Week 14 Storytelling: Vishnu and Godaan

 

Vishnu and Godaan

Picture by Unknown

Source: Wikipedia

Vishnu wanted so bad to be part of the Godaan Club. However, it seemed like whatever he did was not good enough. All his friends were part of the club except for him. He thought and thought about what he was doing wrong, or was it something he hasn’t done, or was it something he could do better.

Vishnu’s family owned a farm. They had chickens, pigs, spiders, and ducks. However, his family never owned cows. He loved all his animals. However, to be part of the Godaan Club you had to have the best cows in the entire county. The coat had to be shiny and soft to the touch. The bones had to be tough and unbreakable, and their milk had to be the best tasting milk there ever was. Vishnu knew there was nothing he could do but watch his friends plan events, dances, and lavishes parties because they were part of the Godaan Club.

One day, Vishnu was talking to his chickens, pigs, and ducks. He told them he loved them all, but they were not cows. When suddenly one of his chickens turned around, and pointed to a cow! The cow was absolutely breathtaking. She had a marvelous coat, and she was big, but not too big.

He walked over to the cow. He wondered where the owner was. He decided to go find the owner because he thought the owner would have been devastated to lose such a beautiful cow. The cow and Vishnu decided to go on a journey to find his owner. They walked and walked all over the county, but there was not a clue to where the cow’s owner was. They were exhausted, and hungry. They reached a lavish house. Vishnu knocked on the door. A man with a beard with an old blanket wrapped around him answered. Vishnu asked him if the cow belonged to him. It wasn’t his cow.

The man offered them water and food for the night. The man looked at Vishnu. Something fell from his blanket, and it was a picture of the cow. The exact cow Vishnu had. The man looked embarrassed.

“She is my cow, but I do not wish to keep her. She is a goddess. She needs care, and I am dying,” he said.

He wanted Vishnu to keep the cow. Vishnu didn’t know what to say. He accepted the cow. He was still in shock that he finally had a cow of his own, but the cow was a goddess.

Years and years went by. He never joined the Godaan Club because his cow was worthy of more than that club. He showered her with as much love as possible, and all his friends were jealous because in return Vishnu had a goddess cow. He had the best milk, the best accessories, the best tools, and a goddess watching over him.

He lived the most fulfilling life, and he never complained about not being part of an ungrateful club ever again because he already the best, and he didn’t need some club to tell him that.

Bibliography: Devdutt's Pattanaik's Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art

Author's Note:  
This story was based on how cows are cherished on the Hindu religion because they provide, food, shelter, accessories, etc. Godaan is a type of charity that fulfills all. This means that there isn't a lack of anything when there is godaan to me. I used my story to represent how worthy a cow can be to someone. The reason behind why beef is not consumed is because there is a high respect for cows because of everything they provide. This was a concept I was always interested in, so I decided to turn this into a story of how valuable a cow was to Vishnu. In the original story, Vishnu becomes Go-pala. He takes care of the earth-cow. My story was different from the original because I wanted the cow in my story to be a queen instead of the earth-cow. There is automatically a sense of magnificence when something is referred to as a prince, princess, king, or queen. I want this to be projected to give the cow in my story more value than just being an animal. I truly enjoyed writing this story, and learning more about why cows are s a valuable animal. I hope this makes my readers think about how valuable other animals are in a world where so many beautiful animals are going extinct.

Week 11 Storytelling: Pattanaik's Calendar Art, Part B (Narayan)

 

Narayana

Picture by Benjamín Preciado 

Source: Wikipedia 

Narayan woke up from a nightmare when he realized everything was the same. Lakshmi was next to him, and he just silently observed his ocean of milk. Little did he know—nothing would be the same.

Lakshmi looked at him in awe. She poured some of the milk from the ocean into her hands, and had Narayan drink the milk as if it was water. He knew something was different about the milk, but he didn’t ponder on what could be so different. He put the thought behind him, and continued to observe all the little things he was blessed with. He was a king of the ocean. People awaited his awakening. People looked at him in awe, and he looked at his world in awe.

He observed the trees. The bright, green leaves swaying back and forth in the gentle wind. He observed the flowers. The roses were bright red, and the petals velvety and soft to the touch. He observed the sun. It was bright, and made everything around him glisten as if everything he owned was made of diamond. The fish were swimming around him like a rainbow of color. The clouds were light and calming. Narayan spent most of his time observing the ocean. The ocean—so deep and endless, he stared blankly at all the hope left in the world. He could do and be absolutely anything he ever wanted with all the possibilities in his world. His world was the ocean, and the ocean represented hope for him to live even more marvelously as the king. He continued to observe, but he never realized how blessed he was with so much life and hope around him. He took everything for granted. He was soon to regret that.

He smiled, and shut his eyes for a few minutes. The trees fell. The roses crumpled into dust. The sun turned into a black hole. The fish turned to rock. The clouds turned to strong wind. He looked at his world falling apart little by little when he noticed his ocean of milk turn to water.

He thought, “How could this be? I did nothing wrong. Please stop. Whoever you are.”

His cry for help was not answered. The ocean continued to shake more and more when finally everything stopped including time, and all that was left was Shesha. Shesha was the heavenly king, and Vishnu sleeps on him—he was all that was peace in disaster. Shesha ruined his conscious world in minutes. Shesha was more powerful than Narayan. Shesha noticed how ungrateful Narayan was. He knew he did not deserve to sleep in peace.

Shesha thought, “You did nothing but observe. You did not help save the beauty of nature you were blessed with, so I shall take natural life Mother Nature handed you to preserve away from you.”

Narayan woke up with a thunderstorm surrounding him. It was just a dream, but it didn’t seem like a dream to him. Narayan changed everything about his wonderful life. He watered the plants. He took care of the trees, and he appreciated everything life naturally offered him. Never again did Narayan just observe. He was thankful.

Bibliography: Devdutt's Pattanaik's Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art

Author's Note: 

Narayan is a god known as Vishnu. Shesha is the heavenly king of the naga snakes. I used Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art to create my own story about Narayan. The video explains that Narayan is the observer, and Sesha is the remains. Lakshmi represents fortune and wealth. She is the wife of Vishnu. I wanted to keep her character in my story because Narayan is fortunate to have beauty surrounding him. I wanted to keep this original meaning of the characters in the story with a little twist of my own. Originally, the ocean of milk means possibility, and Vishnu is usually sleeping on Shesha floating on the ocean made rom milk. To me, possibility means an endless amount of hope, and I wanted to represent both the original meaning, and what I took from that meaning in my story. Nature was the theme of my story. I feel like a lot of the time we observe nature, but do not do much to preserve what was naturally there. We forget how lucky we really are to see natural beauty in a world that is becoming more and more artificial. I included nature as my main theme for this very reason. My story was a reminder of nature's beauty that was given to the world without asking for anything in return, so it is our job to preserve this beauty for generations to come.

Week 6 Storytelling: Shantanu and Ganga

Ganga

Picture by Raja Ravi Varma

Source: Wikipedia

Shantanu and Ganga were living their married life to the fullest. They attended lavish parties, ate fancy dinners, drank the most expensive wine. Ganga had long black hair, blue eyes, and a soft smile. Shantanu was in love. She was just so elegant and graceful and had something mysterious about her. He loved that. He couldn’t imagine life without her. That’s why he was wrapped around her finger. He always listened to her. He did everything she said, and he even let her drown their seven beautiful babies. Ganga was pregnant again with a baby girl, but this time Shantanu decided to stop Ganga from killing his babies.

He never questioned her. She was powerful, and mysterious. She was magical. He loved her, but enough was enough. He asked his lovely wife why she drowned his sons. He asked why she was about to drown their baby girl. Her answer was simply I am not the woman you think I am. Her hair started to flow into waves. Her arms turned blue. Her face became pale as can be…she turned into water. Shantanu was shock. Ganga was the Goddess of the river. He had married the river goddess. She took his baby girl, and turned her into water. His baby girl was the princess of the water.

Years and years went by without his wife and his daughter. He waited everyday by the river to see if they would ever return. He started to question Ganga, and everything about their marriage. She hid such a big part of her life from him. What else could she be hiding? He wanted answers. He wanted his sons back. Why did she kill them? It made no sense to him. Why did she leave him? All the questions in his head took up his entire life.

One day Shantanu’s servant sat down with him at the river. She knew Shantanu always sat in the same spot, and she knew that. He looked at his servant. He told her she is never coming back. He will never meet his daughter. She looked into his eyes. She saw his pain, and her king suffering. Little did he know, she was in love with him, and she was happy Ganga left him. However, she was sad he was not happy. She said, “My king, you will fall in love again.” He just stared at her. He thought, “How dare she speak to me, and tell me I will love again.” He stared into the empty water. Old and tired, Shantanu waited everyday.

Bibliography: Narayan's Mahabharata, Reading Guide A

Author's Note: This story was based off the original story, Shantanu and Ganga. Ganga drowns seven of her children, but when the eight son came alone, Shantanu speaks up. However, Ganga drowns her children to send them to heaven. However, she leaves Shantanu. I wrote this story to be a story left unanswered. Ganga was fulfilling her duties. I wanted my story to represent how sometimes some things are left unanswered for a reason. 

Week 2 Story: Sita

 

Sita and Rama

Picture by Ayan Gupta

Soure: Wikipedia

Dressed in crimson, hair pulled back, big eyes, and a soft smile—Sita looked flawless. Every man looked. Some tried to talk to her, but she was not interested. There was a dance floor and wonderful music, but Sita didn’t want to dance because she was there at this ball to get married. She didn’t want to get married. She twirled her hair in boredom when she finally decided to take a look around the wonderful temple everyone was in. There were flowers hung everywhere, and the architecture was mind-blowing. She ran her fingers across the wall in awe, when suddenly her eyes set on someone. 

It was Rama—the greatest god of them all. Although Sita was not aware of this, she looked at him in more amazement than the walls of the temple. Rama was staring at her. He asked his servant, “Amar, who is that beautiful, magical woman standing there?”

Amar replied, “Dear god Rama, that is Sita—the most beautiful goddess to have ever existed.”

Rama felt his stomach drop, his eyes glaring, his head spinning—it was love at first sight. Something Rama never believed in. He already knew what he had to do from there—ask Sita to marry him.

Little did Sita and Rama know that another goddess was following Rama’s every move—Ria. Ria was in love with the greatest god to be since she saw him years ago at another temple. Ria followed Rama, and wondered what he was looking at. She asked herself, “Rama my love, where are you looking?” She followed his gaze, and saw Sita. Her hair started growing in flames, her eyes gleamed red, her chest stuck out broader, her lips straightened, and her sanity was gone.

Ria calmed her burst of jealousy and rage. With a crooked smile, she asked Sita, “Will you accompany for a walk in the garden, Sita?” Sita followed Ria to the garden because she was surprised that a girl that she did not grow up with wanted to converse with her at a party. Ria screamed, “Be gone from my love, or I will have to banish you from the existence of our world, and you will die in pain.” Sita cried for help because Ria was glaring her eyes with magic to cause Sita pain in her every muscle.

Sita was confused and scared. She finally said, “Ria, we can make Rama a meal, and win his love.”

Ria laughed. She said, “You are such a naïve goddess, my dear.” She walked off in assurance that she will win this cooking contest. Ria went to her home in the dark forest. She used all her magical powers, and created the most wonderful meal to have ever been placed in the temple. There was palak paneer, naan, and rasmalai. She came back to the temple, and found Rama. Rama ate her food, and it was delicious. Ria knew she had won.

Sita came running back to the love her life. She said, “Rama, she is no good, and she will kill you.” Sita brought him the only thing she knew how to make, gulab jamun—a fried round ball of dough drizzled in syrup, and she added a rose petal to show she was a goddess, and Ria was a monster.

Ria fell to the ground. He said, “Sita, I do not care for your food. I cared for you the second I saw you roaming this temple.” They left hand in hand with Ria trying to burn them to death, but little did she know—Sita and Rama could stop anything from killing them or others because together they were the most powerful god and goddess, and nothing could ever break this bond of power because it was true love.

Author's Note: My story was based on the concept of love at first sight, which happened between Rama and Sita in the original story. However, in my story I brought in a new character to show how strong love at first sight can be. The plot of the original story consisted of Rama being a hero by using a big bow from God Shiva, and then asking for Sita's hand in marriage. I twisted my plot to be about Sita winning Rama over, but primarily their love being stronger than all magical forces when together. Instead of the bow, I used an Indian dish. I made the Indian dish to actually be one of my personal favorite main courses—palak paneer. Palak paneer is is a dish made out of spinach, tomatoes, and onions. Everything is sautéed with Indian spices, and cheese cubes are added to the palak, also known as spinach. The texture is supposed to be rich and creamy. Naan is a type of bread used to eat the palak paneer with. Rasmalai is a type of sweet. It’s cheese balls soaked in sweet milk. It doesn’t sound very good, but it is delicious. Gulab Jamun is pretty much a doughnut with syrup. These are some of my favorite Indian foods.

Bibliography: Narayan's Ramayana, Reading Guide A

Week 1 Story: Hunt for Water

A sunshiny shower

Won’t last half an hour 

 

Desert

Far in the Sahara Desert Tom and Ben lived. His owner left Tom ten years ago during the worst sand storm to have existed. Ben was just a baby camel then traveling the desert with his father, Tom. Tom was getting old. Ben started to notice his father getting weaker day by day. Ben asked, “Father is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” Tom replied, “Son I will be on my toes again if there was a droplet of water in this furious land.” That very moment, Ben knew what he had to do—he had to find water. He told Tom, “Father I am going to find us water!” Tom laughed at him. Ben didn’t understand why, so he went off on a hunt for water without permission. He looked and looked. There was nothing—not a single droplet of water to taste. He saw an old camel roaming the desert with three other camels. It was a family! In excitement, Ben said hello. The camel looked at him and did not respond. The other camel said, “Honey, that’s Tom’s son, Ben!” The old man did not respond, and walked away. Crissy said, “Oh Ben, don’t mind him. He does not like to talk much. Him and your father traveled this desert together ten years ago! You probably don’t remember. They did everything together…until your father passed away. Ben was confused. He said, “Crissy, my father is still alive. I’m looking for water for him. Where do I find this thing called water? What does it look like? Does it have a smell?” Crissy replied, “Oh honey, there hasn’t been water in this desert for centuries.” Ben stayed a longer to meet Crissy’s kids, eat, and then left on his hunt for water. It was month five, and Ben was losing hope. He wanted to go back home. He wanted to see Crissy again. He wished he never left. He decided to go back to his father in tears and disappointment when suddenly he saw something, or maybe it was a person. He walked up to it. It was a tiny bubble. It was clear and shiny. He was scared to touch it. He looked and looked. He didn’t know what this was. He saw another bubble, and then something fell on him. He looked startled. If fell on his nose. He licked it. He knew he had found water! The droplets slowly fell. He had to get back to his father, and tell Crissy, and her husband what he had discovered, so he went back. Two months later, he found Crissy and her family again. He told them to come with him to see his father! The old camel looked at him funny. In amazement, he asked, “Tom is still alive?” They all traveled back to Tom and two months later he saw his father lying on the ground and shaking. He was sick. Then suddenly, a tiny droplet fell on Ben again! His father saw it! He said, “Ben that’s water!” They laughed and then suddenly his father fell back down and did not get up. Tom did not make it for the rainstorm that lasted ten years. Ben grew up to store water for everyone in the desert. He was the camel that discovered water. For years and years, he provided to water for all. Never again was a camel left without water. It was the never ending rainstorm.

Author's Note: This story is based off the nursery rhyme "A shiny shower won't last half an hour." I wrote this story based on the meaning of good things last longer than the moment like a single droplet can turn into a rainstorm. 

Bibliography: The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang