Friday, March 25, 2016

Week 10 Growth Mindset



Hey everyone this is my last post because I will be completing this class!. I felt this meme was a great representation of this course because I had to go out of my comfort zone to write creatively and learn about a culture that I knew nothing about. I did reach m goal and am very happy to have a little more free time now that this course is complete. 

Thanks for reading!

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Trevor's Portfolio

I chose the portfolio option because I do enjoy getting to write about different topics on the weekly readings. I hope to progress my stories and make them better as the weeks go on. For example, I would like to implement more dialogue and utilize better diction for my upcoming/past stories. Hope everyone enjoys!

My First Story:



The Kingdom of Greed

This story is about a king and his mistress having a son that tries to take over the kingdom. He attempts to kill the true prince and the king. This resembles the Ramayana loosely in that the next in line king is either exiled or killed. Please enjoy my story and its changes!

My Second Story:



An Ant's Adventure

This story is about a queen ant being kidnapped by a black widow spider. I focused my story on the story of Rama trying to rescue Sita. I hope you enjoy my take on the Ramayana with insects!

My Third Story:




This story involves the characters of Sita, Vali, and Sugriva. Sita is going to a dance with one of these monkey brothers and all is ruined by one brother's jealous actions. It is a love story that results in the true reason why Sugriva wants to help Rama. I hope you enjoy my take on the Ramayana!

My Fourth Story:




This story is a continuation from my above story Revenge Will Soon Come. Vali is seeking revenge on his brother for ruining his love with Sita. In this story you will see what will happen when he decides to bring the Voice from the Mahabharata into his revenge plot. Hope you enjoy!


Revenge is Poison

Years had passed since Sugriva and Vali had battled at their school dance. Vali was nowhere to be found by the people, but Vali knew exactly where he would be. Vali knew Sugriva resided in the far away city of Kishkindha. Vali wanted his revenge, but he did not quite know how to defeat his younger brother.

At first, Vali tried to get this so called hero Rama to defeat his brother. The plan was perfect, Vali distracts Sugriva while the hiding Rama shoots his magical bow and arrow into Sugriva. The plan was flawless until Vali learned of what he would have to help Rama with.

“Rama, if you complete this task I will forever be in your service. What do you wish of me once my evil brother is defeated?"

Rama replied with the only request Vali would not help with. “Vali, my beloved wife has been kidnapped by the ten-headed Ravana. Her name is Sita and I miss her beautiful face every day."

Vali could not face his once true love. He was scared of what Sita would say once they saw each other. Especially if the avatar of Vishnu himself found out Vali loved his beloved wife. “Rama I am sorry but I cannot help you find Sita for reasons I will not tell.”




With utter disappointment, Vali left Rama to find another way to gain revenge on his brother. As he swung back to his tree house, a celestial being appeared out of nowhere. With a mystical voice, the being told Vali the story of a magical pond.

“Vali, my friend. There once was a group of brothers that were princes. These brothers were exiled from their kingdom and wondered the forest with their mother. All of the brothers were so thirsty one day that I, The Voice, tricked all of these brothers into drinking my poisonous water. I am who you need for your revenge. I will help you on one condition. You must come back every day and give me company for a single hour. If you do not do accompany me, you will face a deathly consequence.”
“I will do whatever you desire.” Vali replied to The Voice.                                                                                                     
As soon as he agreed to the plan, the yaksha vanished. Meanwhile, Sugriva, in hiding, awoke from a slumber to a magical voice. The Voice spoke sweet words to lure Sugriva to the poisonous pond. As Sugriva reached the pond, he took the water into his hands and drank a quick drink of the refreshing water. The poison filled all of his veins. As Sugriva laid their dying in total shock of what had happened, Vali walked out of the bushes to look his brother in his face.

“Sugriva, my brother, you do not look very well. I told you that I would get revenge one day, and that day is today. Goobye Sugrvia.”

Vali had gotten his revenge with the help of The Voice. No longer would his brother walk the earth. With a bit of remorse, Vali quickly left the pond to head back home, completely forgetting about The Voices deal….

To be continued…..

Author’s Note: I mixed the two epics that we read this semester: The Mahabharata and The Ramayana. The timeline is changed from the original story because Vali had not gotten revenge against his brother until after the Pandavas have died. I decided to have all of the Pandavas die from the pond to create a story for the Voice to tell Vali. Also, I included The Voice in my story because I felt he was key in the Mahabharata. The celestial being seems to like making deals with people, therefore I made Vali make a deal with him in order to kill his brother. The Voice ends up killing Sugriva by the poisonous pond instead of Rama killing him with his bow and arrow. I felt that this would allow the reader to fear the Voice even more. I did not like the way Rama killed Sugriva so this allowed me to avoid these actions of Rama. Furthermore, I changed the fact that Vali did not fight Sugriva one on one, but however, hid inside the bushes until after he drank the poisonous water. He did not fight his brother straight on but instead relied on a third party to get his revenge. I plan on continuing this story and finally have Vali meet up with Sita again, along with Rama.

Bibliography: The prose is from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913), and the verse is from Mahabharata, Epic of the Bharatas, by Romesh C. Dutt (1898).


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Tech Tip Week 14: Embedded Pinterest Pin

Hey everyone I pinned one of my favorite pins of Rama himself. It is a great way to imagine what the characters look like. Hope you enjoy!

Week 10 Reading Diary: Epified Mahabharata Part B

Below is a continuation of me watching the Epified Mahabharata:
·       Karna is a fighter instead of a farmer. Drona will only train the Pandavas and not Karna. I am sure this is why Karna fights against them in the great war.

·       I am getting the hang of the narrator. This part of the story made more sense the first time I read it anyways.


·       He does not win in Draupadi’s swamayarma. Arjuna wins instead so this will fuel his anger against them.




·       I still do not agree with Draupadi having to marry all five of the Pandava brothers instead of the won one won her fair and square. 


·       The Pandavas decide that it will be easier for each of them to marry her for a year at a time instead of all at once. This is different from the original Mahabharata. I am glad that they decided to change what has happened. However, I wish Arjuna was the one who just married her.

·       The drawings still amaze me. They are incredible and fun to look at!


·       Arjuna is exiled because he breaks the rules of the brother’s agreement regarding Draupadi. This is unfair but Arjuna has a lot of experiences in the forest for those 12 years.


·       Arjuna falls in love with another woman during his exile. I wish he wasn’t so quick to change his mind on the women that he loves. 


Tech Tip Week 13: Sidebar Pinterest Board

Hey everyone,

I uploaded my Pinterest Board for this Indian Epics course. Hope you enjoy my pins of Sita, Rama, and other Ramayana characters!

Week 10 Reading Diary: Epified Mahabharata Part A

This week I actually decided to watch the Epified Mahabharta instead of the Ramayana. I felt that I understood the Ramayana a little better than I thought after watching Sita Sings the Blues. Therefore, I wanted to focus on the other epic because I do not have a great grasp on the characters and plotline:
·       The videos are broken up nicely and easy to follow so far.

·       Queen Ganga is again drowning her children in the river. I am still confused on why she is wanting to do this. Hopefully it is explained later on.


·       I enjoyed Sita Sings the Blues a little more because I can follow the narrator better. They are just quick to say names in this one and I keep having to rewind to figure out what is going on.

·       Vyasdeva is extremely ugly but somehow has the three sons: Dhirtharastha, Pandu, and Vidu. I am curious to see how they portray the relationship between both Dhirtharastha and Pandu do to what comes later in the story.

·       Pandu suffers the same fate as the original Mahabharata in that he cannot bear any children or be intimate with anyone else or he will die.


·       Pandu now has the Five sons that he wanted. However, he ends up dying just like the parents of the boy from the forest said.

·       The artwork is very cool! I am glad that you can see how the drawer is actually drawing the images. I tried to draw a few but it did not turn out very well lol. I do like the images in Sita Sings the Blues more because it was more playful and colorful.

·       Margery ends up killing herself after Pandu dies.


·       Drona now enters the story and starts to train the boys. I am glad to see that they stuck with the original because Drona is one of my favorite characters. I am excited to see Draupadi’s
Swamayarma.




Overall, it was a great and creative way to understand this story. I feel I am learning more and more about the Mahabharta.

Epified Mahabharata Link

Week 12 Tech Tip: Editing Pin

Hey everyone,

I was able to edit some of my pins that I posted for different recipes. This allowed me to better organize my posts! Everyone should try and do this.

Week 10 Tech Tip: Twitter List

Hey Everyone,

I created my private Twitter List. I made one for all of the sports pages I follow to make it easier to read about what is going on! Hope you enjoy!

Week 9 Famous Last Words

This Course:

I continued to read the Ramayana but instead watched the video Sita Sings the Blues. I really enjoyed watching this because I felt it was a different way to understand the Ramayana. Be able to visualize the characters allowed me to further understand their reasoning and motives. Furthermore, the illustrations were great and I am glad that I was able to watch it. I am such a bad artist so it was nice to see how talented Nina was. I feel I have read a lot about Ramayana a lot so this next week I will watch another video about the Mahabharata because I enjoy watching videos.


Other Courses:

My other courses have picked up a lot from my past weeks. I have had a few projects assigned which force me to come to campus a lot and use the software on the library computers. I was able to pick my group so that is the only positive. My drilling lab is also getting very tiring because we have to write long reports each week. We have a lot more labs to do so I will continue trudging my way through the course. I did pretty well on all of my first round of exams so I have set myself up well. I have a lot of exams coming up so I am trying to get prepared for those.

Source: Buddy Hield 

Outside of Class:


This past weekend I spent the entire weekend watching NCAA Basketball tournament. I was pretty much a couch potatoe constantly watching basketball the entire weekend. There were a lot of good games but none better than OU winning TWICE and making it to the Sweet Sixteen. My spring break was great because my girlfriend and I were able to just hang out, hike, cook, and visit family. I am sad to see the break go though. Overall, a great weekend and BOOMER SOONER Thursday!

Week 9 Review



I thought this was a very cool diagram that has all of the letters and numerals being able to be written from this. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Monday, March 21, 2016

Week 9 Learning Challenge



I find these murals to be absolutely amazing. I am not the best artist in the world but I can definitely appreciate great art. I have always wanted to go to the city and see these murals. It is something I will have to do sometime. This is a connection to reading I am assuming. Reading is vital in every aspect of life and everyone needs to do more of it. Here is a website with more of these murals! 


Week 9 Growth Mindset



I think this is a great twist on the common saying "Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose." Every time that someone fails you can take a learning lesson from it. I sometimes am overly competitive with every little thing I do, so I need to take this approach on the times I lose. There is always valuable information from each obstacle in life. 


Revenge Will Soon Come

The story starts in the great town of Bihar where two monkey brothers attended the nearby school. The eldest, Vali, was the most popular monkey in the school with all the girls, except one. Her name was Sita and she was dating the younger brother Sugriva. The story begins on a brisk night where Vali simply could not take not having the beautiful Sita any more:

“Sugriva! Get up! We are going to be late to the dance,” Vali screamed up the tree to his younger brother. Vali was irritated.

Sugriva had stayed up all night writing a letter Sita, singing out loud whatever he wrote. They had been dating for a year now and he could not wait to give her the carefully written letter before the school dance. He yelled back at his brother, “I am coming, brother! What, did you wake up on the wrong side of the limb today?” Both of them quickly ate their bananas for dinner and swung as quickly as possible to school.

As the two arrived, Sugriva quickly went searching for his Sita while Vali went straight for the food. Sugriva finally saw Sita. “Sita my love! You look so beautiful!” Sita was wearing a long, bright blue dress that went all the way to the ground. The two embraced and Sugriva handed the letter to Sita. As she read the sweet words of her boyfriend tears rolled down her face. As she finished, she looked up and smiled at Sugriva. The two began dancing to the slow-paced song that was being played. All was right in the world, except for Vali. He looked at the two with disgust. He wanted Sita and he could not understand why she had no interest in him. As he drank a glass of fruit punch, rage poured into him more and more. All of a sudden he snapped.

“Sugriva! You do not deserve such a beautiful woman. I am the most handsome monkey in Bihar and I want what you have!” He quickly sprinted to Sugriva, hands tightly bound into fists.

Sugriva, in total shock, was not ready for what was happening. He dodged the punch of Vali just in time. The two brothers fought in the middle of the dance as the other students looked in horror. Sita cried out as Sugriva punched his brother and Vali punched back. Sita begged and begged for the two to stop, but all she got in return from Sugriva was, “Shut up, Sita!”




Finally, the teachers ran to the two monkeys and broke up the fight. The teachers yanked the bloody brothers away from each other. Sita could not take what just happened. She did not want to date and love a monkey that was so quick to anger and disrespect to her. She ran up to Sugriva and spoke words that sliced through his heart.

“Sugriva, you were my love. However, your quick reaction to anger and rude comments to me does not make me desire your affections anymore. I am through.”  As tears ran down her face, she walked out of the dance. Never to be seen again by Sugriva.

Sugriva filled with rage! As the teachers let him go, he spoke these words of revenge to Vali. “I do not care what happens in this world, but I do know one thing. You will pay for this one day.” Sugriva walked out of the dance and swung away to a place far, far away to plot his revenge.

To be continued…




Author’s Note: I wrote this story in reaction to the Divine Archer I recently read this past week. I felt the story was very similar to the original Ramayana, so I wanted my own twist. The plot point of Sugriva, Rama, Vali, and Sita was missing a little connection in my opinion, so I was glad to be able to make my own story.  I created a love connection between Sugriva and Sita, while Vali was envious of their relationship. Allowing the two to be in love when they were younger and their relationship ending due to Vali will make his revenge even greater when Rama needs help. Furthermore, it will allow for a conflict between both Rama and Sugriva when Rama comes to him for help in finding Sita and discovers their past. I felt that creating a story that connects all three of these characters early on in their lives would help explain why Sugriva even helps Rama get her back in the first place.  The desire to get Sita back from Ravana will be even more because Sugriva actually loves Sita. The decision on the picture was actually based on the fighting scene between Vali and Sugriva. I felt that allowing the reader to imagine the two monkey brothers will help further connect the reader to the story. I plan on changing the original story even more once Sita is kidnapped by Ravana. 

Bibliography: The Divine Archer. F.J. Gould. 1911. 

Week 9 Reading Diary: Sita Sings the Blues Part B

Below is my continuation of watching Sita Sings the Blues. I am glad that I chose this as my option this week. It is very entertaining and easy to watch. Also, I feel I am fine tuning my knowledge of the Ramayana while I watch.

·       Nina is broken up with Dave by email. This part is very sad and the animations make the viewer feel her sorrow.

·       Sita is exiled into the forest again. She continues her blues. I feel for her because she always is punished and hurt for things she does not deserve.

·       Sita is now pregnant with potentially Rama’s kids. She is so sad that she contemplates killing herself. This is not a high plot point for me in this movie. I wish this was not included in the story.

·       I do not understand why Sita keeps trying to please Rama. She is very faithful to him but he is constantly questioning her. I would definitely leave Rama. However, she has his kids so this may be the reasoning for proving her worth again and again.


·       Sita leaves them behind to go to heaven. The twins are left behind with Rama to live in the kingdom. I am glad that they were reunited with their father. 


Source: Youtube




Week 9 Reading Diary: Sita Sings the Blues Part A

This week I decided to watch the film Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. I felt that watching an animated film will allow me to connect better with the characters. Also, it looked really fun to watch. Furthermore, Sita was one of my favorite characters so focusing on her will be great. Below is my analysis:




·       First impression is that the images are very creative and fun to look at. It helps me picture Sita and Rama better.

·       I am glad that there are footnotes with times. It allows for me to follow the story better without stopping the video.

·       I am glad that they stayed with the originally plot point in that Sita was kidnapped by the golden deer Ravana was portrayed as.

·       It really is focusing on Sita only which I enjoy because I felt that the originally Ramayana strictly focused on Rama. She was vital in all of the story plot points which makes this take more interesting.

·       Ravana isn’t portrayed as such a bad character in this story. I enjoyed the villainous nature of him in the original Ramayana. It is weird when he is playing the instrument with his insides though.

·       Sugriva and Vali are not mentioned in this story. I loved the dynamic between these characters so I wish it was mentioned at least. I wanted a change from Rama sneak attacking Vali to him fighting him straight up.

·       I enjoy seeing Hanuman setting the city of Lanka on fire. He was one of my favorite characters so I am glad to see him in the animated film.

·       I like the troops of Ravana. They are very animated and funny to watch run. The battle scene was actually pretty gory! I enjoyed it but I would have rather seen Rama fight a lot instead of the monkeys. I do like the long bow and arrow shot of Rama to slay Ravana.

·       I think the title is great because she really is full of sorrow once Rama rejects her. I still do not like how the Ramayana ended so I was a little disappointed that this didn’t change the ending. I may write a story that changes the ending and allows for a happy ending.

·       Finally, I am liking the parallels between Rama and Sita and Nina and Dave. I am looking forward to seeing how their relationship ends.


·       Overall, it is a very funny and entertaining take on the original Ramayana. 


Source: Youtube

Friday, March 11, 2016

Famous Last Words Week 8

This Class:
This week was a nice change up to the usual pace of this course. I enjoyed searching for my new music videos. A lot of the songs that I enjoy listening to have really weird music videos lol. Also, I am very interested in reading the Ramayana again. It was easily my favorite epic thus far and can’t wait to read about Rama and Sita.


Other Classes:
I had an exam and quiz this week. I felt I did really well on my Structural Geology exam. My quiz in formation evaluation did not go as great as I would have wanted, but it is not that big of a deal. I finally have a few weeks of breathing because I do not have any exams. However, I do have a Production project and drilling lab due the week after Spring Break so I will have to work over the break. I am not looking forward to April though because I have a ton of exams and projects. I am really going to cherish the next couple of weeks.


Outside of Class:
I am so happy that we are finally on break. Even though I am not going anywhere, it will be a nice relaxation period. My girlfriend and I are actually planning on going to hike in the Wichita Mountains. We have never been but I have wanted to go for a while. We may go more than once because we love to go hiking and I have heard great things about the trails. Also, we are going to see Deadpool today. My friends have said it is awesome so I am looking forward to going to see that. More importantly though, I will get movie theater popcorn! 





Well thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a great Spring Break!

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Tech Tip Week 10: About Me Sidebar

Hey everyone I updated my sidebar. I posted a quick about me in order for people to get to know me better! I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading!

Monday, March 7, 2016

Tech Tip Week 9: QuoteCreator


Source: PosterGen

I wanted to use one of my mom's famous quotes from my childhood lol. It is a great quote and I find myself saying it sometimes. It is great advice and means it is just easier to always tell the truth. 

Tech Tip Week 8: Reverse Image Search


Source: Google

Hey everyone, this week I did the Google Reverse Image Search Tech Tip. I did not know that you were able to do this in Google. I searched the above image and was able to find a larger image with better detail. This is an awesome tool!



Week 8 Review



I found this announcement to be very funny! People forget how much punctuation brings to a sentence/paragraph. I kept going back and forth from the top and bottom paragraph. I especially liked the line "Admit to being useless and inferior". I thought it was extremely funny because it compared to the originally line "people who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior". I sometimes struggle with punctuation, so I will continue to work on this aspect of my writing. 

Learn by H.E.A.R.T. Week 8



I am usually a good reader that enjoys a good book ever so often. Therefore, I am happy to see/use some of these points in order to continue my reading. I really happen to like the 4th bullet point. Sometimes I get stubborn and want to finish a book instead of stopping and finding a book I enjoy. I do however disagree with the first one. I use my phone all the time for reading because it is much more convenient than carrying a book around. Overall, I will save this picture and hope to read more soon!

Growth Mindset Week 8



I feel that this is a great way to think about accomplishing tasks. I feel that when people are able to bounce ideas of off each other, tasks are finished easier. Also, people are always different at different things. Therefore, teams that work together well can accomplish a lot more than and individual. I constantly see this in my lab reports. I happen to have a very good lab group so we are able to finish the labs quickly and correctly!

Thanks for reading. 

Readings Week 9 and 10

I would definitely like to look back at the Ramayana instead of the Mahabharata. It was my favorite epic that I understood a lot better than the Mahabharata. Also, I loved the relationship between Sita and Rama so I want to focus on their relationship. That is why I am interested in watching Sita Sings the Blues. I heard from a friend that it was a great video and I am curious to watch. Also, I plan on reading the Ravana, Roar of the Demon King by Sisodia. I like how it looks to focus on childhood of Ravana and how he got to where he was in the original Ramayana. I felt he was a great villain and I am curious of his past. Furthermore, I may end up reading Ramayana by Nivedita. I think it is cool that they try and take a western side to the story. It may allow me to further understand the Ramayana. Overall, I am excited to indulge more into the Ramayana.


Source: Ravana

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Blog Work

I ran across Eaton's and I really liked his background of his blog. I really want to implement a better background instead of a single color.

I also saw Sara's blog and really liked the contrast between the font colors and the background. I enjoy my lighter background, but I really want my main titles to be a different color (not blue).

Finally I really liked the quote that was implemented in William's blog. I will try and use my tech tips for the upcoming weeks and make my sidebar an important quote. I hope to also change my background similar to his because mine is sort of bland with one color.

Thanks for reading.

Time Management

I have decided that I will now do this class later on during the week. My weeks usually are extremely busy during Monday and Tuesday, so I plan on doing most of time for this course during Wednesday through Saturday. I usually do my assignments on Friday and Saturday. My ultimate goal is to continue doing these extra credit assignments in order to excel my progress through this course. This will allow me to have more time to work on my other courses.

Famous Last Words Week 7

This Class:
I found that this reading assignment was very similar to that of the original Mahabharata. There were a few changes, but ultimately it was the same story. I did notice a few more details and was able to understand the characters relationships a little better. I still get confused on all the names with K though lol. Ultimately, I enjoyed reading the Ramayana more. This was because I enjoyed seeing the character development of Rama more than that of Arjuna. However, the battle scene was more personal due to Arjuna losing his son and getting revenge. I felt that my story was alright this week. I could have made it more detailed and created more of a story, but I plan on including this into my portfolio and fixing these issues. I am looking forward to allowing the diaries between Draupadi and her mother to be full of emotions.


Other Classes:

I survived my other courses this week which is great. I had my exam on Wednesday and I felt that I did really well on it. I have another exam coming up this week so it is time to switch gears and focus on my Structural Geology exam instead of Production. I am just really ready for Spring Break so I can finally get a break from all that studying. Also, I have been writing drilling labs for the past few weeks, so it will be nice not to have to worry about writing the report.


Outside of Class:

My girlfriend and I decided not to go anywhere this Spring Break so we are just going to relax in Norman. I am actually looking forward to doing nothing and not having to worry about school. This weekend I was able to go home and see my baby niece. That was a lot of fun. Overall, it was a great weekend and a first half of this semester. 



Source: My Niece Skylynn (Taken by me)


Saturday, March 5, 2016

Week 7 H.E.A.R.T. Challenge



This is a great reminder for me. I have been very stressed this past week so I am in need of some tidying up. The best one is to sweep away all the distractions in my life. I need to focus on what is important and sweep away the hindrances!

Week 7 Review



This was my favorite weekly announcement! I find this to very important in every aspect of people's life. It is hard to stay focused and not be discouraged by things that do not work out perfectly. If I face any challenges I will make sure to think of this funny picture! Lol.

Week 7 Growth Mindset



This is one of my favorite growth mindset blogs I have seen yet. I feel that it should speak to everyone because many people are expecting to be given things in life. I find that hardwork can lead to success, which ultimately makes people happy. Also, I find that reading allows for people to constantly be learning, which thus leads to success. I hope to continue my reading of both non-fiction and fiction to further gain knowledge. 

Thanks for reading!


Friday, March 4, 2016

Week 7 Storytelling: Letter's of Draupadi

Author’s Note:
This week I decided to write a few letters between Draupadi and her mother. The parents are not involved in this epic and I wanted to allow for a mother and daughter to be talking about all of the crazy events to create a family dynamic. I wanted her mother to be apart from her daughter in some of the most important parts of her experiences in the Mahabharta. I decided to leave the swayamvara completely true with Arjuna coming out of the crowd and winning over Draupadi. I did however, change the fact the she had to be married to either all of them or Yudhishtira only. I found that this part of the epic was not very reasonable since Arjuna was the one who won her over. I decided to have Arjuna elope with Draupadi to show how much he truly cared for her, but I wasn’t quite sure if that was a good choice in my story so please let me know if you liked it or not! Also, I decided to change the war scenes with that of peace. I feel in a lot of these epics, greed is the killer. I did not want this to be the same end as every other story so instead of the Pandavas losing their sons, family, and cousins, I allowed no one to have to be killed.  

Source: Wilson, Richard. The Five Tall Sons of Pandu. 1914. 


Dear Mother,

Today is the day that I have dreaded for so long. I know I will be happy with whoever wins, but it doesn’t seem right. A woman should be able to pick their husband. One she loves and could spend the rest of her life with, not some random man that can shoot a bow or win a sword fight. Why do I have no choice Mother? Oh well, you have raised me to overcome anything. I can only hope the man who wins my swayamvara is someone I can love with all of my heart.

Love,
Draupadi

_________________________________________________________________

Dear Daughter of Mine,

I have heard the tales of your swayamvara. The great Arjuna came from the depths of the crowd as a brahmin and strung the mighty bow. I heard he shot and absolutely perfect bow! That is so awesome for you and him. I heard he is quite the looker too so that is always a plus. I am glad that the charioteer’s son was not able to win you. That would have been quite disappointing to have to marry a base-born. Anyways, I sure do miss you. It has been a hundred moons since you and I have last seen each other. I miss my daughter. I cannot wait to hear more of you and your new husband.

Love,
Your Mother





_________________________________________________________________

Dear Mother,

I am so glad that you approve of my new husband. Arjuna is the light to my world and I love him so very much. He is definitely a blessing and someone I could spend the rest of my life here on Earth with. I have learned that he is a true Pandavas brother and at first that was so cool. His brother, Kunti tried to make the eldest Yudhishthira be my wife instead of my love Arjuna. I knew I would not meet another man that I could love as much as my swayamvara, so we eloped into the forest. At first, Arjuna was happy of his decision, but he has been troubled lately. His brothers constantly send him letters about some war with their cousin Duryodhana. I hope my husband does not have to return and fight in battle. I do not know if I could take that. Anyways, I am happy Mother and cannot wait for you to meet my husband.

Love,
Draupadi


_________________________________________________________________

Dear Draupadi,

I am so sorry that you almost had to marry Yudhishthira. You should not have eloped away from such powerful men, but that is just my mother coming out in me. I feel for Arjuna. I know he must truly miss his brothers, but he must really love you for he has chosen you over them. I too have heard of this war. I hope that if it happens, you are as far away as possible. I will be praying for your Draupadi. I love you very much.

Love,
Your Mother


_________________________________________________________________

Dear Mother,

I am sure you have heard now, but the war has never happened! I am so ecstatic that Duryodhana changed his mind at the last second to make peace with his cousins. Balarama has convinced Duryodhana that making peace instead of war will ultimately bring happiness to everyone. I am so very pleased. We now sit around the kingdom and enjoy each other’s company. I love my new life with my new husband Arjuna. I will send for you mother. Arjuna has made a house for you right next to ours so you can be with us every day. I miss you and yearn for your arrival in the great city of Hastinapura.

Love,

Draupadi 

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Week 7 Reading Diary: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu

Below is my reading of Part A of the weekly reading: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu:

·       The story starts off with the same type of jealousy in the original Mahabharata. Duryodhana does not like his cousins, The Pandavas, because of their heir to the throne.

·       Arjuna meets with a very skillful fighter in Karna. Karna comes off very confidently and tells Arjuna of his wish to defeat him. I find this to be interesting because of the future implications of his desire to defeat him (his death).

·       Duryodhana attempts to murder the Pandavas and their mother by burning them in their house.  Greed is an important aspect of this epic, the original Mahabharata, and the Ramayana. It is the root cause of many of the main plot points.

·       I do find it interesting that Kunti tells Arjuna that Yudhishthira should be married to Draupadi. I do like either one of these outcomes because Arjuna deserves to have her. He outright won the swayamvara, just like Rama had done.

·       The Pandavas get the rough part of the kingdom. I find this ironic because they deserve to be the kings instead of Duryodhana. It is unfair and they should be in charge of the entire kingdom.

·       Yudhishthira, like the original, loses Draupadi in a gambling match with Duryodhana. Again, I feel for Arjuna because he deserved to be wed to her, not Yudhsihthira. She convinces the gambling winners to allow her to be forced into exile with the Pandavas. The brothers go into exile. 




·        After exile, the Pandavas finally are ready to return to their kingdom and overthrow Duryodhana. I am excited to see if there are in other changes to the battle scenes. I hope there is more detail and not just quick plot points. 

Source: Wilson, Richard. The Five Tall Sons of Pandavas. 1914.