Indian Epics

For my next story, I want to focus on Hanumans characteristics and his amazing strengths. I want to list his incredible feats. and write about his humbleness. I think I will write it as if I am interviewing him. I dug up wikipedia and the Ramayana to discover Hanumans feats such as - Jumping across a sea with one jump - Carrying a mountain - Shapeshifting power - Immortality Since this story will be in a interview format, I can add his personal stories such as childhood experience, his time with Rama, war stories and etc. I feel like I can really delve deep into Hanuman as a unique character this way. I can also write about his parents since he is the son of wind god, Vayu, which is very interesting. Maybe I can make up a story between them or find one if I can come across it. I feel like this interview format will be very interesting since I have never tried this way to write a original story. If I manage to come up with some good interview questions, I feel like this will

- Krishna wants peace between the two clans - Duryodhana plans to capture Krishna when he arrives to his kingdom - When Krishna shows his true power, Duryodhana realizes that he cannot capture Krishna. - Karna does not abandon Duryodhana's side on the battle - Dhrishtadyumna becomes the commander for the Pandavas side and Bhishma became the commander for the Kauravas. - Bhishma is wounded by Arjuna and Karna joins the fight. - Since Bhishma is out of the battle, Drona takes command of the Duryodhana's army. - Abhimanyu is killed by Jayadratha and Arjune becomes enraged. - Arjuna  successfully fulfills his promise of avenging Abhimanyu by killing Jayadratha. - Dhrishtadyumna kills Drona who was in despair  because he thought his son was killed. - Bhima kills Duryodhana's brother and drinks his blood. That is savage. - Karna is killed when his chariot gets stuck. He begs Arjuna not to kill him until his chariots free but Arjuna kills him after Krishna convinced him

- Duryodhana begins to fight with Pandavas - Gods favor Pandavas greatly, sending gandharva to fight Duryodhana to prevent him from humiliating the Pandavas - As I read more into Mahabharata, my feelings for Pandava brothers change. I don't know if they will make a good protagonist since they can't catch a deer and dies from drinking water because Nakula, Sahadeva, Arjuna, and Bhima did not heed the lakes warning - Because the gods were on their side, the Pandava brothers comes back to life and recieves gift for their 13 year exile - Kichaka tries to sexually assault Draupadi, so Bhima kills him. - Susharman attempts to steal Virata's cattle after the death of their general, Kichaka. - Susharman successfully captures King Virata, but Bhima captures Susharman instead and frees Virata. - Karna fights with Arjuna and loses. - Uttara and Abhimanyu gets married since King Virata finds out that Pandavas were in his court. - Pandavas requests half of the Duryodhana's

Hanuman and Sun Wukong, the monkey king of China, was hiding in the woods after they broke Buddha's vase. Since they were both monkeys, they promised each other not to betray one another and remain as good friends. Hanuman: Hey Sun, you think we'll be okay that we broke Buddha's vase? Sun Wukong: I am sure Buddha's not going to find us in this forrest. Hanuman: But his Buddha... He is considered the reincarnation of lord Vishnu... I can't do this. I was supposed to serve him. Sun Wukong: You worry too much. Lets forget about the vase and try to enjoy ourselves. At that moment, loud voice was heard above them. Both Hanuman and Sun knew that it was Buddha's voice. As they both trembled in fear, Sun summoned his somersault cloud and flew away. Realizing that Sun left him alone, Hanuman stood still to receive his punishment. Sun was watching from the skies when Buddha came down on Hanuman. Sun saw Buddha whispering to Hanuman and flying away again. Sun cam

- This is some family drama here. I dont think Dhritarashtra should wage a war against pandavans - Sharing Draupadi as a wife seems disturbing. Maybe they were really open back then. But Rama kicked out Sita for getting kidnapped by Ravana. This is really confusing. - This new kingdom of Indraprastha sounds like a conflict waiting to happen - I think Pandavans disrespecting Duryodhana is not heroic. Its hard to tell that Kauravas are the bad ones in this epic novel. I find this novel similar to the trojan mythology in a way its hard to tell whos the good and bad guys - Can't believe   Yudhishthira gambled away his family - War is about to start over a gambling match. There is more to it than just a dice game but this signals the beginning of the tear between the pandavas and kauravas. - At least  Dhritarashtra frees the pandavan loyalties.  - Man... exile and poverty over a dice game? - I mean it feels like Pandavans are using their help from the god in a wrong way... feels

- I know that this story is about a war between two clans. War stories always intriguing. - When Shantanu agrees to get married, the deal does not sound like a good one - It seems cruel how the wife drowns the babies. Even though they committed crimes in the heavens. - The eighth one gets to live and his name is Bhishma - Bhishma giving up succession so his father can get married to another women is mind blowing! - Because of Bhishma's sacrifice, Shantanu gets to marry Satyavati and bares two sons, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Hope they don't fight with Bhishma later. - Bhishma also gathers three women's for Vichitravirya. Thats insane. Most humble being i have ever seen. - I wonder how strange Vyasa actually looks.. and his origin story is very surreal.. talking about fish smell and getting pregnant by god. Sounds like greek mythology! - Dhritarashtra (blind one), Pandu (pale one), and Vidura (normal one) - Instead of having his own son's, Pandu just summons

- For this week I researched a story of Sun Wukong to figure out how to integrate Hanuman and Sun Wukong in the same story. - Origin story is different from Hanuman in a sense that Sun Wukong was born in a stone compared to Hanuman, where Hanuman actually had parents and Hanuman's father was the wind god. - Hanuman was also serving a king named Sugreeva where in Sun Wukong was deemed as king of monkeys when he found a hidden village inside a waterfall. - Hanuman also serves Rama, who was the reincarnation of Vishnu. Hanuman is portrayed as the loyal and faithful servant. In comparison, Sun Wukong is seen as troublemaker and delinquent since he constantly goes against jade emperors wishes and wreck havoc in heaven.  - Researching a right story to fit both of them was a hard one. Since both of the characters were heroic on their own way, I had to find a story where I could make both of the shine. - There was a story called " The Bear and the Travelers" in Aesop

- When Dave breaks up with Nina over a email, it was very sad. Sound affect for her heart breaking was also very descriptive of her situation. - The art direction for this film is very surreal. When the gods were dancing to a tune right after the break, the imagery was very flashy and gave me a weird feeling at the same time - Part B is after the book the Ramayana. When Rama banishes Sita for getting kidnapped by Ravana seems very harsh and she was even pregnant. - Rama seems very jealous that she stayed with Ravana - Sita meets Valmiki while lamenting her current situation. - Its funny how the twins praise Rama even after their mother was abandoned by him for doing nothing wrong. - I feel with the male narrator when he said Sita should forget Rama for not treating her right - Rama wants to take the twins back and not take Sita back. Rama wants her to prove her purity again - Sita sinks into earth since her purity was proven by the mother earth taking her back. she lived a roug

- Lakshmi is portrayed very fancy in the beginning of the movie. Never imagined how she looked like before. - When Shiva is dancing on the ring of fire, I don't know why but it was very funny - This movie did not start how i would have imagined. When I saw San Francisco in the opening I was lost for a second. - As the movie progressed, I realized this is like the shorten version of the Ramayana. - 14:20 scene was very violent but it was toned down due to the animation - The movie describes that Ravana wasn't that bad besides the fact that he kidnapped Sita. - They make fun of Sita when she was dropping jewelry all the way to the Lanka. - They say that the Hanuman was the reincarnation of Shiva, which I never knew - Ravana gets mad at Sita since he was being considerate to her but she kept rejecting him - Ends with her going through fire trial Image of Rama and Sita : Flickr

This will be the comment wall for the portfolio project Link to the publishing site. ( Image of Hanuman lifting the mountain : Wikimedia )

Link to edited version A long time ago, legendary vanara was born between Anjana and the god of wind, Vayu. He was named Hanuman (Anjaneya) and he was destined to do many great and awe-inspiring deeds. Ever since he was a kid his father, Vayu, always told him that he will and must serve under the legendary Vishnu when he grows up. Hanuman trained himself and educated himself further to become the best servant he could when Vishnu showed up. After years of waiting and training, Hanuman noticed two people walking through the kingdom of Kiskinda, when he was standing guard near the edge of the kingdom. Hanuman felt something from the travelers... He didn't know what it was but he had to find out. Upon hearing Rama and Lakshmana's story of exile and kidnapping of Sita, Hanuman realized that Rama was the avatar of Vishnu and decided to join their adventure. Hanuman convinced the brother of the king of Kiskinda, Sugreeva, to help Rama recover his lost wife, Sita. Sugreeva agreed to

Ravana in Council - Hanuman wrecked Lanka but Ravana asked Maya to rebuild it - Ravana's council asks to seek and kill Rama and his brother - Vibishana tries to speak reason but was ignored. He leaves his brother and join Rama Across The Ocean - Surgreeva and Jambava did not trust Vibishana - Hanuman is portrayed very modest in this chapter because he didn't speak up until Rama asked him to do so. - Hanuman trusts Vibishana since he spared Hanuman when he was initially captured by Ravana in Lanka - Rama ordered everyone to treat Vibishana as a leader of Lanka in exile. - Rama possesses immense power since he threatened to evaporate the sea in front of the sea of God, Varuna. The Siege of Lanka - Ravana failed to seize the messenger since Angada proved too powerful to subdue. As soon as Angada came back, Rama attacked the city since he tried to deemed that there was no redemption - I was surprised when Indrajit made Rama and Lakshmana passed out by using poison. Garu

Vali - I like how they started this chapter by saying that this is the most controversial chapter of the whole book - In this kingdom, there are many races with differences appearances such as bear, monkey and etc and this is the norm - Kingdom of Kiskinda is ruled by a race of people who resembles monkeys - This is where my project character, Hanuman, makes appearances. He was very interested in Rama and his companions and they looked like scholars but also warriors. - When Hanuman was young, Vayu told him to serve Vishnu and by serving Rama, Hanuman can follow his fathers order. - Scene where Sugreeva is beaten by Vali sounds very painful - When Tara had to carry the dead body of her husband, Vali, it was really sad. image of Sugreeva dueling with Vali :Wikimedia When the Rains Cease - When Sugreeva forgets about helping Rama, Rama said he needs to be taught a lesson even death. - Rama sends Lakshmana to remind Sugreeva - Tara gets mad at Sugreeva for forgetting the

Since I realized that I was lacking in critical thinking when it comes to giving a feedback, I read about how to create a constructive feedback. I realized that just praising isn't good enough and does not help anybody. Instead of a simple "good job" or "nice work", I can start a feedback with a question to have both readers and writers to think. I can also give my own opinion on whats lacking or what was good about the story. I also learned from the criticizing praise to praise with more content in the praise itself. Instead of empty praises, if we praise them about a specific field or ability, it might improve their ability as a writer to improve their future writing.  image from Wikimedia

I have decided to work with the character called Hanuman for my project. As I was researching this character , first thing that came across my mind was Sun Wukong. As I grew up in South Korea, I was very familiar with the story of the monkey king of China. When I saw Hanuman, I realized that he was also a monkey deity. First story idea that I got was to fuse them on a adventure together. I am a big fan of Sun Wukong and him and Hanuman both going on a adventure sounds very interesting to me! Here is the link where they break down their similarity and differences.  image of Sun Wukong : Wikipedia image of Hanuman : Wikipedia I can also focus on the origin of Hanuman. Every hero needs a origin story. Through my research, I found out that Hanuman was a offspring of  Añjanā and Kesari. Hanuman is also considered a son of Vayu, god of wind, since Hanuman is considered to be Vayu's first avatar. I mean Hanuman has perfect materials for a good origin story. I could start from