epic blog

For part A, I want to focus on the character Kunti . I love how the story describes her as a celestial woman; it sounds so charming to me. Although Kunti is of a pious heart and seems to be a good woman, it is mentioned that King Pandu still loved his other wife best. I can imagine this being painful for Kunti to know, but that's me thinking in modern times. From her service to Durvasas, it is apparent that Kunti is a woman who works hard for what she wants, which in this case is the charm that will make a celestial being fall in love with her.  With my story, I want there to be a sense of  Pride and Prejudice, as that is what the original story made me think of. I want to develop my main character around Kunti and her charm she has received. Along with developing Kunti, I want to keep some aspects of the original story, like the birth of Karna and involving Radha and Adhiratha. Maybe kind of like a modern day adoption story with a celestial twist? It sounds a little cheesy now,

For this section, I want to focus on The Cattle Raid . This attack gave me a lot of Game of Thrones vibes, so I immediately thought of using GoT characters to almost reenact this scene found in the Mahabharata.  In my story, I plan to use the Stark family as the attackers, led by Rob Stark (Indra) whom will be attacking the Lannister family in order to capture Cersei (raj). Instead of the stealing of cattle, the Starks will be attacking as Cersei killed Rob's father, Ned. Like in The Cattle Raid, a marriage will come from my story as well, but one between the Lannister and Stark families. As I type this, it just sounds like a Game of Thrones episode, but I plan on making it kind of like a bonus episode that we did not get to see. A post-Red Wedding episode in which everyone doesn't die. I want my story to show the continuation of Rob Stark's life while also incorporating the overarching theme of the Cattle Raid from the Mahabharata.    The overall joy at the ending o

In my educational technology class I'm currently in, we have talked briefly about Creative Commons. Although I know of it, I had never used a search like this that was specifically Creative Commons. I chose to look for siamese cats because I love them, and I found this adorable lil guy/gal. I absolutely love those big ears! As a future teacher, Creative Commons is something I would like (and need) to learn more about as it will become an integral part of my classroom. It is so important to give credit where it's due. (Image information:   "Wooster"   by  FurLined  is l icensed under  CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 )

For my storybook, I am going to expand on my story  Dharma's Funeral . There is so much I can do with this story through the use of the  PDE Ramayana . Specifically, the story opens with the likes of  Dasharatha's Funeral . Another thing I want to use in my storybook is the story of  The Churning of The Ocean of Milk .  Three stories I would like to include in my storybook are the funeral based off of Dasharatha's, the journey based off Bharata's, and the action with The Ocean of Milk. My storybook is going to consist of stories that fit together rather than an anthology. The overarching story will be the journey of Binsa, the main character of my story. She is on a quest for immortality. Along the way, Binsa  fights ethical dilemmas within herself about whether or not immortality is something people should have at their disposal. Through my storybook I hope to learn more about The Ocean of Milk and women in general in Hindu epics. I want my characters to be portray

Please check out my portfolio,  Binsa's Journey . I appreciate all of your feedback! (Image information: The Churning of The Ocean of Milk obtained from  Rear-View-Mirror .)

The skies were grey over the bright lotus blossoms the day of Dharma's funeral. Dharma, who had ruled the kingdom of Koshola for upwards of forty years, was the monarch of many peoples' dreams. She was kind and understanding, but, most of all, she was wise and strong-willed. The kingdom had not had any conflict since the time Dharma took the throne; she was level-headed and preferred her peace over any war.  Throughout her rule, the only thing causing Dharma disdain was her daughter, Binsa. As her name suggests, Binsa was a fearless girl, so much so that it got her in trouble many times, but she was always redeemed by Dharma.  As Binsa grew older, she became more like her mother everyday. Although she already possessed the agency to be the next monarch, Binsa began helping build up the kingdom's marginalized communities that desperately needed assistance. She was turning out to be a great leader, but she didn't think it would come so soon. Dharma had been sick for man

For Ramayana Part B, I have chosen to focus on Dasharatha's funeral/death as my focal point for my own story. This funeral was perceived as an extremely tragic event for the kingdom as a whole--not only Bharata. In this, I would like to do something similar in my own story, but with some twists and the addition of the setting. Chose from my Part A notes. Instead of having the two males being the characters, I would like to gender-bend both, making a queen and a princess. With this, the princess would presume the role of performing the funeral rites for her mother and so on. With her new role as queen, the kingdom looks to her for the answer to immortality because the people can simply not go through losing a ruler again. In result, the princess must go on an elaborate journey, as Bharata does, to find the nectar of immortality that has been spoken of for ages in the kingdom. This nectar is created in The Ocean of Milk, which the princess must go through forests, rivers, and ocean

For the Ramayana Part A reading, I would like to focus on setting. Throughout the readings in Part A, there are many mentions of nature: deer, flowers, glistening waves, and more. There is such a visual element to the stories within this section that I think it will be great to focus my own story around the imagery the original stories offer.  The specific section that drew me into focusing on setting was The Ocean of Milk found in Rama: Avatar of Vishnu . Although I did not know prior to reading the story what The Ocean of Milk was, it just sounds beautiful and dreamy. Upon reading more about the Ocean of Milk, I found that once churned, the ocean produces immortality. From what I can tell, The Ocean of Milk is a high platform above the oceans in which Vishnu and Lakshmi reside. For my story, I would love to meld together The Ocean of Milk with the dreamy forest-type land found throughout Ramayana Part A. In my story, there will be a sense of springtime with a lot of greenery and

While at work the other day, (I work at a daycare), I noticed that the hand soap in the bathroom had been changed. The smell was familiar and the signature label has been branded into my brain from the time I was four-years-old. Suddenly, I was overcome with memories from when I myself was in preschool. It might be strangely specific, but the soap below, (or the "fish soap" as it's referred to in my family), has such a nostalgic smell for me.  (Image information: The "fish soap" obtained from Target ) Although I never purchase this soap myself, anytime I use I get fond flashbacks of much simpler times--the times of bear hunts, baby bumblebees, and photoshoots for every season or holiday. Occasionally, I'll wash my hands in a public restroom and get sent straight back to my preschool classroom where I washed my hands for lunch everyday after a long morning of crafting. The daily ritual before lunch was to stand in a line waiting to get on the step s

It was my first day at a new school in a new place, and I was not looking forward to it. I had never attended a public school, but my mom told me it was time.  "Rish, you're seventeen now. You know you have to do this to carry on our family's traditions," my mother pressured. "Mom, I know," I say, slipping the fresh canvas backpack over my shoulders.  I have never carried a schoolbag before, so this was different. My outdated textbooks weren't the only thing weighing me down, though. You see, the women in my family are all rakshasis.  If you don't know what rakshasis are, we're creatures with the ability to lure people in, then eat them when we feel it's right. Naturally, we aren't the most attractive, with two huge fangs protruding from our mouths and a not-so petite figure.  Luckily, we have the opportunity to shape shift into whatever we want. This makes luring even the least gullible very easy for us. In my family, w