Week 6 Review

Source: Week 6 Announcements 

This was my favorite announcement from the past week because of the meaning behind it. It is vital to put in the hardwork before you can have anything you want. In life, nothing is given to you and if you want something, you must work for it. 

Week 6 H.E.A.R.T. Challenge

Source: H.E.A.R.T. Blog

This was my favorite H.E.A.R.T. post this past week. I find that this is extremely funny! This most relates to time a procrastination. Many students procrastinate all of their assignment, however, I like to get most of my things done the first day they are assigned. It is very easy to get behind so time management is vital in success, which leads to happiness. 

Week 6 Storytelling: Revenge is Poison

A continuation of my Week 6 Story:

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.”

Source: Rama and Vali Meeting

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. Their names were the Pandavas. 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.

Source: Pandavas and the Poison Water

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. Also, I made all of the Panadvas brother dying instead of Yudishthira saving all of the brothers. 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 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. 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). 

Weblink: The Mahabharata

A Fire Ant's Adventure

The ant mound was in a total state of shock. The queen, the mighty Queen Ira, had been kidnapped. The crazy eight-eyed black widow spider, Rivana, had tricked her into coming out of her chamber by posing as a beautiful flower. The queen herself ordered the guards to take a leave of absence that night. The mound council called an immediate emergency meeting to plan the rescue. They knew the task would not be easy since the spider’s web was across the backyard. Many tribulations and obstacles would need to be conquered to rescue the beautiful Queen Ira. Only on ant possessed the skill to rescue the queen. It was the strong red fire ant Zane. The mound lit the flames signaling the mighty ant. The rescue was on.

Source: FoxNews

Zane brought only his best troops and his brother along for this dangerous mission. This was more personal to him than anyone realized. Zane and Queen Ira had grown up in the same mound and had a past of friendship and passion. He was an ant on a mission. With weapons sharpened, the group started their trek to Rivana’s web knowing very well that he knew that they would be coming.

After marching halfway across the yard, Zane felt a chill run down all of his legs. He knew they were being watched by something, but he did not know by whom. As he led the formation, he heard a large rumble behind him along with screams from his troop. The last ant in line was squirming around in the hands of an enormous praying mantis. His name was Khamton. The ants moved into attack formation before launching wooden spears into the giant praying mantis. Spears broke as they hit the rough hide of the enemy. All seemed lost until Zane took out his secret weapon, a holy staple given to him bythe mighty beetle Shimma. He slid under the legs of Khamton, jumped on its back, and cut off the mighty praying mantis’s head. Zane stood atop his fallen enemy. Rivana, revengeful, jumped on his speedy dragonfly and flew into the battle with thousands of spiders at his side.

Source: Metro

As Zane and the ants fought off all the spiders with his mighty staple, Rivana decided to counter the troop of ants. Zane sensed this with his antennas and turned around just as Rivana attacked. Rivana launched a string of web towards Zane, sticking the first ant to the ground. His brother quickly cut the web, freeing Zane. Rivana nosedived his dragonfly towards Zane, trying to use the speed to defeat Zane. Zane, at the last second, jumped to the side and launched his staple into the stomach of Rivana. Rivana fell to the ground, dead.

With the eight-eyed spider now dead, the Queen was now free. Zane untied the royal captive, looking deeply into the eyes of the beautiful queen. Zane spoke sweet words to his old love, “My queen, my love. You have been dearly missed. You are the light in my eye. Forever and ever I will serve you with love and affection.” Taken back, Queen Ira walked away from Zane with guards surrounding her. She knew of her responsibilities to the mound and that she could never marry the rugged Zane. Zane was heartbroken, but he understood her decision

As the years passed, Queen Ira thought of Zane, and Zane thought of Queen Ira.The two yearned to be together but would never cross paths again. As both of the ants took their last breaths, they slowly slipped into a dream of a wonderful land. The land was full of flowers and the best meals on Earth, crumbs. They both were in heaven, together. At last, the two ants could spend eternity together. 

 Author Notes: I received inspiration for this tale from the Ramayana. It followed the parts B, C, and D. I utilized the story of Rama and Sita being in love and wanting to always be together. While the ten-headed Ravana is portrayed by Rivana, the eight-eyed spider. I played off the physical appearance of Ravana. These two are very similar throughout the story. I, however, did not include the part where Lakshmana hurts his sister. He kidnaps the beloved Sita from Rama, and Rama attacks the rakshasa to rescue her. This is exactly what I wanted to accomplish in my story with the ants and spider. Also, the praying mantis Khamton resembled the giant Khumhakarna and his mighty battle with Rama (Zane). Khumhakarna was important in the original Ramayana because it was a great battle that showed Rama's strength. I thought about potentially making Zane and the Queen get together immediately unlike the original Ramayana. This would have made a better dynamic but I wanted to stay true to that part of the story. Overall, the story from when Sita was kidnapped on was very interesting to me and that is where I got my overall inspiration. Thanks for reading.

Source: Bibliography: Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, condensed into English verse by Romesh Dutt (1899). 

Week 6 Reading Diary: Part D

Below is the continuation of my reading diary for the Mahabharata:

·       Brishma, the grandfather of the Panadvas and Kauravas, is defeated in the battle. This is a vital point in the story because now Drona wants to take down Yudhishthira. Arjuna will ultimately have to defeat Drona to save his brother from capture. Arjuna is clearly the most important brother of this story because he will probably win the battle for the Pandavas.

·       Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu is killed in battle. This will cause a rage in Arjuna that could be the drive the Pandavas need. This differs from other epics I read because in the Ramayana, Rama does not lose anyone he truly loves in battle.

·       The Pandavas defeat Drona by tricking him into thinking his son had died. This is not something I wanted to happen because I feel that they need to stand up and defeat their enemies without tricks. I hope the climax of the battle will not happen because of trickery.

·       Arjuna defeats Karna in battle by shooting a bow into his head. This is the climax of the battle due to the great skills of Karna. Duryodhana goes into hiding because his most trusted battler has been killed.

·       Ashwatthaman sneaks into the Pandavas camp and slays all of their children. I feel this is extremely sorrowful part in the story. I wish this was not part of the Mahabharata because like Rama, exile was not actually accomplishing anything.

·       Yudhishthira is now going to be the ultimate king of all the lands. I am happy that he is able to be the king, but I sort of wish Arjuna could have been king. He did a lot of the battle scenes.

·       Krishna ends up dying by going into the jungle. This is sort of disappointing because he was such a vital character. I hope that this was his goal all along.

·       All of the Pandvas leave and go to heaven. Yudhishthira passes the test of trying to stay on earth for his brothers and Draupadi. I am glad that they all were able to end happily. 

Source: Pandavas 

Week 6 Reading Diary: Part C

Below is a reading diary of Part C of the Mahabharata:

·       Similarly to Rama in the Ramayana, the Pandavas are again exiled into the forest. I think this is very interesting because many of the main characters in these epics have the most character development during these exiles.

·       Arjuna again goes off on his own to find a powerful weapon to help save him and his brothers. This is sort of a parallel with the Ramayana and Rama’s bow and arrow. I wonder how this will help then Pandavas. He is given a chain of gold, a bright diadem, and the war shell. I feel this will be vital in the future of this story.

·       Hanuman makes another appearance so I may want to continue my story from two weeks ago with him and his brother, Sugriva.

·       Duryodhana is again drive into more jealousy. I am curious to see what will happen between Arjuna and Karna. The battles are my favorite scenes.

·       The Pandavas brothers all drink from a celestial water source that kills the brothers. Yudhishthira answers the questions of the celestial being very well, enough to be granted two boons: his brothers get life again and that his brothers will not be recognized for the next year. I find this part of the story to be weird because I feel that the sons of a god should be able to recognize this tricks and avoid this fate.

·       I am excited to see the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas. It has been building up all story so I am curious to see what happens during the climax of the Mahabharata.

·       Krishna is a vital character in this story. I feel that he could be as the same level as Hanuman in the Ramayana. I am curious to see what else he does during this story.

·       I enjoy this story better than the Ramayana because both sides of the battle are family and related. This brings a special dynamic to the battle. I am super excited to read the ending of this battle and I hope the Pandavas win. 

Source: WordPress

Famous Last Words: Week 5

I really enjoyed this week's reading and starting the Mahabharta. I did find it very confusing at first because of all the characters involved in the beginning. The storyline is actually starting to make sense after my Wednesday reading assignment. I am excited to see what happens with the Pandavas and their quest to get revenge against Duryodhana for taking Draupadi. I feel that it is going to be similar to the Ramayana except that the ending will be a little happier. Also, Bhima seems to be the best character and reminds me a lot of Rama. I am looking forward to seeing what he does in particular. I hope he is involved in a story plot that I can write about in next week’s storytelling.

My best writing thus far this week was my storytelling again. I had really enjoyed the scene with Baka and Bhima. I felt that it reminded of David and Goliath so I implemented the character of David into my story. The main antagonist was changed to a troll so I felt that was a good change. I really worked on paragraph length this week because I noticed my other stories were sometimes not broken up that well. I want my readers to be able to follow my story so I think I did a better job this week in my story.  If you are curious to read my story about a young man defeating an evil troll in a nearby town, read my story from Week 5.

My other classes have really picked up this past week. I had my first exam of the semester on Thursday and felt I did pretty well. I have two tests next week: Formation Evaluation on Tuesday and Reservoir Engineering on Monday. These exams should be pretty tough so I have been studying a ton for them. I hope I do great on these exams and start the semester off right. Also, drilling lab is starting to really get time consuming. We are required to write a lab report each week and they sometimes take a little longer than desired.

Finally, I “celebrated” my 21^st birthday by studying all night. My friends and I are actually planning on going to Top Golf this weekend so that will hopefully be really fun even though I am not the best golfer.

Source: Top Golf

Overall, this has been a very busy week. I am looking forward to getting past these exams and reading the Mahabharata