They instantly became best friends, but she said they couldn't be more than friends because her father was extremely traditional and only allowed his daughter to date men that he approved of. Rama stayed positive and exclaimed that he would love to meet her father and was certain that he would make a great first impression. Hesitantly, Sita agreed to set up a time for them to meet.
That Friday night, Rama rang Sita's doorbell, and her father, Janaka, answered. He scowled at Rama and got straight to the point and asked, "What makes you so special that I should allow you to date my daughter?"
Rama, who had used his computer science skills to previously hack into Janaka's computer to know what he liked, exclaimed, "I LOVE THE COWBOYS! GO POKES!" Janaka was surprised at Rama's response considering that everyone in Norman bled Crimson and Cream. Janaka then gave Rama the biggest hug and said, "You are always welcome in this household." No man had ever been allowed entrance to his home because no man was brave or smart enough to confess love for OSU in the heart of Sooner Nation.
Sita and Rama left that evening as happy as could be. They continued their college careers on campus, spending every moment possible together. Their favorite spot was to sneak to the top of the stadium and watch the sunset and then look up and try to find the star alignment of Shiva, Brahma, Lakshmi, and Vishnu.
Towards the end of their last semester, they decided they needed to permanently make their mark at OU so they could always be remembered. All it took was a quick look at each other, and they knew exactly what they wanted to do. They sneaked up to the top of Sarkeys Energy Center with chisels and hammers in hand. Rama then proceeded to chisel out on the top of the roof the words, "I will never leave my dearest Sita, even if she happens to get kidnapped and I accuse her of being unfaithful. Nothing will tear us apart, not even mother earth."
Just as they finished, they heard police sirens! They quickly ran down the stairs and over to the Bizzell Library before the police could catch them. They climb on top of the library's roof to wait for the police to leave.
On that starry night, Rama got down one one knee on top of the Bizzell Library and proposed to his beloved Sita. She screamed with excitement and of course said yes. Their wedding ensued and they had a Sooner wedding. The entire University was invited including David Boren, Boomer the mascot, Baker Mayield, Buddy Hield, and many others. The grass was painted red with a small circle of orange where the forgiving Janaka stood. In the South Oval when the Sooner bells began to ring, they were pronounced husband and wife.
Author's Note: This story is based on Rama and Sita's wedding in the Ramayana. In the original story, Rama sees Sita for the first time when he is with his brother and instantly falls in love. When he inquires her father about what must be done to be with Sita, her father stays that one must pull back Shiva's bow in order to prove his strength. Rama not only pulls back the bow but breaks it in half! Sita and Rama can finally be together and they are able to get married. Their wedding is filled with food, singing, and dancing all through the night. The entire kingdom is pleased with the wedding because they suspect that Rama will soon take his father's throne. I changed the locations and facts in order to have the events take place on OU's campus. I chose it from the suggestion and liked the idea. I thought it might be entertaining to have the Ramayana and OU collide and how the two can be mashed together. I also wanted to provide some comic relief and throw in a few references to the real Ramayana story. The comedy is meant to highlight some of the more questionable actions that some of the characters do in the Ramayana.
Rama and Sita (image info)
Author: Nina Paley
Title: Sita Sings the Blues
Year: 2008
Nathan, this story was very sweet but comical too! I loved how Rama tried to be smooth but ended up talking all about his major instead. It was cute that Sita liked it even though his plan to be smooth didn't work out. The fact that he hacked Sita's father's computer was a clever idea (although not very noble for a supposedly 'divine' person haha). That was very brave of Rama to have the courage to not only hack the computer but say he was a Cowboys fan all just to please Sita's father. The wedding and proposal were both super romantic and I loved how it really tied in OU throughout the whole story. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi, Nathan. This is the first comical version of this story I have read. I really enjoyed it. I also liked how incorporated the whole school rivalry into it. I really enjoyed it. I have also used the same image as you did in one of my stories! I feel like it provides the best identity of Rama and Sita.
ReplyDeleteYour story was really fun to read. I liked the idea too, but I was not creative enough to write a story using it so goo job! I liked how you combined an old Indian Epic with the current university. It told a love story with a fun twist. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWow, I love how you rewrote Rama and Sita's wedding. I defintiely enjoyed how you tied in OU throughout the entire story. I laughed out loud at the part where King Janaka was standing on a small patch of orange grass at the wedding! You did an excellent job of fine-tuning the details so that the reader could follow the couple's love story but also appreciate all the famous things related to OU, such as the Bizzell, David Boren, and even the mascot.
ReplyDeleteI was just commenting on Abi's Portfoloio about how I am fascinated by Rama and Sita's story of meeting and enjoy reading different versions of it, so I was doubly excited when I clicked on your Portfolio and found a Sooner retelling! Plus, I had been wondering how the story could translate to a modern setting, and I am glad to see someone actually do this as a Storytelling option.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story; it is comical in so many ways -- the OU/OSU rivalry, the digs at later events in the epic, the hacking skills of Rama (though slightly creepy). As much as serious retellings of serious stories are great, it is also so much fun to read lighthearted stories!
I am left with one question, though: if Sita's family are such die-hard OSU fans, how could they allow a Sooner wedding?
Nathan,
ReplyDeleteThis story immediately stood out to me when I read the blurb because I was intrigued by the comedy value that you spoke about.
When I read your story I was not disappointed. I really liked how you took a story that is so old and has such historic value to the people who grew up with these epics as their culture and translated it into a very modern setting. I thought that although you changed the settings the story remained largely accurate and it was a very interesting and enjoyable read! I thought it was genius that you used comedy to highlight the actions in the Ramayana that seem questionable sometime, it was almost like satire and I thought it fit really well with the story!
Thank you for writing! I look forward to reading more of your writings in the future.
Your story is very creative and fun! I love the use of the original names from The Ramayana paired with the familiar scenery of OU’s campus. I have to say I was shocked to hear Rama betray his Alma Mater by saying “Go Pokes!” but I guess guys do silly things to get the girl. But you made up for it with the Sooner wedding at the end!
ReplyDeleteHi, Nathan!
ReplyDeleteI loved your spin on this story! You did such a good job of incorporating the culture of OU into the story of Rama and Sita—the list of those who received wedding invitations cracked me up; I’m sure Baker and Buddy would be honored! I think finding a good substitute storyline to replace Rama pulling back Shiva’s bow was definitely challenging, but I love what you came up with! Having your character hack into Janaka’s computer was so clever and unexpected! Nicely done.
In terms of suggestions, I would advise you go back and check for places that need commas. There were quite a few clauses that needed one. Other than that, everything looked great!
Hi again Nathan!
ReplyDeleteLike Lasagne, this story had layers. Some cheesy, which makes it fun. Some meaty, which gave it good storytelling substance.There is some saucy stuff in there, and also some veggies. The veggies I saw in the story were the things like, third paragraph when Rama rang Sita's doorbell. You wrote range. I really enjoyed the story, and yes, I do love Lasagne too!
I enjoy your stories because of your sense of humor. It is so much fun to include our college in these stories! I could totally picture a random student at Price Hall doing what you described in the story. I spend most of my time on Campus in Price/Adams hall.
I think by adding so much detail that certainly the audience of this class can really appreciate the efforts you put into telling the story not only from the perspective of Rama and Sita, but as students, like us.
Nice touch with Janaka's orange circle. I don't know how you pulled that one off in your story, but well played indeed!
Nathan,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on this story! I like how you placed the story at the OU campus. Since most of the people in this class have probably had a class or two on campus, I believe we, as the readers, instantly get the visual of the buildings and other aspects about the environment that we see while at OU. The “wow” moment for me was when I was reflecting back on your Author’s Note about what Rama had to do in order to win the approval of Sita’s father for her hand in marriage. It was believed to be a great, if not altogether impossible, task to string Shiva’s bow. For some people that have strong ties sports programs it is equally an impossible task to sing the praises of you bitter rival. One thing that you might consider changing would be the part where Rama says that he will never leave Sita. I get that you were drawing from the original story, but it seemed like a very specific circumstance that he gave in the heat of the moment. Maybe you could just consider leaving his proclamation very generalized. Overall, great job on this retelling!
Thanks for writing this interesting adaptation of Rama and Sita's wedding. It is always interesting to read other people's stories because they think so differently than I do. I would never have thought to write a story like this. Great thinking!
ReplyDeleteI did notice one error. In your Portfolio Introduction post, you misspelled "Boomer" as "Booner". Oops!
This is such an interesting adaptation, I would love to have more detail added. It looks like the story is only about 550 words as it is now, so you have quite a bit of room to play with should you choose to expand it. For example, you just mention that Rama hacked into Janaka's computer. That came as a bit of a shock because it hadn't been mentioned before. Being that it is what allowed Rama to win over Sita's father, it would be nice to have a little more detail about it.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was a very novel approach to a classic story in the Ramayana.
Nathan, I really enjoyed your story and found it an interesting retell of Rama and Sita's wedding. I also find it interesting how everyone in the class finds a unique way to retell a story with their own twist. I have seen people change characters’ personalities or add modern themes to the original story, but I have never seen the plot or setting change like you have done. I found it really cool that you meshed the two settings of the wedding with OU's different places on campus. I found that to be super unique and I am interested in trying this technique to storytelling in one of my future stories. I also enjoyed the dialogue insertions you have made. I always struggle with the flow of my story when I use dialogue, but I thought you were successful in your use. All in all, it was a great read and thanks for the ideas. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi Nathan! Just finished reading your story and the first thing that comes to my mind is the creativity in your story. I like the start of the story because you just started off saying what was going on with Rama and Sita. You got to the point about Rama’s love for Sita at first site. I like how from then on the story was underway. You began detailing their life together and what was happening throughout their relationship. Each event you provided great details and your paragraph splits were done effectively. You gave details in every new paragraph to make me understand what was going on in the paragraph. I liked how you made the story even more exiting by telling us about them going up to Sarkeys. The ending was very good as well. The only part I did not like was the part about how Rama yelled I love the cowboys. Great story.
ReplyDeleteHi Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI thought you put a good spin on the story between Rama and Sita. Over the semester I have read many versions on different blogs about the couple but I liked how you got to the point. I like how you integrated your computer science major into your storytelling idea. That was pretty funny when Rama hacked into the computer and found out Janaka was a Poke! Just like the Ramayana readings, Rama had to prove to Sita’s father that he was worthy of her. The way you incorporated the campus and buildings made the reading seem real. Your text was easy to follow. The sentence structure was well formulated, and you had great transition words. Using the rivalry between the schools was pretty funny. The Author’s note was appropriate and gave the reader insight on why you chose this topic. Thank you for sharing. Have a great rest of the semester.
Hello Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your portfolio retelling story titled “A Wedding in the Heart of Boomer Nation.” I found the story very nice and comical. I really liked your creative idea of making it as a Computer Science based. I enjoyed it how the story was set up and the outline of it. It made the story interesting and enjoyable. It was great the way you retold the story of Rama and Sita’s wedding. That was a unique idea of turning the story into OU story and including known individuals. It was a great way to spit each paragraph with a new detail and idea. Overall, good job you did a very nice job writing up the story. It was a great way of writing another retell wedding of Rama and Sita. I am looking forward to read more of your storytelling blogs and thanks for sharing. Great comical story.
Hi Nathan! I absolutely loved reading your take on the love story of Sita and Rama. I espeicailly loved how you set their story at the greatest Universities! It was very cute to read about when he first saw her to the first meeting with the father and when he proposed to her. I think making the story fused into our generation helped most definitely for a better connection with the characters. The flow of the story was good because it was super easy to follow along. At one point I said aloud, “Aw!” because I did not want it to end. Your author’s note was very inclusive so I understood where you were coming from. It was very funny that you choose the exact opposite of what had happened to be the engraving of them on the building, very ironic. Keep on with this story because I am sure you can always make it better!
ReplyDeleteGood morning Nathan!
ReplyDeleteFirst, a few things about the overall aesthetics. Your layout is very clean and easy to look at (no neon, haha). The font and font size do not strain the readers eyes, and do not cause the reader to lose place.
About the story, it was awesome!! One of my favorite things that you have done here is, knowing your audience, how you catered to their knowledge of the campus. Most students in this class have probably been to all of these places listed (as have I) and it makes it so fun to picture these fictitious people walking the same paths we do every day.
My favorite part was when he carved into Sarkey's that he would never leave her due to questions of unfaithfulness, and that mother earth definitely wouldn't tear them apart. The irony here made me laugh out loud.
I look forward to reading more from you!
Hi Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI really loved reading your story. It definitely had its own originality to it, so it was a lot of fun to read! I loved how you put together the Ramayana with OU campus. I definitely was not expecting for the father to like OSU! That was so funny! I laughed out loud on that one! I really liked how you added a little bit of dialogue. I think it really helped with the personality of the characters. I thought you did an excellent job of describing your story. I felt like I could really picture what you were trying to say. You really tailored to your audience because you know everyone for the most part knows OU's campus, so describing Sarkeys and the library was fantastic! Great job! It was a great and unique story! I really look forward to reading more of your work!
Hey Nathan,
ReplyDeleteThis was a wonderful story! I especially like how you intertwined OU and the Ramayana, so creative! I thought the funniest moment was Rama's response when questioned by Janaka, saying that he was a cowboy's fan haha. Soon to be house-divided. You did a great job at making this epic a much more light-hearted and funny wedding. I think I like reading stories like this more than the dark epics we read in class haha. Great job!
This paragraph is comments from your story, "Hanuman's Life Experiences." First off, I really enjoy the format of the very beginning where the publication date and author are. Also, I really like that you decided to put the author's note at the beginning of this story so that the reader can get an idea of what is to come. I think that the format of the entire story is great and how you labeled the speaker each time. Sometimes in a dialogue story it becomes confusing if the speaker changes to often with no note of who the speaker is. This story was wonderful to read and great work on both!