like the type of solution that he would come up with, considering he probably wouldn’t believe that just replacing the head would bring a being back to life, so who cares what head they bring back!

Bibliography: Tales of Ancient India by Edmund Cox (1887), Hathi Trust

Image Info: Ganesh. Source: Wikipedia.

Reading Notes: Cox's Tales of Ancient India, Section A

This week, I chose to read another version of the story of Krishna, the reincarnation of Vishnu that we met in the Mahabharata. 

I thought it might be fun to write part of this story from the eyes of one of the villagers.  Constant struggle and destruction is brought to their village because of the young Krishna, which results in the deaths of some of their children and the destruction of their homes.  Who wouldn’t be frustrated and want to banish the family that hosts this child?

I’m hoping to try to work this week’s reading into my storybook.  I’m trying to think of a way to use Krishna, but he seems so much stronger and independent than my other characters so it may be a little more difficult to fit John into the story.  And possibly Charlotte.   I could also write about how Krishna and Rukmini became wed. 

Bibliography: Tales of Ancient India by Edmund Cox (1887), Hathi Trust. 

Image Info: Krishna eating butter. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Storytelling: Tempted by Darkness

I really wish I wasn’t married to this buffoon. Brihaspati is nice and all, but he’s a little old and incredibly boring.  All he ever does is come up with lessons to teach the gods.  I mean, it IS his job, but come on! Can’t we go on an adventure or vacation every once and a while?! All the other celestial beings do…

This was my running mental tirade almost every single day until a Dánava named Shoma waltzed into my life.  I honestly think it was the best day of my life, even though I’m sure my husband didn’t exactly have the same view on the matter.  You see, Shoma was a demon.  A handsome, charming, chivalrous, and exciting demon, but a demon nonetheless. The gods had been at war with the demons for as long as any of them can remember, although they don’t exactly know why or how the war started.  The reasons have been lost to memory. 

I’m sure my husband and the other gods and celestial beings believe that I was enticed away to the kingdom of darkness, but that wasn’t exactly what happened.  Shoma approached me one day while I was sitting in one of the many groves of trees that are found around the heavens.  It was a beautiful grove, with big, shady trees to block the heat of the sun, brightly colored flowers perfuming the cool air, and a broad, cushioned bench to recline on.  Usually, no one comes near the grove when I’m in there, or anywhere else for that reason.  I have a bit of a bitchy resting face, which is part of the problem. The rest comes from the fact that I’m not like everyone else up there, content to sit around every day and just enjoy the life that we have in the heavens.  It’s boring!

Shoma was different.  He came up to me and started to talk, asking why I was alone and why I seemed so sad.  Honestly, he was the first person to really show an interest in me.  I was a little starved for attention up here, since my husband was always teaching and everyone else avoided me.  It was nice to just have a conversation with someone.  Of course, I knew he was a demon, but I didn’t really care.  You see, no one knew it, but I had the ability to see people’s true nature.  Yes, Shoma was a demon on a mission to sway me, but he became truly interested in me as a person while we talked.  It was amazing!

To be completely honest, when he asked me to go with him to the darkness (which is really just the world outside of the heavens) I didn’t even hesitate to say yes.  I was just so excited to get away from the people who shunned me and to meet new people and have some adventures!

Since that day, I’ve been living with Shoma in the darkness, fighting the people I’d once lived among and generally just having fun! It was fun being with the demons. They didn’t really care what others thought and were always willing to try some new adventure.  From their viewpoint, the gods were selfish, keeping the heavens and immortality and all the good of the world for themselves.  They wouldn’t even give the demons the opportunity to work their way into the heavens.  The demons fought for every bit of clean water, hot food, and the smallest bits of happiness that they could find.

 

I helped them with a lot of that, showing them places to find clean water outside of the heavens.  I honestly think that I can help them make a life worth living outside of heaven, provided the gods let them.  Every time I make a little headway, the gods ruin everything that I’ve built up.  Clean water system, blown apart.  Warming ovens, brought to ruins. Hunting equipment, stolen.  Good hunting grounds, all the animals disappear.  I’m hoping that Shoma and I can work out some sort of peace treaty between the gods and demons.  It’s the only way that everyone will actually be able to live in peace, once and for all.

Author’s Note:

I decided to write a part of Dutt’s Tales of India that was only alluded to with a single sentence.  The sentence is: “The wicked Danava tempted her to the path of sin; she fell; and she was enticed away to the kingdom of darkness” (p.8).  ‘She’ is the wife of Brihaspati, the Perceptor or teacher to the gods.  It is really the only time that she is mentioned and I was very curious as to how and why she would be tempted to ‘the darkside.’  Persephone and Hades were the first thing that came to mind and I kind of derived my story from that idea.  While she doesn’t exactly become the Queen of the Underworld, she still has a significant effect on it.  I also thought that it would be interesting to see the life on the other side of the curtain.  We always get to read about how the demons are evil and the gods are in a constant war against them because they are so evil, but what do the demons think? Anyway, that’s where my idea came from. It’s not much to go on since I derived it from one sentence in the entire story!

Bibliography: Gleanings from Indian Classics, Volume 1: Tales of India by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1893), Internet Archive. 

Image Info: Brihaspati. Source: Wikimedia Commons; Tree Grove. Source: Wikipedia. 

Reading Notes: Dutt's Tales of India, Section A

I chose to read Manmatha Nath Dutt’s Tales of India for my week 9 readings.  It tells the story of Hindu legends and religious beliefs, more or less, and makes many connections between the Hindu story and the story of Christ.  I always think it is interesting how similar many religions are to one another, if you boil them down to a basic story.  Both Hindu and Christianity tell the story of god’s son ridding the world of evil.  And both stories tell of the battle between heaven and hell, in one way or another. 

There were several parts of this reading that I could use for a story.  One idea came from a simple sentence: “The wicked Danava tempted her to the path of sin; she fell; and she was enticed away to the kingdom of darkness” (p.8). 

My other idea was to expand on the story of Sati/Kali and her battle with the demon kings.  I’ve heard of Kali for years, but it was really interesting to see her story told in a more original format.

Another thought was thought was to try to expand on the description of Sati’s beauty in some way.  It simply says that she was too beautiful to describe, but they didn’t even try!

Yet another idea was to write about the “thousand and one means to kill the young prince” Prahlada. I think it would be fun (and funny) to write increasingly unbelievable attempts to kill Prahlada.  It would be a fun mental and creative challenge, I think.

I have also considered using the tale of Shiva and Sita as part of my storybook.  I think it would be interesting to include a female hero in the story.  I could write about her attempts to defeat the demon kings, or something along those lines. 

Bibliography: Gleanings from Indian Classics, Volume 1: Tales of India by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1893), Internet Archive. 

Image Info: Kali. Source: Wikipedia. 

Week 8 Growth Mindset

Even though I know about growth/fixed minset and have made the decision to follow the growth mindset, I still have problems with thinking I am predisposed to not being able to do certain things.  I don’t really face it during school, at least not yet, but I do face it during my job.  I am a sales associate and one of our jobs is to essentially fill a customer’s room with clothes that I think they will like.  This includes pants, shirts, foundations, and jewelry.  We’re supposed to do this regardless of what the customer came in looking for and I find it incredibly difficult to do.  I know I’ve said that I’m not that kind of person before, but I am trying very hard to learn to be.  Unfortunately, I do have a bit of a mental block when it comes to learning it, so it’s taking some serious time and effort.

Growth mindset is one of those things that you need to constantly keep at the forefront of your mind, which is extremely difficult. I managed to do it once before when I was swimming, but it took a lot of mental effort and a ton of practice.  I know I can do it, but I need to set my mind to it. I’m trying to use this class to figure out what I want to do with my life and where I want it to go.  It’s allowing me to explore some of my artistic talents, like writing, which I left behind a long time ago.  It’s not something that I necessarily want to turn into a career, but it may be something that I keep going to help me relax and get out some creative juices. 

Motivational Poster. Source: Wikipedia

Week 8 Reflections

I have been making sensible choices for my readings so far, I think.  Since I don’t live on or near campus, reading the hardcopies of the books in the Bizzell library isn’t exactly a practical decision.  I have enjoyed all of the readings, although they do start to ramble on at some point.  With the Ramayana it was the dragged out ending and the Mahabharata had the seriously dragged out war description.  I think my favorite was the first half of the reading about Krishna and his life.

My reading notes are not exactly like they are supposed to be, mostly because I start writing my story as I’m reading.  I get a good idea and I want to act on it immediately.  Taking little notes doesn’t work for me because I forget the guts of my idea and just remember a brief overview.  However, my style works for me because it helped me remember which sections I wanted to return to for my storybook writings.

I have been proud of my stories so far and have really enjoyed writing them.  It lets me get some creativity out during the week, which I really appreciate.  Even though it is an assigned ‘art’ project, it still forces me to get the creative juices flowing. It gives my brain a bit of a break during the week.  I love writing my stories, and I really love writing my storybook. I’m looking forward to the rest of the semester and to discovering some more stories to read and turn around into a new creation. 

Highland Coo. Personal Photo, March 2016

This image may not seem like it relates to the writing process, but it's the background on my computer desktop, so obviously it does.  I write on my computer. He's on my computer.  It's related!!!

Reading Notes: Kincaid's Krishna of Dwarka, Section B

I really enjoyed the second half of Kincaid’s version of Krishna’s life.  It held my interest and even started me thinking that parts of it could be retold in my storybook.  I really liked getting a better idea of who Krishna was supposed to be and to read about his adventures. It does seem reminiscent of the Ramayana and Mahabharata in many ways, but I suppose it is another retelling of the incarnation of Vishnu on earth.  I’m really looking forward to getting into some fun new stories now.  I enjoyed these, but I’m excited to start something new next week.  I need to find another juicy story to retell in my storybook!  

I actually wrote my story while reading this week so I didn't really see any reason to do real reading notes.  Kind of defeats the purpose if you have already written the story!

Image Info: Krishna marries Jambavati. Source: Indian Epics

Bibliography: Shri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories by C. A. Kincaid (1920), Indian Epics. 

Story: Twenty-One Days

Twenty-one days, fourteen hours, and twenty-three minutes. That is how long our husbands had been fighting.  I honestly don’t even know why they were fighting.  It’s not like there was any real reason for it.

You see, we were a rich family.  My husband wasn’t a king or anything, but he was a bear of a man who had amassed a fortune working for a variety of uppity-ups in the world.  He got paid the big bucks because he was good at his job and his clients always felt safe in his care.  However, his most important client and job was always that of the protector and father of our child.  On one of his recent jobs, he found a fun little toy to bring back to our son.  It sort of resembled a big jewel, but it emitted a little light that I’m sure will eventually run out battery. 

Anyway, our son loved his new toy and was playing with it constantly.  Our nanny had even come up with a fun little rhyme to sing while playing: "Baby Bear! Baby Bear! The jewel is yours to keep and wear. For he who would take the lovely thing must first fight Daddy, the great Bear King!" Our son always called my husband the Bear King instead of Daddy because we told him that the Bear King could scare away the monsters in his closet.  Unfortunately, the name stuck. However, twenty-one days ago, our son was playing with his new toy while the nanny kept an eye on him when some man came bursting into the house and demanded that we hand the toy over.  What would a grown man want with a child’s toy?

The scream of our nanny sent my husband running out of the kitchen where we had been preparing dinner and I was hot on his heels.  He went bursting into the living room and immediately rushed the other man.  The other man swung his fist and struck my husband across the jaw, but he merely shrugged it off and tackled the man. The two men locked together in an intense struggle, both wrestling to get the upper hand.  My husband beat the other man senseless, but apparently that wasn’t the end of it.  After he threw the man (I have since learned that his name was Kris) out of our house, they began a sort of street war, constantly attacking each other to actually win the ‘war’. 

I recently met Kris’s girlfriend, who is actually a very lovely young lady.  We have gotten to know one another over the past twenty-one days while our husbands have been fighting.  Thankfully, there haven’t been any casualties so far.  Anyway, she told me that the jewel was a sort of obsession of her boyfriends, although she didn’t know why.  Something about a sun god or something?

We’re working on trying to end this war ourselves, so we can get back to our normal lives.  We’re both tired of the bodyguards following us everywhere and the various kidnapping attempts.  I mean really, who has the time for it anymore?  I’m thinking some sort of intervention could work.  Or I just give the stupid toy to Kris and we forget any of this ever happened.  Honestly, my husband can find him another toy. Hopefully not one that has anything to do with a sun god. 

Author's Note:

I decided to go a different direction with this story and tried to put it in a more modern context and tell it from a different perspective at the same time.  I rewrote the story of Krishna trying to find the Syamantaka Jewel, which belonged to the Sun God.  In the original story, the jewel trades hands (by the death of its possessor) several times before ending up in the hands of Jambavat, the Bear King.  When Krishna goes in search of the jewel, he finds it with the son of Jambavat and the nurse alerts the king of Krishna's presence.  Anyway, all you get is that they fight for twenty-one days, Jambavat surrenders from exhaustion, and Krishna gets the jewel.  I like my version better!

Bibliography: Chapter Eight. Shri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories by C. A. Kincaid (1920), Indian Epics.

Image Information: Beryl. Source: Wikipedia. 

Reading Notes: Kincaid's Krishna of Dwarka Section A

I was really excited to learn about the Mahabharata’s incarnation of Vishnu.  I think it is really interesting that there are always multiple incarnations of him at the same time, such as the four in the Ramayana and the two with Krishna.  I also find it interesting that the gods always have such fantastic and adventurous childhoods.  You’d think that the parents would be pulling their hair out during the entire childhood of the god’s incarnations.  I definitely couldn’t imagine being the mother of Krishna, dealing with him eating all the milk and butter, destroying the cart, and dragging a mortar into the woods because he was bored.  Each to their own, I suppose.

 I enjoyed the first part of this retelling, although I did start to lose interest in the storytelling style towards the end of the section. I just started to get distracted and wasn’t paying as close of attention to the story as I was in the beginning.

Bibliography: Shri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories by CA Kincaid (1920), link to source. 

Image Info: Krishna. Source: Indian Epics.