Reading Notes: Ramayana Part B

Rama fighting an army of Rakshasas. Source: Wikimedia

Rama and Bharata, by Donald A. Mackenzie

After the funeral ceremony for his dead father is completed, Bharata sets out to find Rama and proclaim him king, instead of himself.  He found Rama in the forest and begged him to come home and take his place as the rightful king.  Rama refuses Bharata's offer because he does not wish to betray the command of his late father. Jabali, a counsellor to Dasharatha, tries to convince Rama to accept Bharata's offer because he is merely tring to appease gods and religious law that Jabali says to not exist.  Jabali claims that rituals and the afterlife were invented by priests to trick the populace for their own nefarious deeds and that if Rama wishes to go against his fathers command, he should and without consequence to his soul or future.  Rama refutes this suggestion and holds true to his teachings and wisdom to keep his word to his late father and his wishes for him to be exiled.  Rama will stay in the forest for the duration of his exile. 

Lakshmana and Shurpanakha, Battle with Khara, by Donald A. Mackenzie

A female Rakshasa named Shurpanakha falls in love with Rama and desires to make him her husband.  She appears to him and asks him to let her eat Sita and his brother so they can be wed and be together.  Rama rejects her proposal and laughs at her.  She gets angry and lunges at Sita.  Lakshmana, Rama's brother, leaps in front of Shurpanakha and cuts off her ears and nose.  She retreats to her brother Khara to ask for revenge.  He sends some Rakshasas to kill Rama but they are slain with celestial arrows.  This makes him angry, so he summons his brother Dushana to create an army of 14 thousand Rakshasas to defeat Rama.  Rama hears of this and tells his brother and wife to hide in a cave so he can take on the army alone.  With his celestial bow at hand, he defeats Khara and his brother's army with many arrows.

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part A

Rama breaking the bow of Shiva. Source: Wikipedia

Rama: Avatar of Vishnu, by Donald A. Mackenzie

Dasharatha had been told he would have sons, which the gods would provide.  The god's must deal with Ravana, who was impervious to them and their methods, because he was enslaving the gods and causing them problems.  Vishnu decides to take the form of mortal man to take on Ravana because he can be beaten by man or ape.  He becomes the 4 sons of Dasharatha that were promised with Rama being the most beautiful and powerful.

Rama Wins Sita, by Donald A. Mackenzie and Romesh Dutt

In an earlier story Rama met Sita in a garden when he was exploring the city and instantly fell in love.  Sita was an avatar of the goddess Lakshmi whom Vishnu was also loved, so the match was inevitable and predestined.  Sita's father, the King, decides to hold a contest to determine who is worthy of his daughter Sita.  The challenge is to bend a great bow of the god Shiva.  Many had tried and failed including many Rakshasas.  Rama, determined to win Sita, decides to take on the challenge.  To spectators amazement, Rama Strings the bow with ease and bends it back so far that it snaps in two right in the middle.  He beats the challenge with ease when others can't come close and wins Sita for himself. 

Manthara and Kaikeyi, by Donald A. Mackenzie

Upon hearing that Rama will be named the next king, Manthara, servent of the youngest wife of Dasharatha begins to plot to prevent this from happening so she will not have to serve under Rama or Sita.  She convinces Kaikeyi to call in her boons she is owed by the king to instead have Bharata, the king's youngest son, as the heir apparent instead of Rama.  Manthara hated Rama because he smote her early in his life when she did something he didn't like. 

Feedback Thoughts

A picture of someone giving another feedback.  Source: Pixabay

5 tips for taking feedback like a champ:  I think that reminding ourselves that we have room to grow is, in general, a good thing and can make it easier to focus on what you need to improve when you narrow down exactly what your weaknesses are.  I also think that recognizing your intentions can be useful when you fall short to better steer future efforts in the right direction of what we want. 

6 bad mental habits that sabotage your success:  This article does a good job of explaining some of the ways we sabotage ourselves when making mistakes or trying to succeed.  Making excuses for yourself is the easiest way to get yourself our of doing something that you should be able to do.  Turning every failure into a catastrophic one will lead to a lot more undue stress, which makes you less productive overall.  

The most productive feedback experience I can remember was my expository writing class 2 semesters ago.  The whole class had to schedule a one-on-one session with the professor to discuss their paper in detail and where it needs improvement.  The most negative experiences are always when teachers require students to fill out a pre-made feedback sheet with guided questions when giving feedback on other people's papers. 

Topic Brainstorm

A carving of Indra. Source: Wikimedia

Yaksha Prashna:

I am interested in this topic because it seems like a unique story about tests and riddles, which I am interested in.  I don't really have any prior knowledge about the subject, but I am interested to learn how Yudhishthira answers the questions.  I would like to tell this story in a monty pyton setting maybe.  I think that could be pretty fun to do with the riddle bridge in monty python.

Samudra Manthan:

I am interested in this topic because it sounds like a cool story about powerful gods at odds with each other that all have great power.  I don't know anything about these stories, but I am interested to get into the details about how this power struggle comes about.  I don't really know how I'd like to tell this story and it would have to be something I think about a bit more. 

Ravana:

I am interested in Ravana because it looks like it will be interesting stories about Ravana and his evil deeds, culminating in a battle where he is defeated.  I haven't read about these stories before, but I am excited to see how it is illustrated and narrated in the comic book.  I think this story could be told from a game of thrones perspective because of the feuds and bouts over land that seem to be a part of Ravana's story. 

Indra:

Indra seems like an interesting topic because I really like  the mythology of Thor and Zeus and he is a similar god to them.  I haven't heard this story before but I'm sure the parts where he defeats great evils will be interesting.  I think telling this story as a first person reflection of his past good deeds when he knows people have stopped worshiping him as much would be kind of cool.

Week 2 Story: The Jealous Crocodile

A monkey and a crocodile. Source: Flickr

Once upon a time there was a great and powerful monkey lord who lived on a river bank at the base of the Himalayas.  He was so great and powerful that everyone in the land that had seen or heard of him admired his strength and stature.  There was one admirer in particular that began to grow bitter of the praise and admiration the monkey constantly received from others.  This bitter creature was a great crocodile who lived in the river that the monkey lived on the bank of.  This crocodile wanted to eat the heart of the Monkey in front of all to prove to the world how much greater he was than the monkey.  The crocodile began to hatch a plan to trick the monkey into the river where he could easily overpower him and take his heart.  He began to observe the monkey's daily habits, trying to find a perfect time to lure him into the river.  He saw that the monkey would come to the banks of the river every morning to harvest figs from a tree that was on the river bank.  This is where the crocodile decided to lay his trap.  One day, when the money was harvesting figs from his tree the crocodile approached him from the river.  

The crocodile approached the monkey and asked, "why do you eat these figs from this tree when there are much tastier foods on the opposite bank with mango and labuja trees with tastier fruit than you can imagine!"  

The monkey, intrigued by the crocodiles description, responds with "I do see the fruit trees on the opposite bank but I have no way to cross the river to get to them.  If I tried to swim, I would surely drown." 

"I will carry you across" responds the crocodile, "If you can't swim well enough, you can stand on my back as I swim to the other side."

The monkey, pondering this proposal for a few minutes, decided to go along with the crocodile's plan.  He stepped onto the back of the crocodile and the crocodile began swimming across the river to the other side.  When they had reached the middle of the river, the crocodile told the monkey his devious plan.

Horrified, the monkey begins to think of any way to save his life and quickly exclaims, "You cannot eat my heart for I have left it on the river bank,  you think I would keep something so important with me all the time where I could lose it?"

This statement confused the crocodile because he assumed the monkey's heart was inside him like his own, but he also did not know the differences between a monkey and a crocodile.  In his confusion he made a hasty decision to bring the monkey back to the bank to find his heart.  He would keep the monkey in the water so he could not leave and try and figure out where the monkey had left his heart.  As he neared the bank, the monkey suddenly jumped off of the crocodiles back with tremendous force; enough to get him all the way to the bank.  This surprised and confused the crocodile because he was not aware the monkey had such strength.  

The monkey exclaimed, "you see stupid crocodile, you will never have my heart if you don't even know where to find it.  I have beaten you and you now will die."

The crocodile, stunned by the monkey's statement just laid in the river where he was too shocked to move.  The monkey then grabbed a branch from the fig tree and splintered it off into a makeshift spear in an instant.  He then thrust the spear with great force at the crocodile and pierced his heart.  The crocodile thrashed and panicked for a few moments, but it was too late, and he soon perished.  The crocodile wanted so badly to have the monkey's heart to prove his worth, but in the end, he lost his own.

Author's Note: The original story is about a crocodile who wants to please his wife by stealing the heart of a great monkey who lived on the river bank for her to eat.  The monkey bests the crocodile by tricking him into bringing him to safety by saying he left his heart in the fig tree.  I changed the story to remove the wife and make it more about the crocodiles jealousy instead of pleasing his wife.  The monkey tricks the crocodile in a similar way, but kills the crocodile in the end, instead of letting him go.  I think this makes it more interesting because the crocodile faces real consequences for his actions, instead of just a disappointed wife.

Bibliography: "The Monkey and The Crocodile" from Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock.

Reading Notes: Jatakas

The crane convincing the fish to let him carry them to the lake. Source: Wikimedia

The Cunning Crane and the Crab:
By: W.H.D. Rouse
A story about a cunning crane who deceives an entire pool of fish into letting him easily eat them.  The crane gets a little taste of karma when he tries the same trick on the crab.  The crab is more cunning than the crane, so he realizes the crane's trick and finds a way to prevent his death and secure a spot in the big lake he wants to get to.

The Crocodile and the Monkey's Heart:
By: Marie L. Shedlock
This story is about a crocodile who would do anything to give his wife what she wants.  She wants a monkey's heart and he hatches a plan to get it for her.  He wants so badly to get her what she wants that he hastily tricks the monkey into riding on his back to get across a river.  He is thwarted however when the monkey tricks the crocodile into taking him to a tree where he stores his heart.  The crocodile was so eager to get his wife what she wanted he never stopped to think about what she was actually asking for and where it was. If he had thought of that, he may have succeeded.  Very similar to the Crocodile in the River, but a more simplified version.

Goblin City:
By: W.H.D. Rouse

This is a story about an island of goblins that trick sailors into marrying them to be eaten later.  One sailor finds out about this trick when he pretends to be asleep while his wife is talking to herself about eating men.  He wants to escape and tells the other sailors about what he heard.  many believe him, but some do not and wish to stay with their new wives.  A fairy that hates goblins decides to take pity on them and sends her flying horse to save the ones that want to leave, while the others stay behind and get eaten.

Reading Options

A statue depicting Ravana. Source: Wikimedia

I am excited about the various reading assignment options we are able to choose from.  I think I will be interested in the graphic novel readings because I think they are a great way to tell stories like the ones we will be reading in this class.  The one about Ravana and his war with the gods sounds interesting.  I think the novelistic adaptation of The Ramayama stories sounds interesting to explore and read about especially if it can be broken up across a couple reading assignments.  The groups of anthological stories seems nice to get a bunch of short stories about various characters in Indian mythos that aren't discussed elsewhere.  The Contest short story for week 9 seems interesting to me with a tournament between highly trained princes.

Time Strategies

A picture of time flying by. Source: Pixabay

The two articles I read were 3 Steps to Recapture Time and Realistic Study Plans.  A useful tip out of the first article is learning to say no to certain decisions or time obligations that aren't as important to your overall goals.  Some advice I found useful in the second post was to actual sit down and plan out my work and studying that needs to be done so it can be accomplished in a realistic manner.  I don't think I'll have many time challenges this semester because my course load is rather light compared to past semesters.  A time management strategy that works for me is to do more work in the mornings when I have more energy instead of at night when I'm less productive. 

Technology Tools

Picture of many different tech devices. source : Pexels

I am familiar with most of the tech tools described in the post that will be used for this class.  I have taken a couple online courses that have required blogging so I'm fairly familiar with the format of this class.

Thoughts on Assignments

Class assignments logo. source: Wikimedia

I think the storytelling and tech tips assignments sound really interesting.  I also think the project will be interesting because it is something I haven't done before. 

Thoughts On The Growth Mindset

A meme I found that inspired me.  source: Meme Blog

I have never heard of Carol Dweck or the growth mindset philosophy.  I can see many ways through what she talked about in the videos to improve my learning habits at school.  Praising difficulty and the process is a new concept to me and one that I think could improve the way I learn new information.  The idea of taking more risks in my academic life seems like something that would be helpful in challenging myself and engaging more in school.

Introduction to Dave

Me and my family on a vacation to New Mexico in 2015.

Hello, my name is David.  I am a senior electrical engineering major. When I was in high school I ran a business fixing Xboxs out of my garage which is what got me started into Electrical Engineering and computers.  I started college at Ohio State for Computer Science and transferred here to OU after 2 and a half years.  When I came here I switched to electrical engineering because I wasn't feeling comp-sci and it ended up being a great decision.  I'm a big fan of Lord of the Rings and I like to pretend the Hobbit movies don't exist.  They are my favorite books since I was a kid and they're the only books I've ever re-read a few times.  Some of my favorite movies are Interstellar, I Love You Man, Last of the Mohicans, A River Runs Through It, Legends of the Fall, most Star Wars movies, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I watch all kinds of TV but what I've been watching recently is Black Mirror, Brooklyn 99, and Rick and Morty.  I also like to play video games when I've got free time and I'd say my favorite games are Borderlands 2, Assassins Creed Black Flag, Sean White Snowboarding, and any number of Nintendo games.  I've been to all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Ireland, England, and a couple places around the Mediterranean.  My favorite place I've visited was Ireland because of how beautiful it is and how genuinely nice the local people are to travelers.  I currently work at the Radar Innovation Lab here at OU and am planning to get my masters in Electrical Engineering there.  The RIL is a research lab for the purpose of developing weather radar and applications for the national weather center and other interested entities.  Once I finish my masters, I would like to work in radar somewhere on the west coast. 

Storybook Favorites

The first storybook I enjoyed was the Tragic Stories Featuring Yakshas storybook.  I am not at all familiar with Indian Epics and stories so all of these stories are new and kind of exciting to me.  I think the introduction to these stories does a good job setting up what Yakshas are and what they can do, so you can understand the proceeding stories a little bit better.  The layout of the page is nice, but I would have gone with something that adds a few more images and elements of the stories.  I don't like the navigation bars at the top.  I think those would be better on a sidebar or a drop-down menu.

The second storybook I liked was Jatakas and Justice storybook.  I really liked how this one was written in the first person as Yama, the god of death.  It turns the stories into a more reflective third person account of how these animals and people live by Dharma and what can be learned from them.  As far as layout, I don't like the bar at the top for navigation and I'd still prefer one to the side or in a drop-down.  What I really liked about the layout of this blog however, was the big images included for each story and elsewhere.  They were nice to look at and gave a good image to have in your head while reading the stories.

Yama, god of death, guarding the underworld.  Taken from the Jatakas and Justice storybook. Source: Law Image.

The third storybook I liked was Ali's Stories of the Wild West. I really liked how this storybook was written in a wild west setting.  Westerns are one of my favorite types of movies and the story of Wyatt Earp in Tombstone is by far my favorite, so I'm happy they chose that location to tell their stories.  I liked the layout of the top of the blog for the titles of each page because the words are big, bold, and underlined which makes it all pop.  I still don't like the navigation of these pages, but I am wondering if it is just a limitation of the website.   I also don't like how this person put the pictures at the bottom of every page and think it would be better to include them in the story at the top or in-between paragraphs

Ireland, My Favorite Place

Ireland is one of my favorite places I've been.  It is beautiful, there is great food, and the locals are very pleasant and friendly.

The beautiful Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. Source: pixabay

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