Improvements

1. I kind of like the idea of the planning weeks because it is nice to actually get a good plan for the course and for other courses.  For me, however, I started off well with my plan but then eventually began relying on the Canvas due dates again.  That might just have been my own poor planning and inability to properly time manage, but I'm not sure having more planning weeks will actually help that many people.  Then again maybe if I had had more time to plan, I might have been able to work out a better plan that I could have stuck to.  I did like the review weeks though because they were good breaks and allowed me to look back and see how far I had come so I'm loath to tell you to do away with them though!  Maybe Week 9 could be a Review Week and Week 2 is a Planning Week?
2. I really liked the story planning option!  Sometimes I don't have time to write the story or am having a hard time thinking of an idea.  The planning option was really helpful for that and let me consider my story ideas more.  I would suggest maybe having additional resources for the story planning page like linking to the Wikipedia or other helpful websites so people can get more ideas and research.  I also like the idea of having the planning option for the Storybook too because that would have been helpful for when I'm not sure of a good idea or where to go with my story.  However, having the deadline forced me to write when I otherwise could have said oh I'll just think of an idea later, so maybe not having the story planning post for storybooks would still be better.  Or maybe there could be a limit on how many times you can use the story planning post?  Not really sure about a good solution there.
3. I also don't think I'd be particularly good at reading stories out loud, but that sounds really cool!  It would be nice to have another way to reach the stories especially since most epics were meant to be spoken to an audience.
4. Yes that would be so helpful!  I know I have been having a lot of trouble with comma splices throughout the course (and in general), so especially one about that would be so great!  I typically don't like having to sit through videos to learn concepts but there really isn't a good way to teach how to find comma splices (at least that I found) that really helped me understand where I was going wrong.
5. Thematic weeks would be pretty cool!  Would people still be allowed to pick readings though?  Because I really liked being able to pick my own readings and do whatever type of story I wanted, but I wouldn't mind having a little bit of restriction as long as I still got to pick the actual story.

Storytelling: An Exclusive Interview with the Vahanas

“Hello, everybody and welcome to the show!  As your host tonight, I’ll be conducting a few interviews with the deities’ vahanas!  I’m sure you’ve often wondered what it would be like to be the vehicle of a god!  Now we have the mounts themselves here to answer questions!”

“First up we have Nandi, Lord Shiva’s vahana!  Nandi, how are you today?”

The elaborately painted white bull snorted and tossed his head.  “Same old, same old.  I’ve been guarding Shiva’s palace for the past three thousand years, give or take a few hundred.  Stuff gets old.  I used to think it was so exciting working for Shiva, you know?  But now I’m bored.”

“Bored?  Really?  I thought demons attacked all the time!  I mean I know Ravana did . . .”

“Ha!  Demons don’t scare me, especially not Ravana!  He practically ran after I cursed him, but anyway Ravana’s old news.  Haven’t had anything nearly that heart-pounding in a thousand years.”  The bull shook his head sadly.

“Wow, I had no idea.  Have you considered maybe leaving Shiva’s service to find something a little more suited to you?”

“No!  Absolutely not!”  Nandi beat his hooves on the ground.  “I could never leave Lord Shiva!  He saved me when I had nothing and has been nothing but helpful.  Maybe it is getting monotonous now but I would never leave him.”

“Such devotion!  How did that come about?”

“I used to be a human, actually.  When I was only a young boy, two sages visited my father.  They told him that I would not have a long life.  My father was extremely alarmed but didn’t know what to do.  He broke down and told me what they had said.  I told him not to worry and that Lord Shiva would protect me.  So, I prayed to Lord Shiva every day, and finally he rewarded my devotion with a boon.  I asked that I be allowed to pray for one more year for him.  When that year ended, I asked for the same boon, and again and again.  Finally, Lord Shiva recognized my devotion and made me an immortal bull that was sworn to protect his home forever.  And that is why I will never leave him, no matter what happens.”

The host wiped away a tear surreptitiously.  “That was beautiful, thank you, Nandi.  It was great hearing from you.”  The bull inclined his head and walked off the stage.

“Next we have Airavata, the last winged elephant and the mount of Indra!  Airavata, how did you come into Indra’s service?”

The winged elephant gracefully folded his wings behind his back and gestured with his trunk.  “My story is very similar to Nandi’s, in that Indra too showed me great mercy.  I was grievously injured after a battle with a rakshasa, and Indra found me and saved me.  In return, I will serve him for the rest of my life.”

“I am sure he does not regret his decision.  Now, there have many been many rumors surrounding your birth or creation.  So, let’s clear this up for the viewers.  What is your actual origin story?”

The elephant chuckled.  “It may be less interesting than you hoped.  I was not born from the churning of the Ocean of Milk as some believe.  Nor is my mother Iravati as the Ramayana claims.  In fact, I emerged along with 7 other brothers and sisters from an egg at the dawn of time.  Brahma himself watched over our hatching and birth.”

“Forgive me if I’m too forward, but what happened to your brothers and sisters?  You are the last winged elephant left, are you not?”

Airavata sighed.  “Yes, it’s true.  Unfortunately, one of my siblings offended a sage.  Enraged, the sage proclaimed that he and his kind would never fly again.  He only spared me because I was the king of elephants and Indra’s mount.”

“I’m so sorry for what happened, and thank you for telling us about it.  It was great hearing from you today, Airavata.”

“Thank you for having me,” the elephant rumbled as he left the stage.

“Finally, our last guest!  Mushika, mount of Ganesh, welcome!”

“It’s great to be here,” the giant mouse squeaked.

“Now, Mushika, I’m sure you know what my first question will be.  Just how did you become the mount of Ganesh?”

The mouse laughed.  “Well, my story is a bit different from the others.  You see, I was actually a rakshasa originally.  I wasn’t a good, devoted person at all.  In fact, I got into a lot of trouble.  Well, one day Ganesh was fed up with my nonsense.  He decided to put a stop to my bad behavior and captured me with a golden lasso.”

“Wow, what a story!  So, what made you decide to continue following Ganesh?  Would you go back to being a rakshasa?”

“Hell no,” Mushika said.  “I love being Ganesh’s vahana.  Sure I have a bit less freedom than I did before, but I have so many more privileges.  I can go anywhere with Ganesh, and he depends on me a lot too.  It’s not one-sided like a lot of people think.  I give him power to control useless thoughts.  Plus, all of the gods have to bow down before me too.  It’s pretty great.  I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”

“Thank you for that incredible insight on what it’s like to be a vahana!  It was wonderful having you on the show tonight, Mushika.”

“It was a pleasure being here.”  The mouse scampered off the stage.

“Thanks for tuning in folks!  Next week, I’ll be back with the consorts of the gods!  Ever wanted to hear Sarasvati or Lakshmi’s perspective?  Now you’ll get the chance, next Wednesday 8:00 central!”

Nandi and Lord Shiva.  Web Source.

Author's Note:  At the end of Divine Beings, they had a little section about all of the vahanas of the different gods, and I was so intrigued!  It was so cool to hear about how the gods rode around on them and how they could even give them more powers like Mushika said!  The little backstories that the mounts themselves say are all taken from the graphic novel.  The rumors about Airavata's birth are from the different retellings of his creation.  The part about Mushika liking the gods bowing to him is from his time as a rakshasa where he offended a sage, who cursed him to be a giant mouse.  The sage later relented and told him that the gods would eventually bow down to him, which they did as he was the mount of Ganesh.  Airavata's sibling's story is also from a myth!  One of the winged elephants tried to perch on a tree but broke the branch and fell on a sage who cursed him to lose his wings.  Airavata was only spared because he was the king of the elephants (I put in that he was also the mount of Indra but at that time he wasn't yet).  All the rest is directly from the graphic novel!

Bibliography:  Divine Beings.  Reading Guide.

Reading Notes: Divine Beings Part B

• I wonder why the asuras weren't allowed to get to heaven by building the altar?  It shows their dedication at least although I guess it's cheating a little bit.
• Why were the rest turned into spiders while only the top got to be dogs and guard the gates of Yama?  Why them?  Also why spiders?
• That sage seems like a jerk.  It's not the elephant's fault that it fell on you!
• Airavata is cool though.  He is so loyal!  I'm glad he got his wish at the end and didn't have to suffer.  Shiva seems like a nice god, always helping out his loyal followers.
• Apparently there are two versions of the Gandaberunda and Sharabha story?  One has Gandaberunda as the one who loses sight of his purpose and begins rampaging, while the other story has Sharabha as the attacker.  I think it's really interesting that there can be two versions of the same story with the protagonists switched!  I really wonder how that came to be.
• Also it seems a little weird that Vishnu's avatar could just randomly change into a two-headed bird, but I guess it was because he was a god?
• I liked the descriptions at the end of some important deities' vehicles!  I liked the illustrations showing the gods on their vahanas as well.
• Speaking of the illustrations, they were all fantastic and I always love looking at the depictions of the beasts.

Airavata.  Web Source.

Bibliography:  Divine Beings.  Reading Guide.

Reading Notes: Divine Beings Part A

• Oh my gosh, the beginning of this was brutal!  It starts off with the story of Jatayu, the great bird-man that helped Rama find Sita by attacking Ravana while he tries to steal Sita and then staying alive until Rama reaches him to tell him who kidnapped Sita.  His backstory is so sad though!  He and his brother were flying around one day until they happened too close to the path of the sun god, who was being driven by their father (not really sure how a humanoid god has two bird-men as children, but I digress).  Their father knew that if he swerved to avoid his sons, the world would be thrown out of order, so he had to stay the course.  Sampati, Jatayu's older brother, saw what was going to happen, and to protect his younger brother, he flew in front of Jatayu and took the brunt of the force.  He fell to earth and his wings burned up, and he was never able to fly again.  Jatayu searched for his brother, but they never saw each other again.  I almost cried this story was so sad!  I just hope that when they died they met each other again.  And the father too, how he must have felt!  So sad :(
• Apparently, Jatayu also met Rama's father?  He helped the king confront a god who was giving the kingdom a famine for some unexplained reason.  Maybe he was bored?  Who knows, but anyway, that was when Jatayu pledged himself to help Rama's family for as long as he lived and why he was obliged to protect Sita later on.
• The next being, Nandi, started off human, but his devotion to Shiva led the god to turn him into a divine bull.
• Nandi guarded Shiva's home and was intensely loyal.  Once when Shiva was drinking poison to save the world (the other gods were churning the waters of the sea for amrita), Nandi drank the poison that fell from Shiva's lips and because he was so devoted to Shiva, he was also granted immunity from the poison.
• I found it interesting that Nandi's father wished for a child from Shiva and then basically devoted the child to Shiva.  Later, the boy is visited by sages who say he doesn't have long to live but then because he continually prayed to Shiva he became immortal.  I wonder what happens to the father though.  He's never mentioned again, but I bet he'd be pretty proud of his son.
• Nandi is also marginally involved in the Ramayana!  Ravana tries to go see Shiva but is turned away by Nandi.  He insults Nandi and calls him a monkey.  Enraged, Nandi curses Ravana to be defeated by an army of monkeys, which comes true when Hanuman and his army takes Lanka.  I think it's so cool that so many things relate back to the epics we read!

Jatayu fighting Ravana.  Web Source.

Bibliography:  Divine Beings.  Reading Guide.

Extra Credit Reading Notes: The Palace of Illusions Part F

• I like the way she did the one scene when Draupadi has to try and be accepted into Virat's court with only the wife talking and just us imagining what she's saying.
• Keechnak is such a creep and the way his sister just justifies it and says oh just let it happen is infuriating.  I'm glad Bhima killed him although maybe that was a bit too far.
• The big battle is finally happening!  I was really wondering how they were going to show all of the battle since Draupadi can't really be in all the places at once to show us what's happening, so I like how she did it with her also having the sight like Sanjay.
• I feel so bad for Uttara!  This war is going to be awful for her, and also for so many other people too!  So many people will die and for what?  I am glad that Draupadi does feel some remorse but too little too late.
• Hearing Arjuna talk about how honorable the war will be made me sad.  It's like how boys think war is such a great and honorable thing until they're actually in one and then they realize that it's messy and complicated and bloody.  They've all been in wars before so I wonder why they don't already know this.
• Poor Karna too!  Having Draupadi see his conversation with Kunti and kind of grasp what happened was a nice touch, so she can finally understand some more of his motivations.
• I like the way she glossed over the Bhagavad Gita part with Krishna because it's been told so many times and I appreciate that she didn't feel the need to excessively narrate all of it.

Kuruksheta War.  Web Source.

Bibliography:  The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.  Reading Guide.

Extra Credit Reading Notes: The Palace of Illusions Part E

• I can't put this book down so I thought I'd go ahead and finish it for extra credit since I have some more time this week.
• What happened with Draupadi because of Yudhishthira was so painful!  Much worse hearing her thoughts because basically only Krishna came to her aid and her supposedly powerful husbands could do nothing.  I can kind of understand why she became so bitter and hateful after this.
• Ugh Karna and Draupadi make me so angry.  Why can't Draupadi just be nice!  I can understand because Kunti was right there and she kind of suspected but still just say the normal things and she can't really say anything.  And then at the dice game I can see why she didn't want to beg for his mercy but she didn't have to look at him like she hated him!  I don't know I just feel like it's becoming increasingly harder for the author to justify Draupadi's behavior towards Karna in terms of her love for him.
• Although Karna is not entirely blameless either!  He could have been nicer to her face instead of just whispering about how she's "noble and beautiful."
• The slow transformation of Draupadi from happy, headstrong young girl to bitter, vengeful woman was very well done!  It goes so slowly and naturally that I didn't even really notice that she was changing.  It was only at the end that it becomes very obvious with how she can't take pleasure in anything and only lives for revenge.
• Poor Bhima :(.  He loves Draupadi but she'll never love him.  Even in the original I think they always made it seem like she preferred Arjuna.
• They didn't really include that time that Arjuna accidentally walked in on Draupadi and Yudhishthira and banished himself for 7 years.  I feel like that might have affected their relationship some so I wonder why she didn't include it.

Draupadi and the Pandavas in exile.  Web Source.

Bibliography:  The Palace of Illusions.  Reading Guide.

Reading Notes: The Palace of Illusions Part D

• The story for how the Pandavas built their palace was a bit more fleshed out in this version.  It includes a magical architect Maya that Arjuna saves when they burn down the forest.  In gratitude, he helps them design and build the Palace of Illusions.  I had no idea that they had somebody else help them build it!  How was he able to do all of the illusions that were in there?
• So I think Draupadi was around 15 or so when she was first married to the Pandavas and it says that she spends a decade in the Palace of Illusions before Duryodhana visits.  That means she's still only 25!  And she already has 5 sons!
• I'm a little surprised that she doesn't seem to care much about her sons.  I mean I suppose in the Mahabharata she's not really mentioned in connection with her sons, but still I would have thought she would love them more.
• I don't like her kind of jealous and vengeful attitude towards the other wives.  I guess it's understandable to want them to all love her, but I wish she would work with them more rather than thinking she needs to control all of her husbands.  And her "fights" with Kunti too!  I wish they would get along better.
• It's so funny hearing them talk about Krishna like oh he's just a normal guy, minor king, haha.  Narad says that Krishna is the incarnation of Vishnu and none of them can believe it!  I suppose it would be like hearing one of my friends was actually a god, but I just think it's hilarious that none of them really notice that he's divine.
• I like how Draupadi's love for Karna makes some of the decisions and things she does make a bit more sense especially with some of the things like going to see Duryodhana for the game.
• Speaking of which, I can kind of understand why Draupadi froze up when Duryodhana fell into the lake but still!  I would think that kind of response would be automatic after practicing at being courteous all the time.

Indraprastha.  Web Source.

Bibliography:  The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.  Reading Guide.