Week 3 Reading Diary: PDE Ramayana Part C

Hanuman disguises as beggar to spy on Rama and Lakshmana as the monkey King Sugriva was scared they were there to fight him. After knowing who they were Hanuman puts both of them on his back and sped away to the hill. I find this amazing and fun, riding a real living being aircraft. Rama was a friend to king Sugriva, he fights with King Sugriva’s brother Vali who took King Sugriva’s kingdom and family. 

Vali and Sugriya fight
Source: image vali and sugriva

What amazes me in this reading is when all Sugriva weeps after the death of Vali. It shows love and affection that was once shared by the two brother’s. It also reflects how good hearted Sugriva is, even if he took help from Rama to destroy Vali. On the other side of the story Rama is still in search for Sita. After Hanuman reached Lanka he burns Lanka. For me this was the slight taste of what is going to happen next in Lanka. In this reading part I also find that it shows us the conflict between the brother’s. Even in Lanka, Ravana’s brother Vibhishana argues that Ravana should return Sita to Rama and when there was a disagreement Vibhishana left Lanka to be on Rama’s Side.

Reading from Part C of the book Ramayana

Title of the book: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)

Review: Week 2

Going back over the class announcements, there were  few posts that grabbed my attention.However, there is a particular picture that I thought served a very deep meaning. It was one of the words of wisdom proverb posters that said "One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade". I the words are incredibly inspiring and something that every youths should keep in mind. This particular proverb is a Chinese proverb that I have included in this post.

Chinese proverb
Source: label

Famous Last Words: Week 2

This week went really smoothly for me. I was well prepared and worked ahead at the beginning of the class. I had all the assignments done and saved it as a word document file at the beginning. The only thing left to do with those assignments was proofreading and checking I had all the requirements fulfilled so I could post the blog posts right away. The best part about the reading assignments were the reading guides prepared for us.

I particularly enjoyed reading about Ram and Sita and their victory over Ravana. I also wrote a bedtime story for my storytelling assignment. I enjoyed every moment of it. I literally was imagining myself telling the story to my niece while writing the story. It was simple and easy to follow and covered most of the important mements and incidents. I also eliminated the negative part of the story where there is a lot of killing going on. I changed the ending where instead of Ravana’s death, he lives and turns into this wise man because of Rama so that the kids listening to the story are kept away from the fact that evil should always die.

Sita
Source: sita hindu goddess

Talking more about my other classes, I have been enjoying my Legal studies class so far. I have heard that the class is hard by my friends who previously took it. However, the fact that we get to read various criminal cases and get to talk about is what I love about this class. But then again, it is just the second week of classes. I will get to learn more about the class and am genuinely hoping it is not going to get hard and will love it till the end.

I have personally learned a lot just from this class and have seen a tremendous improvement in my reading and writing skills to be specific.

Reading Diary: The hare that ran away

When we say one thing, it becomes the other thing when someone else hears it. When we have a fear in our mind, everything in our mind becomes that fear. When we spend a minute in the fear, that fear becomes many hours of our life and eventually that fear becomes our life. The story of hare was very fascinating. The fear that the hare had in his almost made the whole animal kingdom run away for their life. The fear started with a question in hare’s mind, “Suppose the earth were to fall in, what would happen to me?” then it almost ruined everybody’s life. Fortunately there was a lion; reincarnation of Lord Buddha. Calm and thoughtful, went to the root of the problem that the hare was having and fixed it. The story reaches us to tell us to be calm, evaluate the situation and find a solution. Buddha has many characteristics that is reflected in rest of the stories to follow. Buddha was very generous and always thought about others life. It was all about giving no matter what. If the thing that you are doing gave you happiness you do it. Not money, diamonds and the physical pleasure, Buddha was all about the inner happiness.

Title of the Reading: Overview: Shedlock Eastern Stories and Legends

Link for the reading:  eadingguides.blogspot

Buddha
Source: : buddha.

Learning challenges: Learning to read

 For my Learning by H.E.A.R.T post, I am going to write about reading. To be honest, I have always hated reading since I was a child. But then again ‘Hate’ is a strong word. I used to read novels just because my friends used to read it and I did not want to feel left out. Soon I realized that it is not my cup of tea. It is a shame to say that I have never finished reading whole book in my life. However,  I soon found out an alternative to overcome this weakness, Audible books. I learned love listening to books. That is one of the reasons for why I chose PDE version of Ramayana. I also watch YouTube a lot and there are a lot of YouTubes I love who came out with their books. I always purchase the available audible version so that I don’t miss out.

Books and reading
Source:taticflickr.

Growth mindset: Getting more creative

Let's get Creative
Source: fault

As the second week ends, I have been trying to learn more and more about the concept of growth mindset challenges. As per my understanding challenges help students learn more and help them thrive to do better and not for the heck of getting good grades. In just two weeks I have learned a lot from this class. It might also be because I am taking 5 other classes and working at the same time but I must say this class is challenging. Trying to manage time to do the reading and write blog posts on top of trying to maintain the same amount of effort for some other classes can be overwhelming at times. But this challenge has done nothing but helped me work harder. Instead of sitting there and complaining, I have actually found myself busy trying to not loose focus and complete assignments before due dates. I have learned to work ahead of time and take a break from procrastination. Story telling exercises are my favorite as it has taught me to be more creative.

Possible Storybook Topics

Possible Topics:

1.     Tales of Ganesha: I think the stories of ganesha and his mysterious elephant head would be something very interesting. I have always been a curious child and knowing the story behind Ganesha’s elephant head is something I have always been curious about. It had my attention since the beginning. I have heard different stories from different people and have always been confused. 

Research: To start off, I did my research on this topic by looking up “Ganesha” and read the Wikipedia version of Ganesha . I also read the project done my previous students and read the “Ganesha Tales for Children” -Ganeshastories  I loved the approach she took while writing the portfolio and would love to write about it myself.

2.     Gods and Goddesses: There are gods and goddesses throughout the Indian Epics. They all have their own super powers and own stories. It is interesting to learn their super powers. Something I have noticed throughout the reading is that every god has his/her own purpose in life and appearance.

Research: I read the PDE Ramayana version. I also read the tndian epic storybooks gods to do more research and read about Vishnu to find more information at Wikipedia. I read about each of his Avatar and him as Lord Shiva grabbed my attention the most. I read about Shiva and came to know that he is very different from Vishnu and Brahma and yet one of them and just a different avatar.

3.     Indian Goddesses: Indian goddesses are very fascinating. It is nice to know that they have different roles. Their appearance is very aatention grabbing and I was very captivated while reading about each of them.

Research: After a little research I came to know that goddess Parvati is wife of Lord Shiva, goddess Laxmi is goddess of wealth, saraswati is goddess of intelligence, and goddess Ganga  is the goddess of water.   I also took a look at hindu goddesses written by one of the students to learn more about laxmi, saraswati and other indian goddesses.

Indian Gods and Goddesses
Source: Gods

4.     Ram and Sita: The epic love story of Ram and Sita is something I can never get enough of. After reading the PDE Ramayana I have been more interested to know more about them. The way Ram saved Sita from Rakshyasa and Ravana is incredible. They got together when Rama won her infront of so many people.

Research: The rama and sita is very interesting. I read the post to learn more about different insights different people have in their story. I also read the wikkipedia version of Rama to know more about his characteristics.