Week 5 Review

I chose this picture from the announcements pages because I think it is interesting to see a drawn picture of Drona. This picture is different than I pictured Drona because he seems more like a father figure in this picture than I imagined. I also thought of him being larger than a normal person but in this picture he looks no bigger than the woman next to him. I am interested to see his character grow.

This is a guide to Drona: Valiant Archer, Supreme Teacher (Volume 565). You can find it at Amazon.

Week 5: Famous Last Words

This week we started to read The Mahabharata and I thought it was more confusing than The Ramayana. This might be because at the beginning of every story learning all of the characters is difficult and in this story there were a lot of new name. It is also difficult because some of the names sound so similar that I get them mixed up which makes the story line confusing. One thing that helps with this problem is to write down all the characters names and relations in the reading diary as I go through it. My favorite character in The Mahabharata so far is the Pandavas brothers. They have been through a lot together but they are still upbeat about life.

This week in school has been a little hectic because I had two tests which were stressful. I have only gotten one grade back so far but I did well on that one so that makes me feel better. I also had work all of Wednesday which took away a lot of my study time. I have one test next week but I think it will be okay because I have more time to study for it. Other than that next week does not look to difficult so maybe I will have some time to work ahead in this class. Still looking forward to Spring Break so I can go to San Francisco!

Once I was done with my tests the weekend was really good. I went golfing with my boyfriend on Saturday and even though I do not golf it was fun to be there because the weather was so beautiful that day. I went to see the movie How to Be Single on Saturday night and it was pretty funny although it wasn’t my favorite movie.

Wikimedia 

Learning Challenges: Happiness/Health

One thing I have learned from my mother is that movement is key to being healthy. It doesn't have to be a crazy amount of physical work but even going for a walk once a day will help in the long term. If it is nice outside I like to walk around a park or if I need to study I got to the gym and read while I walk.

Walking
Photo by:

Petr Kratochvil

Free Stock Photos

Petr Kratochvil

Growth Mindset: Difficulty

The image is from cheezburger.

I like this meme because I think it is funny when cats work together to accomplish things. I also think it is a good message. School can feel difficult and overwhelming sometimes but it is good to reassure myself that is it not impossible.I mean if cats can open a door without and thumbs I think I can get a degree.

My Thoughts about Commenting

I have found the comments that people have made on my story to be very helpful. It is always good to have another person review your work and get their feedback. The process of editing becomes easier with more eyes.

Week 5 Storytelling: Ekalavya + Determination.

                When Ekalavya was born, his parents, Annabel and Samu, were overwhelmed with happiness for their new son. This happiness was short lived because ten minutes after birth the doctors had to take Ekalavya into surgery. When the doctor came back to the new parents, he told them that their son was going to be okay but he would have to live the rest of his life with only one leg. Annabel and Samu were just happy that Ekalavya was alive.

               Annabel and Samu raised Ekalavya just like any other child. He got no special attention from his parents for his physical handicap. In fact, he did not even think of himself as physically handicapped until he went to school. Some of his classmates made fun of him for needing a crutch and being deformed and others treated him with extra care. His teacher made him sit out during dodge ball because she thought it would put him in danger. He was very confused by his experience at school because he had never been treated like that at home or even with his cousins but at school he was an outcast.

Ekalavya going swimming
Wikimedia

                In middle school, Ekalavya met the Pandava brothers. The Pandava brothers were strong, athletic, and popular. These five brothers were the first people in school that did not treat him differently than they would anyone else and Ekalavya enjoyed their friendship. The boys would play sports or go swimming and Ekalavya felt normal again.

                When the Pandava brothers got to high school, they decided to take karate classes to make themselves more disciplined and strong. Since the brothers and Ekalavya did everything together, they invited him to class one day and Ekalavya absolutely loved it. He observed the strength and agility of the instructors was more than he had even seen. The friends took karate classes for three years, all the way up to senior year. The Pandava brothers had become almost experts in the sport but Ekalavya had to work every day to modify every move so that he could accomplish the same level of talent.

                One day the Pandava brothers decided to move to a more advanced studio. Ekalavya wanted to join his friends but was worried about the studio's competitive tryouts. He practiced during every free minute he got and on the day of the tryouts he was confident. Karate students came from all around the country to have the opportunity to be taught by the famous Drona, one of the most highly sought after karate instructors. When Ekalavya hopped into the building, he immediately got strange looks from everyone around him. He heard the laughs from the other competitors but tried to ignore them.

                After each of the five Pandava brothers had their turn on the stage, the crowd cheered and a judge came up and gave them a letter of acceptance to the elite studio. When it was Ekalavya's turn, his heart pounded but he tuned out the skeptical stares and put forth his best performance.  He felt great about his performance and he was proud of the work he had put in. The skeptical stares were replaced with expressions of shock when Drona himself came on stage to hand Ekalavya his letter of acceptance. Ekalavya had never been more proud of himself.

Author's Note:

For this week's storytelling post I decided to base it off of a character that is not a main character from the reading. I got all of the names from The Mahabharata but I changed the background of each of the characters as well as the setting of the story. My inspiration of this post was the Karate Kid because I watched that on TV the other day. In The Mahabharata, Ekalavya is an outcast due to his family's origin and he is not physically handicapped until the end when his thumb is removed but I wanted to give the story a twist so I made him an outcast by physical handicap from the beginning. I also kept true to Drona being the highly sought after teacher/instructor. Overall, In the original story Drona rejected Ekalavya but then Ekalavya trained to a statue that looked like Drona. Ekalavya became very good. He came back to Drona to show off his skills. Drona is impressed but in order to keep his image he demands Ekalavya to take off his thumb in punishment of going against his word. I completely changed Drona to make it a happier story. I went against the original story by making The Pandava brothers and Ekalavya friends from the start and my reason for this was to make the story more upbeat than the original. The Pandava brothers do not have individual names because I wanted to make them seem like a unit or a well oiled machine. I did this to take the focus off of them and keep it on Ekalavya. As for Ekalavya's parents I made up their names because I am a little confused as to who actually are Ekalavya's parents in the original story. I wanted to keep the main character's mindset always positive.


All accounts of The Mahabharata are found in The Public Domain found below

Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 5 Reading Diary: The Mahabharata Part B

So far this week's reading has been very difficult because of the names. I have had this problem more than once in this class. This story has a lot of characters and learning all the names in the first couple sections become difficult for me. It is helpful to write the characters name and relations as I read

• Vidura is the brother of Pandu and Dhritarashtra and he is smart 
• Pandavas brothers are living in the wild again. I feel bad for them. 
• Arjuna wins a battle and Draupadi is his wife and now all five Pandavas are her husband's which is weird. 
• Yudhishthira becomes a king 
• Arjuna is exiled because he broke one of the rules of marriage with his wife and her other five husbands and this is starting to sound like sister wives but with husbands. 
• Arjuna marries Krishna's sister Subhadra 
• Kshatriya is a warrior that cannot refuse gambling' 
• The story ends with the Pandavas brothers back in battle

Draupadi and the Pandavas sent into exile.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are found in The Public Domain found below
Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 5 Reading Diary: The Mahabharata Part A

I have chosen The Public Domain option as my reading option because I enjoyed the way The Ramayana was set up in the public domain option. This option is set up exactly the same and it is easy to follow since I am familiar with the links.

• Vyasa is sort of like Valmiki from The Ramayana but this time Vyasa is a main character in the story which is different than Valmiki. 
• There is an elephant-headed god Ganesha 
• Devavrata is the son of King Shantanu and Ganga but is he called a different name later on in the story which is confusing. 
• Devavrata has the powers on a God named Vasus. 
• Devavrata= Bhishma, the way he got this name is very strange and dark but shows that he loves his family 
• Satyavati is the mother of Vyasa and she is a flirting with King Shantanu 
• Bhishma gets three women of the King Kashi through battle 
• Bhishma brings the wives to his brother but he dies before he has any sons to carry on the famile name but Satyavati has a plan. 
• Dhritarashtra and his brother (half-brother) Pandu are important characters to know as well as Vidura 
• Kunti, wife of Pundu has a son named Karna and he is important. 
• Pandu gets sons even though he is curse. It is unfair that he is cursed because he was hunting and the sage was a deer so how was he supposed to know. and Pandu's son is named Pandavas 
• Pandavas and Kauravas are enemies which stems from the feud of their fathers 
• King Dhritarashtra raises all five of Pandu's sons 
• Drona is a guru and pandavas is really good so Duryodhana, King Dhritarashtra's eldest son, begins to grow is jealous 
• Ekalavya is an outcast that wants to be taught by Drona

Arjuna the archer.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are from the Public Domain found below Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Tech Tip: Pinterest Board

I have used pinterest before so it was easy for me to set up my board. I look forward to using more of this tech tip section.
Feel free to check it out!

Follow Sara's board Epics of India Portfolio on Pinterest.