Week 2 Reading Overview

Sita's ordeal by fire as Rama watches, picture by Wiki Commons

Hi there! 

So this blog post is a basic run down of what I will be reading for the semester! 

Lets start off with the Ramayana. 

I had two options for this, R. K. Narayan's Ramayana or PDE Ramayana online. I decided to do the public domain edition, which is online. This was actually a pretty tough choice because I do really well with tangible books....like significantly better than online. I struggle with staying focused on screens. But what drew me to this option was that it had audio and notes included in it. I find that notes really help my understanding. Concerning the audio, if I can listen and read I definitely have better retention. Also, I will be driving a lot this semester. If I have access to audio, I can listen to the stories during my drives to make the most of my time (sorry to all the podcast I love.....I'll have to catch up later haha)!

Now lets move on to some comics and videos I wound interesting!

Comics

• Rama: Retold from the Ramayana

• I selected this comic because it gives a full overview of Ramayana. I love knowing the whole story, and I feel if I read this, I will get that. It includes a reading guide along with notes and links. I skimmed over the reading guide and liked the overall story of the comic. I liked how the same characters were used throughout the comic and had a developing story around them. I find notes incredibly helpful and it definitely draws me into a reading if they are included

•  Prabhavati: The Asura Princess 

• I picked this comic because it honestly just looked really interesting to me....and there was a dance production video I could watch!! I love stories about love so this was a perfect story to me. The video that was included really drew me into it and gave a great overview of the comic.

Videos

• Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik: Not quite Avatar 
• Okay.....this TED talk is incredible! This TED talk looks into the question of why evil does not have a synonym. I have always felt this way and so I was so happy to listen to this TED talk. We do not know what evil is. It is our responsibility to ask questions and attempt to understand all sides. Why must there always be a good guy and a bad guy? Can everyone be good? I also watched his other video about diversity which I found interesting as well.

• Why We Worship Trees 
• I found this video very interesting. I love our mother Earth so I find it very wonderful to have the chance to get a brief explanation of why the Indian culture worships trees. This is definitely a topic I would enjoy learning more about and even expanding on in possibly other aspects of nature.