Ruben's Blog

I decided to narrow my scope to the story of Kunti and her son. This story feels sort of like a prequel as  Kunti, who will become the wife of King Pandu, has a son. This is even mentioned in the introduction. Karna, the son, in my opinion is not presented as one of the most complex figures in the story as he will soon become. I can appreciates this since the beginning of the story seems to really focus in on his mother. To add to this, Karna was born in secret. I feel that this adds to contrast to his ultimate role in the stories. However, the story does foreshadow that he had the eyes of a lion and shoulders of a bull. However, even just as a baby he is already seen as such as blessing by his finder after he is floated up the stream by his mother. I really enjoyed this type of foreshadowing, preceded by the in-depth humility of the mother.                                      ...

I think one thing to take note of these stories is the polar extremes in characters. I have seen this in most of the stories that I have read. Characters are either truly evil or truly good and/or very powerful or very meek, a god or a mortal. For example, in the story of Rama as told by Valmiki, the bird-man and woman are dancing and singing in the woods, depicting a very blissful couple. However, they are shot down by a “wicked” hunter. There is always plenty of contrast between characters. I will try to take this into account in my stories. However, after reading, it seemed like yoga allowed the mortals to channel more divine powers. This can be seen in the story when they attempt to ponder subjects. I really enjoyed that there was a mechanism for this.   If I were to write a story, I would like to see something that more leveled the playing field of these characteristics.                         ...

I really enjoyed this telling of Rama in Rama’s quest. I still think that Rama’s heart is in the right place, but I don’t know how I feel about his fight first and ask questions later attitude. In addition, I really enjoy re-telling stories where both parties get to make their case. Usually, not everything is as it seems with the title of villain and hero and/or hero is assigned. Thus, I would want to tell a story Rama, and his brother who knows magic for instance, are just about to kill an ogre when suddenly, the ogre gets to speak his peace. This could be the case for many of the monsters who would be slain by Rama and company. As the story unfolds, it could turn out that these monsters are simply the way that they are due to a higher power than all of them combined. Thus, they are not truly evil, they are just taking orders. As Rama continuously finds this to be case he learns to listen and be better leader. He begins to work with the monster...