Week 9: Famous Last Words

Hey, everyone! So my last week has been a whirlwind (as usual).  I got through the last of my midterms which was good.  However, that has kept me from writing with that much quality.  Unfortunately, all of my assignments have been done pretty last minute so I’m hoping to work ahead as much as I can while midterms are out of the way for a little bit.  Anyways, I have been particularly impressed with the quality and the creativity of all the storybooks I’ve read.  I actually am very much looking forward to reading the new stories over the coming week because they are so interesting and add so much to the reading we have already done for the class.  Also, looking at other people’s storybooks has shown me the neat things people can do with formatting and colors and how it can add to the story and set the tone. 

As for other parts of my life, my week was good.  I was so relieved when my exams were over and spent all day Thursday (after my exam) meeting with my residents over various things.  On Friday, two of my classes were cancelled so after my one and only class that day, I ran some errands, got lunch with a friend, and had a girls’ night.  We went wedding dress shopping, ate dinner at Tarahumara’s, and watched a movie while eating ice cream.  It was a wonderful way to spend the night and then my fiancé got back in town Friday night which was great as well.  Today (Saturday), I slept a lot and am now waiting to go on rounds with my co-RA.  This past week has been really good and I’m sort of sad to know that the fall semester is drawing to a close (or at least it seems that way) since it’s my last year at OU.  Boomer Sooner!

Cute baby pineapple for your personal enjoyment

 (personal photo, May 2014)

Week 9 Storytelling: Young Love

I’ve always dreamed of what my future wife would be like.  She’d be beautiful of course.  After all, I am the king of Hastinapura – I deserve the very best.  However, I want there to be more to our relationship than superficial things.  I want there to be love.  Not some arranged sort of love some kings have, but a love that would have occurred regardless of my position as king.  For this reason, I want to fall in love not as a king but as an ordinary man.  Therefore, whenever my future wife and I meet, I know she will love me for me and not for my power.  However, this is easier said than done.  You see, everyone in the kingdom knows who I am, especially all the women.  I can’t simply disguise myself because they would all see through the disguises.  For this reason, I must go on the outskirts of town where the hard-working and unexpecting women reside.  I decide to leave in the morning.  The next morning, I have the guards drop me off on the riverbank.  As I walk, letting me feet run through the water, I notice a woman all by herself.  As I look closer, I do not recognize her face and do not know if she is even a part of the kingdom.  All the better.  I give myself a mental pep talk as I approach her and then I start a conversation with her.  We talk about the weather, the beauty of the land, and our favorite things to do.  Our eyes connect and I feel all warm and happy inside.  She wraps up the conversation and turns to leave.  On a whim, I ask her to be my wife since I do not want to let such a special woman escape from my vicinity.  Interestingly enough, she agrees.  I can hardly believe my luck.  Part of me wonders if something is wrong with her, but I smile and push those thoughts aside.  I become very excited and then, she asks me to promise one thing- that I would never tell her to do anything differently or have her change what she does.  Thinking back to tales I’ve heard of power-hungry husbands, I feel like that may be why she requests this and oblige of course.  As we return to the castle, we talk some more and I grow to love her more and more. 

Author’s Note:  I wanted to add more information than the book did about this.  I think the woman was deceptive but the king was also very naïve.  He wanted a wife too badly to see through some of the red flags.

Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

A river - may resemble the one the king met his wife at.

(source:  Wikipedia)

Week 9: Reading Diary B

Why is the minister cunning?  I feel like that's so contradictory... I think it’s good that Bhishma and Vidura push Dhritarashtra towards making peace.  For one thing, it’s a good thing to do – having enemies isn’t good and oftentimes, tension can be resolved by simply communicating.  Two, in this world, people all over are being cursed so if he wants to avoid worse things happening, this may be a good first step.  Also, I think it’s really strange that it was frowned upon to kill a deer, but now someone is being rewarded for burning down a forest full of birds and animals so that Agni could consume the animal fat as he chose.  I think that’s pretty confusing- either it’s not acceptable to kill animals or it is (in their culture).  I suppose in today’s world, we are split on that but in terms of punishing/cursing someone, I feel like there should be a more definite answer so someone would know what he/she was getting into.  I think that it’s wise that Draupadi doesn’t use all of her wishes up – she basically asks for things to be in the state they were before the gambling, and she doesn’t ask for anymore.  I think this is smart because it helps avoid an unnecessary war.  I find it slightly strange that Draupadi is not criticizing Yudhishthira for being forgiving when before it seemed as if she was really trying to make peace when she didn’t overstep her bounds on her wishes.  As for the whole mantra, I feel like that’s totally unfair to be able to say some magical words and automatically get weapons and have an advantage over one’s enemies.  I’m glad that Arjuna is actually blessed out of the initial curse – I feel like there’s so much war, death, and deceit in this story it’s nice to see that every once in a while, some people have good stuff happening.  

Week 9: Reading Diary A

I feel like Santanu should have almost expected something crazy to happen when the woman said she will have freedom to do whatever she wants if she marries him – just saying.  Also, poor Santanu- he seems to keep falling for women who cause him more trouble than good.  In a way, maybe it’s not so bad because maybe it’s a plot devised by the gods and he needs to be with these women to have sons with certain characteristics, but I still think it is pretty unfortunate for him.  It’s kind of Bhishma to step down from the throne for the sake of his father – I wonder why he was so willing to do it.  Solely out of love for his father or perhaps he was scared to have the throne all to himself?  Either way, it must have been a little bit more comforting to have other brothers since his father probably scared him a little bit about the risk of only having one heir with all the danger that comes associated with being the heir.  I feel really bad for the Ambika, Ambalike, and the servant who were forced to sleep with someone, especially when they didn’t know the person and they were scared of him.  I hate that their kids have to live lives at a disadvantage because of their mothers’ states upon conception (except for the servant’s child, of course).  I also think it’s rather unsmart for Dhritarashtra’s wife to be blind with her husband – it’s loving, of course but I feel like she’s not going to be able to help her husband in that state and she probably won’t even be able to take care of her own self.  It’s pretty terrible either way but man, these families seemed to be cursed pretty harshly.  I also find it really unfortunate that Panda is also now cursed.  Sure, he shouldn’t have shot a deer (especially in that situation) but really, he didn’t know it was a celestial being.  It surprised me that there was, in this story, a good thing that happened- Kunti had a son with the sun god and the son was rescued.  Yeah, it wasn’t good to send her son down a river in hopes that nothing would kill it, but the son was taken in by a couple which was very nice and unexpected.  More exile- why?  Being liked by the people you are ruling isn’t a bad thing at all- it’s actually a great thing! Sure, I understand being jealous but he is being helpful.