Telling Stories at Hogwarts

I had the most interesting conversation about the statue of Sita the other day with my dear friend Dean Thomas. We are both currently fourth-year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is a discussion that became uncommon in my home due to the sensitivity behind the story. We were not forbidden from talking about it but it was frowned upon to share our own opinions. People have criticized my father and his father because of their take on the story. Many Indian people believe the classic story behind the statue but I have a great ancestor who was there who know the real story…

“So, Padma, tell me more about this so-called story behind the statue, since you say you know more than the stories and professor say. It's hard to believe anything different than what Professor Tialleur was saying in our Wizards Through History class,” said Dean one day while we were sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room.

“I do not appreciate the unbelieving tone behind that statement but I will tell you nonetheless,” I reluctantly answered because I knew he would challenge any response I gave. He was notorious for being overly critical of people's opinions. This is one of my dearest friends but he can be somewhat self-obsessed sometimes, thinking that no one is right but himself. “Well, here is how the traditional stories went. Rama had to send Sita away because of the so-called bad reputation that she was bestowing upon his name after his exile. He told people he wanted the statue so that he could stop missing her and kept it in her room at his palace. Although creepy, this was his way of having her as company without actually dealing with the criticism of people who did not approve of her. My family, however, believes something totally different. Even though it was only her body in the room, he still felt comfort from her. We believe that Rama had Sita killed. I know people to claim to have known the whereabouts of Sita after she left Rama. However, my ancestor Vasu Roshan told people that he was there the day the statue was made. Vasu was the top of the line of many ancestors who worked for the royal palace. They have been sharing this story with their children all the way until my father shared it with Parvati and myself. Vasu knows that it was not just gold inside of the statue but it was Sita. Rama turned her into a statue because he did not want anyone else to have her but he also did not want to kill her and have her buried in the ground.”

“That is probably one of the coolest stories I have ever heard,” replied Dean. This was not the reaction I expected from him. “Do you know what happened to the statue after Rama was gone? Did he want to take it with him so no one would ever know his secret? How many other people saw this happen?”

“Slow down with all the questions! According to Vasu, a theory passed down for many generations, the statue still remains in the exact location Rama made it. My father says he also saw it. He told us that Sita still stands in the same place. See, he did not make the statue by himself. The only people who were present in the room were Rama, Sita, Vasu, another servant and Suman the magic lion. Suman is the one who had the power to turn Sita into a statue without harming her but I guess the requirement was that she would never move from that place due to the amount of magic that went into making her. When he made her into a statue, he essentially froze and then killed her. They knew she probably would have been killed out in exile but this was Rama's way of having her close. It is a pretty disgusting thing to do, if you ask me. Even though the palace has been destroyed and many natural disasters have hit the area, the statue still stands, looking over India.” I was very happy that he did not criticize me for this story and was shocked that Dean did not challenge me at all!

Image Information: Taken from Superior Pics. Padma and Dean are on the left and they are the characters communicating in my story. Picture from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Author's Note: For this story I made Padma Patil the storyteller. She is an Indian student from the Harry Potter novels. I had her telling the story of what happened to Sita's statue to another student named Dean Thomas, who is also from Harry Potter. I chose Dean and Padma because they are both minor characters from Harry Potter and are both in the same house in the books. I also wanted to do this to add a little bit of character to a less known character from the books. While somewhat gross, I made up an ending that the statue was actually Sita. The reason I am calling it gross is because I am having Rama keep a technically dead body in his room and keep him company, even though she is a dead body. I think of it as a creepy idea instead of romantic or sweet. He is not keeping her to save her from exile but killing her his way and keeping her perfectly frozen body for his own benefit. I was inspired to do this while thinking of the movie House of Wax because in that movie actual people are turned into wax figures. I thought this would be a funny change in the story and somewhat different from the epics. I included a magic lion because while reading the Ramayana, I always find the most random magical characters. I figured that a magical lion would not be far-fetched at all and would be a good addition to the story. Before I told her made-up story I included what is actually from the books regarding Rama’s decision to make a statue of Sita.

Bibliography:

• Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

Reading Diary B Week 7

The final reading assignment of this awesome book. I was very skeptical of these books before reading them because they would not normally be something that I would choose at a book store. I have loved seeing all of the personalities of the characters in this book and also being able to read more about these characters from other stories from Indian epics.

Lots of love is shown for Rama from Bharata, especially now that he is back and taking over the title. I love the relationship between the two.

People talk about Sita and her actions. This really goes to show how many things don't actually change over time because this is something that would definitely happen again in today's time.

Sumantra blames the result on karma. Lakshmana must obey Rama's wishes to leave Sita at the Ganges.

I love when she comes back to Rama. It shows her humility even though it doesn't work out the way she was hoping.

I really loved this book and can't wait to do more research about it in the future!

Reading Diary A Week 7

The part of this reading that stands out the most to me is at the beginning of the reading when Jambavan is fighting the demons. Jambavan has quickly become my favorite character in this book. I liked when it said that he "hugged them to death."

After the battle between Rama and Ravana, Ravana dies and Maya takes it very hard.

I actually lied about the part of the reading that stood out to me. I think the best part was when Hanuman finds Sita. She is definitely one of my favorite parts of this book so when they were reunited I felt very emotionally attached to her character.

It was also exciting to read about Rama's coronation and to realize that the end of the exile is in sight!

Week 5: Styles

Since I have already completed the style section for the storybook project as opposed to the portfolio one, I am going to be using a lot of the styles that I also used for that one.

Outside Sources: For this style of storytelling I want to incorporate characters from other stories and mix them in with the Indian Epics world. For my storybook project I originally wanted to use the twins from Harry Potter so for an upcoming storytelling assignment I want to use them since I am choosing to do the portfolio instead. I think it would also be fun to somehow use Shakespeare of even the main character from the book The Little Princess because I know there are a lot of references to the Indian culture in that story.

Animal Stories: I really love being able to retell Indian Epics stories with animals instead of the characters. That’s what I am using for my first story on my portfolio and it is my favorite one that I have written so far. I think it is a lot of fun to manipulate the characters and showcase their stories the way they would pan out in the animal world. I like this style a lot because there are so so so many different animals I can use.

Focusing on Lessons: For this one I could retell stories focusing on the important Indian Epics lessons. Karma is the number one topic that I am referring to with this idea but the possibilities are endless because they have so many recurring themes in the stories.

Changing Perspectives: I really enjoy telling stories like this because I can manipulate the story by telling it from another character's perspective and explain the way I think the situation would be like for that other character. The best part about this is when the reader’s do not actually know what the other characters think about a situation so there are so many thoughts you can put in their head.

TV Shows: This is a recurring theme that I see in lots of storytellings that I think would be fun to use. Sort of similar to my first idea, I could tell the story coming from a TV show or a game show in which characters need to know about the stories in order to advance.

Storytelling Week 5: Sita's Capture

I do not know why this idiot thinks it is a bad idea for me to take Sita with me. All I have ever wanted is for her to love me and I know that she is completely under the spell of that stupid Rama. There is no way she can really love him. She has to know after spending time with me that she will eventually fall for me. I am one of the greatest looking men in the land so how on earth could this beautiful woman not fall for me?! She is, after all, more beautiful than any wife I have ever owned. I will somehow convince Maricha to give into the idea of me having Sita. It will happened for my good.

I have done it. Maricha has finally given in to my request and he will help me in my plan to make Sita mine. I am going to have him disguise himself as a deer and appear to Rama. Knowing Rama he will try to be the hero and find the deer, leaving his sweet bride alone. I would never leave her alone if I could just call her mine. I will then come to her while she is frightened and I will also be disguised but I will be an old innocent man that she has no choice but to trust. I will sweep her off of her feet and take her away with me. Then I know she will eventually profess her love for me. There is no way my plan may fail.

The planned WORKED. Sita is now in my care and I am so happy. It was a fight to get her to come with me but I think she was still shocked about Rama being captured. I bet she thought he could somehow still see her so she wanted to seem scared even though I know she wanted to come with me. That stupid vulture Jatayu tried to fight me as I was taking her away so I had no choice but to chop off his wings to get him away. I probably looked so brace in the eyes of Sita. I know she was impressed and that action will help her to confess her love for me.

Now it is just about persuading her to fall for me. All I want is for her to say I love you. Once I hear those words I know she will be mine. I know I cannot tell her first. It has to be her choice and I know it will be coming soon.

Authors Note: I decided to tell the story of Ravana capturing Sita from his perspective. Instead of getting her to sleep with him I made his mission just to tell him she loves him to lighten it up a little bit.

Bibliography: Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way

Image Information: Picture of a statue of Ravana taken from Wikipedia  

Reading Diary B

I really liked the quote at the beginning of this reading that Maricha says to Ravana when he says, "let the Sun and Moon stand in fear of you but let Sita be!" It kind of reminds me of the reading from last week where someone is talking someone out of being bad. I felt like I was rooting for Lakshmana so much where he was skeptical about the deer, I wish that people would have listened to him. I felt like I do while watching a scary movie when the person is doing something stupid and you can't help but get angry that they're doing. I always feel some weird emotional attachment to Sita during these readings so I was getting really upset when Ravana finally kidnapped her. I was especially annoyed when Ravana was fighting Jatayu. It significantly creeped me out when Ravana calls Sita "Mine."

I thought this was the most entertaining reading with the most interesting little stories. It is definitely going to be easy to figure out a storytelling for this week's reading.

Storytelling Week 4: The Unfair Promotion

“I have officially decided that I am going to have Miranda take my place as general manager as soon as I move to Australia,” Celia announced. Celia Hawkins was the general manager of Three Chickens. She was planning on moving to Australia because she was getting married to a lifeguard she met one summer. It was her job to hand over the job of general manager. She knew that Miranda would be the perfect candidate because for the past 6 months she had pretty much been performing as such. Miranda was a single mom of three because her husband had recently lost his battle to cancer. She was a very selfless woman, who never asked for anything from anyone. Everyone at work saw the potential in her and now she was finally going to have her chance to shine. Another girl named Caroline heard the news and was so excited for Miranda!

She went to her best friend at work and told her the great news. When she told Lola about it, Lola freaked out. She went on and on to Carolina about how this was one of the worst ideas she had ever heard. Lola told Caroline that she should not be so happy for her and that their friend Matthew was actually the one who deserved it! She said that he had been working there so much longer and was the actual one who should be next in line. Matthew was a very selfish man. Practically the polar opposite of Miranda. He was a 25 year old who still lived at home with his parents and got everything he ever wanted from them despite his age. After much convincing she convinced Caroline to go to Celia and have her rethink her offer. She not only convinced Celia to promote Matthew to the general manager but she also convinced her to make Miranda the janitor and decrease her pay. She was to tell Miranda that the decrease needed to happen because the store was struggling to give money to the people who had been there longer than she.

When Celia brought this news to Miranda she took it willingly. She said that she completely understood that they needed to demote her and said that this would just make her work even harder to bring money home for her family. Even though she was in such a terrible situation she still did what was required of her without anger or asking questions because that’s just the kind of woman she was.

Author's Note: I wrote about the story of Rama getting exiled and instead of getting exiled I wrote about someone getting demoted from their job.

Bibliography:

• Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

Image Information: picture of a waitress like Miranda in the story taken from Career Stair

Reading Diary B Week 4

 I thought it was crazy that Dasaratha forced his own son into exile on the request of someone else. I feel like he gave into the request of Kaikeyi way too fast. It was pretty frustrating for me while I was reading it. I also thought it was crazy how peacefully Rama responded. I really liked the line that Lakshmana said when he said "a wrong thrown at Rama seems to bring out no anger in him; it is like a seed thrown on stone" (71). I really don't like the character of Kaikeyi, it bugged me reading about how she tried so hard to get Dasaratha to teach her the language of the animals. I got super sad (once again) when I read about the death of Dasaratha. That's sad that he dies because of the departure of Rama which I completely blame on Kaikeyi, which makes me not like her even more.

Reading Diary A Week 4

Sauti and Sanuaka set up the story by saying that they are going to talk about the story of Ramayana. Narada wants Valmiki to rescue Sita from exile and to teach her sons about Rama. Rama has twin sons named Kusa and Lava who are named by Valmiki. My favorite part of this reading was learning about the story of Pulastya and Vaishravana. It just really caught my attention because of the detail of the characters and the way the author introduces them. Besides that story I also really got a lot of out the story of Ravana and Shiva. I loved rereading about Rama and Vishwamitra. I think it is very interesting reading the same story from two different translations. This reading ends with my favorite story of Rama and Sita. I definitely plan on including them in my storybook because I am such a big fan of this story!

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Reading Diary B Week 3

The part that I was focused on in this reading chunk was the story about Ravana and the monkeys. I think it’s funny/interesting that the source of annoyance here is monkeys. Ravana is angry and wants the worst for Rama. He wants to kill Rama and the monkeys. He tries to convince Sita that Rama was dead by bringing her a fake head of Rama but is not fooled. I think my favorite part about this book so far has been the story behind Rama and Sita. During their battle, the author sets up perfect descriptions of the fight and includes lots of details about the scenery and surroundings. The part that was most interesting was about Ravana’s head constantly growing back. Rama ends up defeating Ravana. The book ends with Rama FINALLY going back to Ayodhya and becoming king like he deserved. I’m very interested to see how different the other versions of the book are.

Reading Diary A Week 3

The characters are now in Kiskinda where they meet the new character named Hanuman who actually takes on the form of a giant monkey. Hanuman tells the story of Sugreeva, his chief. Vali was the brother of Sugreeva and the king of Kiskinda and had unlimited power. My favorite line about him was where it said that no lance could pierce his chest. Vali got in a big quarrel with Mayavi and ended up getting very angry with Surgeeva when it was over. In turn Vali forcibly stole Surgeeva’s wife. Rama feels bad for Surgeeva and wants to help him kill Vali. It showed a lot of compassion in Rama since he was so eager to help Surgeeva defeat his brother. I also really liked the way Rama stuck up for Surgeeva to Vali as he was dying. This shows his allegiance to Surgeeva even though they had just met. At the end of the reading we meet the character of Sampathi which is actually one of the only Indian Epics characters I had heard of before this class.