The audience begins with loud claps and cheers which then quickly turn into shrieks and gasps when Ganesha walks out with his Indian robes and long trunk. Ganesha simply smiles and sits down across from Ellen.
ELLEN: I apologize for the audience's dismay, but I'm sure this isn't the first time that you have had such a reaction.
GANESHA: Definitely not, so I don't mind at all.
ELLEN: So, Ganesha, for those of us who do not know who you are, could you please give us a little bit of your background?
GANESHA: Well, my dad, Shiva, and my mom, Parvati, had two sons, Kartikeya and me. Kartikeya was always more competitive and athletic than I was, but I had my own set of skills. Once, there was a race between Kartikeya and me, and we had to run around the world three times. He began flying around the world at lightning speed, but I just waited for him to get onto his third lap around. Once he was almost there, I got up, ran around my parents three times, and declared myself the winner. Kartikeya ran around THE world three times. I ran around MY world three times.
ELLEN: Wow. That is a great idea! I think I might use that to make people think that I'm super fit. Now, people still do not know your religious origin. Could you explain a little about why you really are?
GANESHA: I am a Hindu god, son of the God Shiva. Many people say that I am a remover of obstacles or the god of wisdom and learning.
ELLEN: Great! I bet you would be really good at hurdles then. They would just disappear right in front of you.
GANESHA: Well, I was speaking more of spiritual obstacles instead of physical obstacles. People often pray to me before a big project in order to work without running into too many problems. The one catch is that I can't help anyone if they don't ask! Fewer and fewer people are praying to me, so sometimes I am waiting with idle hands for someone in need.
ELLEN: That would be such an amazing life. I would imagine that you get a lot of satisfaction being able to help so many people.
GANESHA: That's my favorite part about it. I love being able to see how I can benefit others.
ELLEN: That's my favorite part about my job, too. If you had one wish, what would it be?
GANESHA: My one wish would be that more people had faith in me. I want nothing more than to help. All I need is for people to ask.
ELLEN: Thank you for coming, Ganesha. If you could please give one more big round of applause for Ganesha, everybody!
Author's Note: This Talk Show is based off of the god Ganesha and what his abilities are. It also focuses on the feelings that I believe he would have about normal people. It does not go deep into what he does, but tries to discuss the relationship between him and the rest of the world. I tried to make Ganesha's dialog somewhat close to what I would think he would say if he was actually on the Ellen show. The beginning of the story is based off the fact that Ganesha has the head of an elephant and has the audience react to his shocking figure. How I came up with this story is from watching a worldwide broadcast that my church has every six months, and one of the speakers talked about what God thinks of us. My hope is that this story can help people of whatever faith to consider what their Supreme Being thinks about us. There is also supposed to be some comedic relief from Ellen's comments, but I am clearly not Ellen. I also took some writer's freedom in Ganesha's thoughts and words, but have not done any research into what his personality would actually be like.
Title: 7 Secrets Hindu Calendar Art
Author: Epified
Year: 2015
Ellen DeGeneres (image info)
Hey Nathan!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your storytelling style for this week! I absolutely love Ellen! It was a really great way for your readers to learn more about Ganesha and who he is amongst the Indian gods. I loved that he ran around his parents three times declaring that they were his world. It is so sweet! As a side note, in your title you put that this was your week 2 storytelling! This confused me a bit, however, that is an easy fix! Great job with your story this week!
Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI loved the Ellen interview styled story! It is so perfect because I can hear her voice as I'm reading it. I have yet to read an interview story, but I think this works perfect with the story you are presenting. Haha I like the little witty comments that Ellen always makes after Ganesha speaks. This was a wonderful read! Great work!
Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI loved that you used Ellen in your story!!! I have thought about doing one of my storytelling posts in telling a story of the pic though some kind of visit to the Ellen Show. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten the chance yet. After reading yours, I might just give it a try. You did a great job of telling the story through Ellen “interviewing.” Great job!
The Ellen show frame for this story was so cute! Ganesha seems like such a typical trickster figure, with the racing around the world story, but it also serves a point about how children should relate to their parents. It was a neat transition to go from discussing physical hurdles to deeper spiritual meanings.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize there were other videos besides the Mahabharata done by Epified -- I should check them out.
This was fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI have watched Ellen many times, so I was picturing her parts in her voice. You did a great job saying things that I feel she would, including the little interjections and silly remarks made; this all made the read very enjoyable.
Your setup was fitting as well, with the spaced out paragraphs and the name before each speaking part so as to prevent confusion or need for "Ganesha said."
Until next time!
Hello Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI love Ellen so I thought you doing a transcript from the Ellen show was a wonderful idea. I feel as though the audience’s reaction was genuine. A man with an elephant trunk would have taken me back as well. This was a really great way to get to the basics of Ganesha. Overall, I think the interview idea was amazing.
Hi again Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI noticed reading your stories that you use a lot of dialogue and it is a great way to tell stories because you have to be creative to think about what each character is going to explain. I like this one because you use Ellen and she is one of many favorite people. I hope thought you did a great job by making this a Tv show. Great story.
I really enjoyed reading this! I thought it was so cool that you made this like a TV show, especially one everyone is familar with: Ellen. I think you did a great job at keeping both of the characters personalities, and accurately doing their dialogue. I am a fan of dialogue in stories, so being all dialogue was really a captivating, interesting and easy way to read. I'd love to read about someone else on Ellen!
ReplyDeleteHello Nathan!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your portfolio nomination! I absolutely loved your story. I love it so much because you are completely right and it is a great story to read right before finals. All we really need to do is ask for help when we need it. I mean it works the same in real life just the way it works in our spiritual lives. We have to ask when we need help. In life, the worst thing we can be told is no. In our spiritual life, the worst thing that could happen is it turns out a way we don’t expect and makes us stronger. Thank you for inspiring me to just ask more often instead of waiting for miracle.
Also, I would suggest next time you write a story to maybe have a picture in the middle of it, to help break it up. Maybe have an actual picture of Ganesha whenever he walks in so help us see the reason of the audience’s reaction.
Great Job!
I love Ellen so much; her talk show is the best! That’s why I was so excited to read your story. I think you did a great job at this type of story. I felt like I was an audience member listening to Ganesha talk. Everything was well written and I didn’t have any problem understanding the story. I also liked the fact you separated who was speaking by breaking apart the speaker’s words and using their names. It eliminates any confusion and makes it flow rather well. Great job on that! I also wouldn’t worry about capturing Ellen’s humor because there are times where she is very serious and I think you showcased that side of her personality really well. In a lot of ways, we needed her to be written because Ganesha is serious. I also liked the fact you gave us a background on Ganesha because I didn’t know who he was and I would have gotten lost. Once again, great job! I really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteHey Nathan!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I hope you have had a great semester! We are almost there!
Second, I loved reading your story. I thought it was great! Anytime someone can make the story different by including a celebrity most of us know and making it interesting by making it an interview, they have my vote!
I also thought the race between Ganesha and Kartikeya was so cute! I loved that they each had their own ideas on something that seems so easy and a straight-line answer.
The thing I liked most was how easy the conversation flowed between the interviewee and host. It was easy to understand and fun to read all the way through. Explaining who Ganesha was through the interview and how his life affected others because of his powers was a cool way to go! I hope finals go great for you! Have a great summer!