Week 6: reading diary b

This reading was the continuation of the Mahabharata that we began last week.  Picking up from last week, the Pandavas are in exile in the forest and are hearing many stories from interesting creatures.  Krishna visits them, which makes Draupadi get a little emotional.  She begins to cry out for their old lives in their silken robes and soft beds, and cannot believe this is what their lives have come to.  She declares that now is a time for vengeance, but Brahman assures her that being angry is just sinful and forgiveness will bring her happiness.  The Pandavas are now traveling toward the Himalayas, where they laid eyes on gorgeous gold and crystal palaces lined with jewels. They are finally reunited with Arjuna.  We now learn that Arjuna will have to face Karna in a "deadly conflict," causing everyone to be sad.

We meet Arjuna's father Indra next, who steals Karna's natural, celestial jewels hoping that this will give his son an advantage whenever they face in battle.  Karna argues with Indra though that he must give him something in return, so he gives him an "invincible arrow." The next part was one of my favorites, "Riddles at the Lake."  This was interesting because all of the brothers approach this pool of water, one by one, and the water asks them questions, demanding they answer before drinking the water.  None of them obey, and they each fall dead.  Finally, Yudhisthira listens to the voice in the water and plays his game.  Little did he know, Dharma appears and brings the brothers back to life granting them the ability to remain unrecognizable.  I thought this was a funny, clever little excerpt and I may want to base my storytelling post on it this week.

The Pandavas exile ends, and the war with Kauravas is nearing. Krishna does not want the war to happen, and attempts to make peace and do what he can to avoid it.  It is not working, and they are realizing they are going to have to fight.  Krishna will not stop, he even takes on his divine of Krishnu to work his magic.  Unfortunately, Krishna's efforts fail and everyone begins assembling for war to begin.  Arjuna is getting cold feet, and Krishna addresses him in a powerful, poetic scene encouraging him and preparing him for battle.

Krisha (wikimedia commons)

Mahabhrata

Week 5: Tech Tip

I actually used this tech tip for my week 4 post last week, and saved it to write about this week.  In my storytelling post last week I made a popular Justin Bieber song a big part of my storyline, and I knew I wanted to add a clip of the song in my post for those who had not heard the song to reference.  As I have mentioned a million times before, I am really not great at this blogging thing, and am not so tech savvy, so I had no idea how to do this.  After pulling up the tech tip and reading the directions, I realized how simple it was!  I couldn't believe it was that easy, I had thought there was no way I was going to ever figure it out.  I thought it really made my post stand out a little better than my older posts, so I was happy to have found that tech tip!

Week 5: Reading Feedback

This week marked the beginning of the Mahabharata.  I thought this week's reading started out a little bit rough.  I felt like I was getting so much information and background of the characters that I need to make a little map and note who was who so I wouldn't get lost.  I had to go back and re-read certain sections a couple of times.  So far I like the story, but it does not feel like it flows as well as the Ramayana did.  I was excited to read the Ramayana, and was never bored or confused.  I feel like so far this reading is a little more detailed and challenging, but I am hoping I will get more into it this coming week.

Mahabharata (wikimedia commons)

Week 5: Comments

I think that commenting on each other's blogs is an extremely helpful practice.  I have been loving receiving comments on both my stories and my introduction.  I really look forward to getting email notifications about comments because I appreciate the feedback of my peers.  I think that the feedback on my introduction is often more exciting, because it's personal and more engaging, I have found more people are willing to ask questions and relate to you on your introduction post.  I enjoy my storytelling comments for different reasons.  I love hearing what my classmates think about my story for the week.  I think the best comments are encouraging with constructive criticism.  I personally do not take offense to criticism, so I like when my classmates give me tips or advice on how to improve my story.  It is really helpful to get those comments because it makes me want to do better the following week.  I think I need to do more of this when commenting on others' posts.  A lot of times I just keep it short and sweet, and do not leave many tips for improvement, but i think it's really helpful to point out things out so we can all learn from our mistakes and get better and better each week.

Week 5 Storytelling: Kunti Says Goodbye

There was a new king in town, and he was a mighty powerful warrior with two beautiful wives, Madri and Kunti.  As Pandu came to the throne, he made it clear that he valued one wife more than the other.  Madri was Pandu's pride and joy.  He showed her off like she was a trophy, and he was so in love with her he could hardly keep his hands off of her.  He could only pay attention to her, and he often forgot he even had another wife.  Kunti saw the way Pandu would look at Madri and longed for a husband that would cherish her that way.  Kunti felt trapped and hated her life, but she could never leave and betray the king.  Every single day Kunti would think of what her life would be like if she left and started a new life of her own, but she could never muster up the courage to walk away. She was a faithful woman with the most pious of hearts.  Even though Pandu loved Madri much more than Kunti, he would still be very angry if she left him.  Having two wives made him more powerful, and Kunti brought a lot to the table when it came to ruling the people.

One morning Kunti was feeling rather ill and realized she had become pregnant.  She went far into the forest where she would give birth to a celestial son.  His eyes were fiery and fierce like a wild lion, while his body resembled an angry bull.  Kunti looked at her son in dismay, for he reminded her of how unhappy she was in her marriage and she feared that Pandu would never love him or let him rule the kingdom one day.  Panicked, Kunti felt the only thing to do was do let another family love her son.  She swaddled him in blankets and gently packed him in a cozy wicker basket.  She kissed her son goodbye and prayed that whoever found him would love him unconditionally.  If she was not able to love her son, she just hoped that someone else would be able to do it for her.  She prayed for a woman who was ready to be a mother, and who had the most loving and supportive husband that would raise the child as their own.  After many tears she said her goodbyes and walked away hopeful she had done the right thing.  It was the most difficult decision she had ever made, and she knew she would think of her son each day for the rest of her life.

Kunti Saying Goodbye

The baby had been on a long journey, and had peacefully slept the whole time he drifted down many rivers.  He finally arrived in Anga, where he would soon drift towards a wonderful woman that would end up taking great care of him.  Radha was an unusually stunning woman.   Her eyes were piercing and her hair flowed like a mermaid's. She was extraordinarily beautiful.  She was married to a wonderful man named Adhiratha who absolutely adored her.  Radha was his everything, and he had loved her for years and years.  The couple had wanted to have children since they got married years ago, but Radha was not ever able to get pregnant.  She felt empty, and that some part of her life was missing.  There was a hole in her heart that only a child could fill.  Radha ventured out to the stream and saw a baby boy wrapped in a blanket.  She immediately began to cry and wondered if her prayers had finally been answered. She embraced the boy and instantly fell in love.  From that moment on they were connected forever.  The boy was now her son.  As the years went by the boy grew and still had his fiery eyes and broad, muscular body. And these attributes helped him to become a successful warrior in Anga. He was so loved by his new family, and their love for him helped him grow and succeed in his life. They did not know it yet, but their son would one day become an influential leader of their land.  Kunti often thought of the boy she had given up that difficult day.  She wondered if he would be okay, or if he would find a loving home.  She hoped and prayed that she had made the right decision, and dreamed of the man he would become every single day of her life.

Author's note: I chose to base my story off of the excerpt in the Mahabharata titled "Kunti and her Son."  I liked this story because it was the first one in the Mahabharata to me that felt really personal.  There had been a lot of information and introduction up until this point.  I wanted to twist the story a little bit, so I went into more detail about how Pandu preferred Madri to Kunti, and this left Kunti feeling sad and desperate.  I changed the story making Karna Pandu's son, and Kunti not wanting him because Pandu did not love her.  I wanted to make minor detail changes to the story to make it more personal and interesting, but I stuck with a very similar story line.  I think this story will go in my portfolio well because I want to stick with stories that have a lot of emotion in them.  I liked how dramatic this story was, and I like adding detail to the stories to make them a little more dramatic.

Mahabharata

Week 5: Reading Diary A

The Mahabharata begins by introducing us the background of the story, explaining the author is Vyasa, who will be an important character throughout the story. We meet Devavrata, who the author explains will later be known as Brishma.  Brishma is a human, but has special powers- Vasus.  Next is the love story of Satyavati and Shantanu.  I enjoyed this one because I love love stories, so this may be a possibility as the basis of my storytelling post this week.  Vyasa is born and more detail is given about his importance.  Next, we learn why Devavrata was a named Brishma, and I was a little confused.  I re-read this part a couple of times.  So far the reading has been very detail oriented, and a bit of an information overload.   Brishma means "terrible" because of the vow that was taken.  I enjoyed learning about Kunti and her son, Karna and how he will also be an important part of the story.  Karna has "the eye of a lion and the shoulders of a bull."

This reading was a lot of information and I felt like I read so much and understood little, or forgot a lot by the time I had finished reading it.  I feel like I will definitely need to go back and read through it again before moving forward with the reading tomorrow.  It felt like it was moving a lot faster than the Ramayana, and I felt like we were introduced to so many characters that I need to go back through and make a little character guide so that I do not get lost along the way.

Brishma (Wikipedia)

Mahabhrata

Week 4: Tech Tips

As I wrote about in my last post, I had never used a blog before this class.  I am not the most technologically savvy person in the world, so I really had no idea what I was getting into when starting this blog.  I would see all of these amazingly designed blogs, and how no idea how these people were doing it until this week.  When I saw the tech tip about design, I knew it was the one I wanted to focus on this week.  While I did not improve it much (I still have a long ways to go) I decided to switch up my color scheme and go for a purple background.  Deep purple reminds of of indian culture and royalty, so I think it is very appropriate for this class.  I wish I had known before how simple it was to make little design changes like this.  I will definitely be making more changes and improving the look of my blog as the class continues!