Indian Epics Fall 2019

For the longest time I never downloaded the Canvas App on my phone. I think I finally did last semester as a junior. Before then I would just have it open as a website on my phones browser and look on there. I did that because on the Mobile App the one thing you cannot do is look at the averages. Because I have the toxic trait of comparing myself to others, I like to know where I stand with everyone else. Even now that I have the app, I will check when a grade gets released, but I still usually go onto the actual website so I can see the averages. It is a good app for general purposes like looking at assignment due dates and grades, but overall I do not use it much. I usually just pull out my laptop and do everything on there. I do love the layout of it though. Canvas is a great website and is very simple and easy to use. This carries over to the app so I like that. Overall it is a good app, but I do wish it would show the averages of grades.

For this reading, I stuck with the Jataka tales and realized how much I loved reading these. They feel less daunting than a whole book so the reading goes by so much faster. This week the first story I chose I did not actually like. I actually hated it because the message it had was not a good lesson and did not have an actual ending. It was the "Silence is Golden" story. It started off with a lion and a jackal having a kid together. While he looked like a lion, he sounded like a jackal. Because of this he would never speak. One time he decided to speak and he was made fun of. After that he decided to never speak again. Then the story just ends. It ended like the lesson was telling us to be ashamed of something we were born with. I get that this story was not written in 2019, but wow. If I were to write a story with this as my source, I would definitely change it to make sure that he learned how to speak up and not be ashamed for what he sounded like. As a kid and even now ...

The story that I enjoyed the most was the story of The Axe, the Bowl, the Drum, and the Diamond. It has a lot of things that I have always enjoyed. It has Castaway elements, a flying pig and even some Lord of the Flies in there, except I hated lord of the flies. To start off the story we have a character that gets stranded on an island. Typical for most stories that start in the ocean, but all of a sudden he sees something without wings flying toward him. It creates new meaning to the phrase "when pigs fly." I had always pictured a flying pig to be majestic and cute with these huge angel wings, but this pig is not like that all. It has no wings and is large and has tusks. Far from cute. The next part I am a little confused about. The pig does not even see the man on the island. He lands and basically goes straight to bed. I guess the man was hiding and then is brave enough to creep on the pig as it is sleeping. That is how he discovers the magical diamond. The next part mad...

There were two stories that stuck with me this week in the first part of Krisha's stories. I decided to watch the video versions of them because taking a break from reading is much needed at this point in the semester. The first story that was that of Krisha's Mouth. I am not sure why I liked this story because at first I thought it was pretty odd and strange. I thought it sounded familiar when I watched it but could not put my finger on why. After thinking about it for a second I realized when he opens his mouth, it is very similar to a seen in the movie IT by Stephen King (The new one). Where Pennywise (the eil clown) open his mouth and the girl who is staring into it gets put into a trance like state. I think that each character saw something similar, but rather than the evil in IT, the mother of Krishna saw the universe and all its creations. A story that could be a good idea would be a more detailed account of what she saw when she looked into the eyes of Krishna. It mus...

It was a sight to behold. Each army is on either side of the battle field. There is a silence; a calmness stretches across the battlefield. The dirt remains untouched by blood and footprints. On one side stands Arjuna, Dhrishtadyumna, Yudhishthira, Krishna, Abhimayu, an Bhima. The weather is cold so Arjuna's heavy breathes can be seen in front of his face, causing the landscape to become foggy with each exahale. On the other side stands Karna, Drona, Shalya, Duhshasana, and Ashwatthaman. Drona is ready to attack. A thumping noise begins to fill the silence. Slowly increasing in speed and volume. It is Drona's heart. Thump..... Thump.... Thump... Thump. Thump.  Thump Thump Thump. As Drona's heart beat faster, the anticipation and adrenaline increased on both sides. Finally, Drona took one deep breathe and the thumping stopped. Silence This silence lasted what felt like hours, but was only a few seconds long. Drona formed a smirk on his face making direct eye contact ...

The part I am going to focus on is the final battle. I have always been a big fan of final battles and this one feels very reminiscent of the final battle from Lord of the Rings. When I was a kid, I used to put on the movie and just watch the final battle, so when reading this story, I just replaced what I remember from the movie with the characters and description from the book. As the first few lines start you can picture the chaos going on. I see Drona flying around and destroying everything like Danerys in the last season of Game of Thrones. I see the slow motion fighting of everyone while Krishna tries to come up with his plan. They find a moments rest and you already known Arjuna is not the character to try and win a battle by trickery. Arjuna is powerful and can win by strength, but he could not do it alone. It surprised me that Drona, after all the destruction he was causing, gave up that easily when hearing his son was dead. Rather than getting angry like we often see other ...

I am semi happy with my progress. As I have said in many of my other posts, I have falling behind on reading. My goal is to get a A in this course and I think it is completely possible for me as long as I stay on top of things. I have used some of the extra credit and fully intend to keep using them whenever I have a little bit of free time. For the next half of the semester I want to try and stick to my schedule. I have not actually done that at all the first half so doing the would greatly help me out and get me that A. As far as my stories and website go, I am very happy with them. I think I have done good work so far and I want to keep that up. (Letter A. Source: Pixabay )

The comments and feedback for this course are really helpful. I am one who sometimes does not take critiques very well, but I am loving all the feedback I have been getting. Usually I do not think that college students give the best criticism, if any at all (they tend to avoid confrontation), how the feedback in this class works make it seem genuine and like people actually want you to do better. Also, giving feedback is a way to give people my own advice while also looking at how they do their stories. I have been given a few ideas myself and use my own feedback I gave them to improve my own stories. As far as the feedback I am giving students, I feel like it can be helpful, but I am not sure if they are actually using what I say. A lot of what I say is based on stylistic choices, so I am not sure if they are truly helpful. I am a very imaginative person, so when I read stories I want to be surprised. That is why my feedback often revolves around trying something new rather than jus...

As far as reading and writing goes for this course, I am struggling with the reading part. I am a slow reader in general and feel like taking the time to read a whole story takes an entire night. I know it would never actually do that but that is what it feels like. As far as the writing goes, I do not have any problems because I love writing. I also have plenty of things to say so that should not be a problem for the rest of the semester. I need to get caught up on my reading because I am quite a few points behind as far as the reading goes. My favorite writings were my first two stories. The Jataka sequel and the diary. Something about getting to make a sequel to a story allows me to continue the story how I want. Rewriting a story is boring and does not provide the newness that something different provides. For my storybook I am picking stories most people have not read so it will be new for them and also I am not retelling, but telling it from the point of view of the main charac...

( The Answers are in the comments) Riddles: What is three letters and is named after the same thing it does? A man rode into town on Friday. Three days later he leaves on Friday. How? Contrary to its name, you only wear this when it is cold outside. Without this, you would never know what you looked like. There once lived a large family. Jennifer was the mother and she was a teacher. Jason was the father and he was a farmer. Judy was the grandma and she was a nurse. Victor was the grandpa and he was a business man. Jackie was the aunt and she was a librarian. Jon was the uncle and he was a pilot. James was the oldest son and was married to Jasmine, they were both artists. Jacob was the middle son and he was a student. Jaxx was the youngest son and he wanted to be a fire. If Jaxx was 5 years old, James was 24 years old, and Jennifer had Jacob when she was 28, who in the family is different than the rest? If OU plays Texas on a Saturday and the stadium has 60,000 people...

I wanted to focus on the story of the Padavas brothers and the water riddles. I love a good riddle and I think riddles always can make a story more interesting. To start off, these brothers are supposed to be brave and smart, gifted by the gods, but they are completely dumb when it comes to being thirsty. Honestly, it could be a metaphor for men who are "thirsty" and do no think straight. If you know what I mean. Though interpreting the story in that way may not be the best idea. The fact that Nakula and Sahadeva died first does not surprise me. They did not even bother putting up a fight or even trying to answer the questions. I can understand being thirsty or dehydrated, but at least try to listen to the talking crane. There has been a few times on a hike or something where I see a pond or river and all I wanted to do is jump in it and drink all of it, but I always refrain. I am not part god, so this part is confusing to me. I love Arjuna's attempt because it matche...