Reading Diary B: Narayan's Mahabharata

It finally happened! The epic battle that the whole book has been leading up to finally happened. I'm a sucker for big fight scenes, and I have to say this was by far my favorite part of the story. We see all of the characters that have been introduced throughout the story as well as number of characters who show up as reminders of brief or minor events from the beginning, like Bhima's rakshasa son. Following the events of the fight was really exciting, but I did think there was some silliness. Namely, Bhisma's falling on the bed of arrows.

Bhisma on the bed of arrows; Source; wikimedia

While this event is a bit strange in and of itself, I especially liked how everyone dropped what they were doing just to come and gawk at Bhisma. I guess the fighting wasn't that important? This is not the strangest thing to happen in the story, but it just stuck out to me as especially bizarre. The rest of the battle was fairly predictable: the righteous Pandavas overcome Duryodhana and his ilk, and then rule the kingdom. I can't tell if I like the character of Yudhistira or not. There are more than a few times where he laments his role as a kshatriya, which is understandable because he does not seem to like fighting and violence as much as his brothers. However, he still does a lot of stupid, rash things throughout the story. Bhima and Arjuna are both very aggressive, while the twins are there  just hanging out, so it's not hard to make Yudhistira seem like the rational one; but still, it seems strange that he was so willing to punish the Kaudavas but then talks about his unfortunate circumstances as a warrior.

Reading Diary A: Narayan's Mahabharata

This section of the Mahabharata set up a lot of plot for the final battle between the two families, but it did have some really interesting scenes. The "hundred questions" scene in particular was really interesting I thought. We know that these texts are supposed to be very important to the larger context of Hinduism, but sometimes it's hard to see how that can be. In this scene, we're gien a number of very straightforward philosophical ideas and values. I also like the idea of Yudihistira's father coming to Earth to test him and make sure he was turning out okay. The fathers of the Pandavas are mentioned in the very beginning but it seems like most fathers in these stories take a rather hands-off approach. I also like how this is the scene where Yudihistira undoubtedly redeems himself in the eyes of his brothers. Yeah he may have lost all of their wealth and fortune twice, but at least he answered all the questions and everyone got to come back to life. It kinda balances out I guess.

Statue of the god Yama; source: wikimedia

I also really liked the stories of the Pandavas while they were at Virata's court. It's an entertaining trope, seeing these highborn nobles taking on more demeaning tasks, but it also does a lot to characterize them. Honestly, it's very easy to forget about the twins, and it was a nice change to se Bhima excited to do something other than fight and/or kill things. The scene with Arjuna and Uttara fighting together was especially interesting because of the dynamics between the two characters, and we can see how easily Arjuna can slip between his two personas. There was a lot of brief mentions of different alliances and deals made with other kings/rulers, so I'm really excited to see how it all plays out in the final battle.

Thoughts about Comments

I really love the amount of peer review we have in this class. As writers, getting feedback and critiques is the best way for us to improve. I really like comments that can point out a single aspect of a story and give an opinion on it. The very general comments about the quality of a story or how it reads are nice, but it's much more engaging if someone says "I liked the dialogue" or "The description of this scene seemed lacking."

In that same vein, I think it's best if comments are honest, even if that means they're negative. Honest comments are how a writer can tell that his or her audience is truly engaging with the story.  If there is a serious problem in a story, then it needs to be pointed out to the author. Sometimes this could be a number of problems with the grammar, or it could be an issue with wording or sentence structure. Other times, this might include a more stylistic critique, looking at how characters are described and how the structure of a story is set up. Personally, I know that this is a very hard thing to do with a person face-to-face let alone in an online class where we don't have the chance to explain/deliver our critiques exactly as we would like. There have been a number of times where I've been conflicted over whether or not I should say something to an author because I didn't want to create bad vibes in the class. Moving forward, I hope to do a better job of leaving comments that are not only engaging, but also constructive.

Week 5 Storytelling: The Creation of the Mahabharata

Vyasa was bored. Tremendously bored. Agonizingly, crushingly, painfully bored. It was already noon and not a single person had come by asking him to solve their problems. Business had never been this slow before. He'd been in the wandering sage game for a while but he found that it was finally time to take a more active role in drumming up clients. He asked his manager, Ganesh, to come by to discuss his ideas. Because he was a divine being and was capable of doing so, he showed up instantly.

"Ganesh, I must speak with you. I've devised a project that will help me spur up some customers, but I need your help."

"Surely, Vyasa, you know I will assist you in any task. What is it you wish to do?"

"As a wandering sage, my only purpose is to give aid and spread wisdom and all that, but I can only do so when others come to seek my help. As such, I've decided that my reputation and fame could use a boost." Vyasa smiled, his eyes glimmering with pride at his new idea. "I'm going to write a new version of the Mahabharata!"

Ganesh cocked his elephantine head to the side."Vyasa, I do not think I follow. You mean to say your retelling will surpass all the others and that it will garner you fame? You're going to change the story as it was told by Draupadi, Arjuna, and the god Shiva himself?"

"No, no, nothing like that. If anything my version will be as close to the other versions as possible, but with one key difference. I'm going to be one of the main characters, helping all the others, and explaining things about the gods, and just generally being old and smart and so on. When everyone sees how wise and virtuous I was in the Mahabharata, I won't stop having people to help!"

Ganesh couldn't suppress his laughter."Vyasa, be serious! You're going to try to pass off a new version of the Mahabharata with you as a main character? Who will you claim wrote the whole thing, yourself?"

"That's an excellent idea!" Vyasa clapped his hands in approval, his head already full of excitement. "I'll say I'm the original author, and I preceded all the others. Then I will also be praised for my abilities as a storyteller! All good wandering sages are skilled storytellers."

Ganesh shook his head in disbelief, "Vyasa, don't be ridiculous. No one will take it seriously. You're essentially trying to pass off your fan-fiction as historical fact."

"No, Ganesh, you misunderstand me. I'm going to tell you the new story and you'll to write it down and distribute it among the people. Everyone knows gods don't lie or spread false advertising. If all goes well, then my version will become the new standard!" 

Ganesh sighed in frustration, but he gave in to the soft spot he held for Vyasa."Fine, I'll do this for you. But we have to do this all in one sitting; I have an appointment with another client this evening. How do you want to start?"

"Let's keep the beginning mostly the same, but we'll say I'm the one that actually fathered Pandu, Dhritarashtra, and Vidura, thanks to my prodigious virility. After that, I was thinking we could change..."

The wise and virtuous Vyasa; Source: wikimedia

Author's Note: This is a retelling of the very first part of the Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan (1978). This version opens with a brief introduction talking about the process of Vyasa telling Ganesh the whole story. The fact that they had to set conditions about the dictation really reminds me of a business transaction, so I thought it would be interesting to portray it as a manager/client relationship. I really like the general idea of a story-within-a-story framework, and the character of Vyasa is interesting for his dual roles in the story. He reminds me a bit of Alfred Hitchcock in that he has a cameo in his works. I tried to imagine why he would want to tell a story like this, and that's how I came up with the idea I had for this story. Some of the things he does are a bit over the top (sleeping with the three women and cursing the sons of the two queens just because they closed their eyes or got pale) and it seemed that he had a much stronger ego than other wisemen we've talked about. The image I’m using for this story is a simple picture of Vyasa. I feel like it shows him as the prototypical yogi one might imagine. 

Reading Diary B: Narayan's Mahabharata

The miracle of the cloth; Source: wikimedia

The second part of this week's reading was a lot easier to follow. I will admit that I got a bit lost with trying to keep all of the characters names straight in the first 40 pages, but now it seems like the division between the two sides of the family is a lot clearer, so it's a lot easier to keep up with all of the different names and characters. That, in turn, makes the story waaaaaaay more interesting!

I really liked the scene between Yudihistira and Sakuni. It was a bit predictable in that you could tell Sakuni would win with every wager, but it was still really entertaining to watch the usually serious and rational Yudihistira fall deeper and deeper into a gambling frenzy. The story also brought up some really interesting moral questions: if a person engages in something willingly and in full knowledge of the consequences, are they the only one to blame for their circumstances? This was exacerbated when he wagered Draupadi, because she brought up a pretty straightforward argument about how he couldn't have wagered her as he was already Sakuni's servant. I think the most interesting aspect of this whole story is how it humanizes most of the characters. All of the named characters have some aspect of divinity or  the supernatural as part of their characters, but in this scene it was just two guys gambling over things and everyone arguing about the rules. Of course, the scene at the end with Krishna's miracle of the endless cloth can't really be considered "normal" but it was pretty cool.

Reading Diary A: Narayan's Mahabharata

For the Mahabharata I decided to go with the Narayan version instead of the Public Domain version. I liked the online accessibility of the PDE version of the Ramayana, but the radical changes in styles and forms between sections was a little bit too much for me. In Narayan's writing, the prose is all under the same structure, so it's much more consistent, and I can get a better feel for the text

Vyasa recites the story to Ganesh; Source: Wikimedia

The story here is a lot more sprawling and epic than the story of the Ramayana. It opens with a description of Vyasa and Ganesh agreeing on how to copy down the story and the launches into the actual tale. I like this story within a story framework, but it seems like it will only be mentioned at the beginning of the story. I also like how Vyasa himself is a pretty major character in the story.

The sheer number of characters makes it a bit difficult to follow. We're introduced to all of the members of both sides of the family pretty quickly, and a lot of them have very similar names. Moreover, there are three generations worth of lineages to keep track of. This familial drama reminded me a lot of Game of Thrones or the Lord of the Rings; I'm really considering sketching some family trees to keep everyone in order. My favorite episode from this section was watching Bhisma taunt the rakshasa. The dialogue was pretty funny, and it really made the scene entertaining to watch unfold.

Week 4 Storytelling: Hanuman and the Mountain pt. 2

**Note: This is a continuation of my Week 3 story. If you've not read that, please check it out first!

New York Skyline; Source: wikimedia

Dr. Uman jumped out of his recently stolen ambulance, slung his bag over his shoulder and began bobbing and weaving through the cars that packed the streets. Years of pouring over medical books and articles might have left him a bit out of shape, but Han was gifted with a natural litheness; he moved through the cars as swiftly as a gust of wind.

Three blocks up the street; he was almost halfway back to the hospital. That's when the real problems began. There had been a large accident at a major intersection involving several cars, and the tow truck that had been carrying Han's rusted pick-up. Apparently, the bumper of the poor vehicle fell off while it was going through the light. The police had cordoned off the entire block and traffic wasn't allowed to pass through until the accident had been cleared away. Stopping for only a moment to appreciate the cosmic irony of the situation, Han began devising a new strategy to make his way back uptown to Sacred Flower.

"This way is blocked off...And if I go back down a block to cross over I'll lose too much time. How can I get to the next street over?" Han looked around at the buildings that lined the street. Most still weren't open for the day, but the smallest shop on the street, a tiny bakery called Rak Sha's Buns was wedged between two stark steel skyscrapers, with a flashing neon sign blinking "OPEN" out of the front window. Han sprinted over to the small shack, and pushed open the door. Not stopping for a moment, he ran behind the counter, into the back, and straight into a small old man bent with age, wearing an old apron covered in white flour.

"Sir! You can't be back here!" he yelled at Han, shaking a rolling pin that was thicker than his arm.

Han didn't have time to stop, he ran back through the kitchen dodging through other workers carrying trays full of baked goods. Finally, he made it out the back door of the shop into an alley that led into the next street over. He ran out of the dark alley into the bright street, lit by the fresh morning sun. No sooner had he made it to the street when he heard the stamping of footsteps coming from behind him. Han turned to see the bakers running down after him, the old man leading the charge.

Not having even a moment to spare, Han began sprinting down the street as fast as he could, pushing any passerby out of the way. He saw a street sign pointing him towards the hospital; he was close! He rounded the corner.

"STOP WHERE YOU ARE"

And ran directly into a police blockade. It is a not-entirely-surprising fact that stealing an ambulance constitutes Grand Theft Auto, and thus Dr. Han Uman was now a felon. However, Han was not one to let something little like a team of armed law enforcers stop him from finishing his job. Pausing for only a second, Han turned back around and ran straight into the crowd of angry bakers that was following him. The police gave chase, but they lost Han in the confusion.

Author's note: The second part of the story from last week. This is again a continuation of the story of Hanuman and the Mountain. I tried to come up with other obstacles that would be entertaining but also realistic. I considered adding some more fantastic elements to make the story a bit more exciting and I may do so if I decide to do the portfolio.