Showing posts with label Week 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 4. Show all posts

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Week 4 Storytelling: A Wedding in the Heart of Boomer Nation

One day, a Computer Science geek named Rama was walking by the Price building and saw a beautiful Aerospace Engineering phenom and he instantly fell in love. Her name was Sita. He ran up to her and did his best to smooth talk her into wanting to go out with him but ended up talking about how much he loved computer science. Oddly enough, she loved it!

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)

Based on:
Author: Nina Paley
Title: Sita Sings the Blues
Year: 2008

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Week 4 Reading Diary: Sita Sings the Blues Pt 2

Author: Nina PaleyTitle: Sita Sings the BluesYear: 2008
Full cartoon can be watched here
  • Rama seemed to have this internal doubt that Sita wasn't faithful to him when she was in captivity. However, the test of fire was supposed to prove her innocence. 
  • Rama's true character is shown when he cares more about what the people are thinking about him than about his pregnant wife. He completely shirks the responsibility to take care of his future child.
  • What is done to Sita seems even worse when it is shown in today's time. 
  • The "Rama does what Rama must" song is funny. It's satirical that they act as if it is a song of praise for Rama when it actually highlights all of his inconsiderate actions.
  • How many times does Sita have to be mistreated before she will get over Rama?
  • If Sita told the story to Valmiki who wrote it all down. How would the story have been if it was told from Rama or from Hanuman's perspective?
  • I was waiting for the film to end with the girl in New York to make her boyfriend realize that he was making a mistake, but tell him that it was too last. It never happened.
  • What happens after Sita is swallowed by the earth? Do her children go back and live with Rama? Are they angry that their mother decided to leave them? Is Sita still alive?
  • There were some parallelisms that occurred between New York and The Ramayana, but I feel like more connections could have been make to make the story be even more relatable to today's lifestyle.

Valmiki Writes Ramayana (image info)

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Week 4 Reading Diary: Ramayana PDE Part D



Notes for Ramayana by Valmiki

  Ravana’s 10 heads reminds me of the multi-headed dragon that grows back two heads every time one if its heads get chopped off.
·         Rama probably gave the lamest reason ever to not take Sita back. Does that mean that all of the killing and fighting that he did was all in vain?
·         Rama said that he knew that Sita was pure and only looked upon him, yet he said that she needed to go into the fire in order to cleanse herself, so the people accept him for receiving Sita back by his hide. Is this a sign of Rama’s weakness of trying to please and prove himself to his people?
·         Did Rama know that Sita was going to be saved by the fire?
·         Looks like I was right. Rama cared more about his image in the kingdom and what people thought about him then about his own wife. When Sita was preserved from the fire, I wonder if he was just “playing along” acting as if he knew what was going on in order to not make himself look dumb.
·         I’m glad that Sita decided to permanently leave Rama because he didn’t deserve her. He already showed what mattered most to him.
·         I feel as if the ending was not satisfying because they all reached a “heavenly state” that I feel was undeserved due to recent decisions that Rama made.

·         Overall, I feel that it was a great story of a man who would go to any lengths to rescue his bride, but it simply lacked the fairytale ending.


Week 4 Reading Diary: Ramayana Sita Sings the Blues Pt 1

·      Author: Nina Paley
Title: Sita Sings the Blues
Year: 2008
Full cartoon can be watched here


   The cartoon movie highlights what might not seem logical according to today’s standards
·         Skips the  introduction of how Rama and Sita meet and fall in love
·         Sita is portrayed as a wife who is just completely obsessed with Rama and has almost no other thoughts whatsoever. A few too many songs of Sita just singing about how in love the is with Rama.
·         Does a great jobs as focusing on the main characteristics of the character. This helps their skills and differences stick out and makes the characters more memorable.
·         Makes Sita rescue seem pointless because she could have simply gone with the monkey. There is speculation that she stayed to Rama could find her and prove his strength to other for rescuing her from Ravana.
·         The way that Rama treats Sita raises the question, “Why did Rama love Sita?” Did he love just just because of her looks or the challenge he had to go through to get her father’s approval? Or maybe, did he have reason to believe that Sita was unfaithful that we didn’t know about?
·         Sita shouldn’t be so forgiving and submissive to Rama. He accused her of being unfaithful, but doesn’t seem to care that Rama didn’t believe her unless he had proof.

·         It isn’t portrayed in the movie, but was Rama upset that Sita gave up on him when he was lying on the ground with arrows in him? She thought he was dead and began to weep thinking that he had failed to rescue her.
File:Agni pariksha.jpg

Sita's Test of Fire (image info)