Brooklynn's Indian Epics Blog

Drive in: Wikimedia  The Teenager Who Couldn't Stop Talking: "Whatever you do, don't make a sound" my twin sisters said in unison as we pulled into the drive in theater. I had begged them to let me go to the "R" rated movie with them the whole week and they finally agreed. I loved hanging out with my older sisters, they always tried to make me feel included even though I am younger than them. The only problem is I am only 13 so I am not old enough to get into the movie without a parent present. Because of my age, my sisters had hid me in the floorboard of the backseat with a load of pillows, blankets, and snacks. I could hear the ticket booth worker talking to my sisters. They asked for my sisters' IDs and explained that they had busted over 10 underage kids trying to sneak in. They all laughed and began to make fun of the "stupid" kids who had been caught. I began to feel my heart beating out of my chest and I felt the air under blankets getti...

 The Elephant and the Dog : Ellen C Babbitt An elephant : Pixy.org Plot:  Main Events: There once was an elephant who was owned by the king. There was also a stray dog that lived near by that went to the elephant's stable to find food. He went to the stable everyday to eat the food that the elephant had left over. After a while the dog and the elephant became great friends and they did everything together. They ate together, slept together, and played together. One day a farmer approached the Elephant-Keeper and offered to by the dog. Because the Elephant Keeper did not care for the dog he sold him to the farmer. From that day forward the elephant would not participate in his daily activities like eating and bathing. When the King got word of this he sent someone to investigate and when it was determined that the elephant was lonely because of the dog the King requested that the farmer bring the dog back and he would buy him back. Then the elephant and the dog lived happily ev...

 The Stupid Monkeys : Ellen C Babbitt Monkey: Wikimedia Plot:  Main Events: There was a King who gave all of his people a day off as a holiday. However the gardener of the King could not take the day off because if he did not do his job even for one day, all the trees would die. The gardener came up with a plan to ask the garden monkeys for help. The monkeys accepted the gardeners duty of watering the trees while the gardener went out. Before the gardener left he told the monkeys to make sure they get enough water but not too much. So when it was time to water the trees the monkeys did not know how to tell how much water to give each tree, so they pulled the trees out of the ground to look at the roots to get a estimate of how much water each tree would need.  When the gardener returned he noticed all the trees that the monkeys had killed by pulling them out of the ground. Character Chart: Gardener: jealous, tired, desperate Greatest weakness: Wanted a vacation with his f...

S'mores: Wikimedia S'mores The wind was blowing my hair into my freshly burnt marshmallow but I did not care. My worries slowly faded away after every bite of s'mores I took. The chocolate was melted just enough that it was dripping down my fingers and the two supporting graham crackers were crumbling into pieces from the pressure of my fingers. My hands had become sticky by the time I had grabbed my wire hanger for a second round. As I stuck my marshmallow on the end and placed it into the fire I thought to myself, "Man this life is good!"  Christmas in March It was almost my turn to pick a present during my families "White Elephant" gift exchange. As I glanced around the room the smiles on everyone's faces were priceless. My step-father had gotten 2 "t-mobile" scarves and my older brother had gotten a roll of toilet paper. I had to choose wisely, to steal or not to steal. My grandmothers laughter was still filling the room as I reached ov...

 Granny's Blackie: Ellen C. Babbitt Plot: Main Events: There was an elephant given to a woman as a gift and this woman took great care of the elephant for many years. The children who lived in the same village as this woman and her elephant called her "Granny" and they called the elephant "Granny's Blackie." Blackie spent his days playing with the children, hanging out with Granny and sleeping. One day Blackie noticed that Granny was working very hard and had become very old and he decided he wanted to help. So he went out to find work for the first time in his life. He came across a man that offered him 2 pieces of silver per wagon that he pulled across the river. After pulling every wagon the man attempted to only give him one per wagon, but Blackie blocked off the wagons until he received what he was promised. Afterwards he went straight home to give Granny the silver to help her.  Character Chart:  Granny: loving, caring, old,  Blackie: playful, unaware,...

The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking: By Ellen C. Babbitt  Plot: Main Events: Two geese out looking for food run into a turtle who lives in a pond. Over a few days the geese make friends with the turtle. The geese had plans to go back to their home, but because they had made a new friend they decided to ask if the turtle would like to come along. The turtle became disappointed because he had no wings to fly to their home, the geese however offered to carry him. All he had to do was hold on to a stick with his mouth that the two geese were carrying. This plan worked well until the turtle heard children poking fun at him and he decided to talk back. This led to the turtle falling to his death at the feet of the children.  Character chart:  Turtle: talkative, or chatty  Greatest Weakness: Could not keep his mouth shut in important situations Geese: friendly,  Moral of the Story: In some situations it is better to keep your mouth shut rather than reply unnecessaril...

Revised story @ My Portfolio Dear Diary: Flickr Dear Diary,  High school sucks! And so do BOYS! I guess maybe I should backtrack and give more details so here it goes. Me, Ambika, and Ambalika were getting ready for a night on the town like we normally do on a Saturday night. We listened to our favorite songs as we put on our makeup and danced around the room. I loved these moments with my sisters, especially now that I am a senior and will soon be leaving. When we were all finished getting ready we climb into our car and headed to the biggest high school party of the year, Bhishma's Back to School Bash. Once we made it inside I spotted Salva. We had gone the whole summer apart because he was off at camp. This party was the perfect reunion.  We danced, we kissed, we laughed, and we had an amazing time. When 1 am rolled around it was Salva's curfew so he left the party while I stayed a little longer because my sisters were still enjoying the night with  Vichitravirya, Bhis...

Characters of Mahabharata: Wikimedia Son of the Sun: The first wife of Pandu had a secret. In her past she was given a mantra that would summon any god she wanted, However, it not only summoned a god but it summoned a god to bare her a child. She only learned this by saying the mantra, which gave her a son by the sun god. She was unmarried so she sent the baby away, telling no one.  Pandu's Curse: Pandu shot a deer in the words, however this deer was actually a hermit and this hermit was making love. This hermit cursed Pandu and told him he could not touch a woman ever again or he would die, because he had killed the hermit in a intimate moment. However because of his wife's mantra she would be able to haave his children with any god of his choosing.  The Sons of Pandu:      The god of truth: Yudhishthir      The god of the Wind: Bhima     Indra king of the gods: Arjuna     Ashwin twins: twins- Nakula and Sahadeva Sons of Dhri...

Part A:  Shantanu: King Shantanu a beautiful river goddess who he asked to marry. She agreed but only if her actions would never be questioned. This is because she would later drown 7 of his children keeping the 8th and taking him away.  Devavrata:   The eighth son of Shantanu. Ganga brought Devavrata back to Shantanu and he became a prince. However he gave his father permission to married a woman promising that if they had child, it would be the next leader.  Bhishma: Devayrata made a vow that he would never marry or bare children. He did this to fulfill his fathers happiness by giving him the opportunity to marry the woman he wanted to. Because of the vow Devayrata made, he then became known as Bhishma (he of the terrible oath). Seeing this sacrifice that his son had made for him, Shantanu gifted his son a boon, this boon would be Bhishma's ability to pick the time of his death.  The Throne of Hastinapur: Bhishma wathced over the throne until his half brother...

Looking back I am beyond proud of my progress so far. I have maintain a schedule, which I have been trying to do for years! So far this semester I am most proud of the fact that in every single class I have not waited until the day of the due date to complete any assignments. The class assignments I enjoy the most are probably the story telling assignments because they are completely up to me! Looking forward into the second half of this semester I plan on completing things at a faster rate. Due to a job that will be getting in may, my plan is to complete the course by the end of April! I also want to try to expand my stories past the original plot of my chosen inspiration, and to make them even more my own! Summer Time: Pixabay My one greatest motivation to finish this semester strong!  

Overall I would rate the quality of the feedback I am getting from other students in class about 7/10 and improving! I am finding that the more ideas they give me on how to revise my story the easier it is for my imagination to start running. I hope that as time goes on people will become more comfortable telling me specific changes that they want to see.  I would say that the feedback I am leaving for others is relatively 7/10 and improving as well! I have found that using the WWW technique helps me to better give feedback to others. Blog comments have been a great way for me to get to know people. By reading others introductions I am able to relate to all of them on a level unlike any other online course.  Looking forward I want to continue to add to my WWW feedback comments to help others and I hope that others continue to express their ideas to me.  Key to Success: Pixy.org I chose this picture because I think that feedback is in fact the key to success. Without feedb...

 Overall I think that my reading and writing assignments are working great for me. I recently changed the layout and theme of my blog and I am very happy with the way it is looking. I am doing a portfolio as my project this semester and I am very excited to learn the different ways to revise my stories for the better. I think that my biggest accomplishment in my writing for this class has been being able to take all the feedback that is given to me and use it for the better rather than be upset by it.  My favorite reading so far has been the Ramayana. I loved the plot of this story and I especially liked the love story of Rama and Sita. My reading notes have been very helpful for my story telling. I have learned that what works for me is summarizing the plot of the section as a whole and sometimes adding some future ideas of how to make them my own.  Hocus Pocus: Pixy.org I chose to include this photo because Hocus Pocus has always been one of my favorite halloween movies...

Revised version @ My Portfolio Benjamin Franklin Quote: Flickr Story: "Josh there is someone at the door for you." my mom yelled. Ben was standing at the door waiting as I approached. "All the neighbors are going to the skate park, aren't you coming?" I thought back to when I had asked my mom earlier, "Once you finish your homework you can go, we don't want a repeat of what happened last time do we?" I looked at Ben with a disappointed look, "Not until I finish all of my homework", Ben looked defeated, then suddenly he smiled. "I have a plan, only do your math homework, then when your mother asks if you completed all your homework you can tell her yes because you have finished all your "math" homework. Ben's idea would surely work. So I agreed and told him that I would meet him at the skate park soon. I ran to my room and completed the math homework almost effortlessly, it had always been my favorite subject. Then I we...

Story 154: Drona Hears Word of Ashwatthama's Death: There is a plan that was made by the Pandavas in order to cause Drona to lose the will to fight, in order to kill him. The plan was for Bhima to tell Drona that his son had died. Before telling Drona that his son had died, the Pandava's had named an elephant Ashwatthama, after Drona's Son and then killed it in order to make the statement that Bhima was saying, true. Drona, acknowledging Bhima's normal honesty, accepted this lie as the truth and then was killed while distracted.  A plan I have for this story is by changing Bhima to a child telling their parent that they have completed their homework, when in fact they have only completed a portion of the homework. This story will focus on how telling part of the truth is not always truthful.  Lying Woman: Pixy.org Bibliography: Laura Gibbs, Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata

  Story 130: The Story of Vishnu and Bhudevi The goddess of earth becomes a cow to serve the people on Earth by giving them her milk. However the kings on earth became greedy, and milked her to the point of physical pain. This physical pain made Bhudevi, the Earth goddess, to cry out in pain. The god Vishnu heard the cries of pain, and became aware of the greedy kings. Vishnu then vowed to return to Earth, as different people, to kill the kings that lived on Earth. Thus giving Bhudevi the opportunity to drink the blood of the kings as revenge.  An idea I have for this story is a simple retelling with addition emotions and details that add depth to the characters' feelings. I could do this by adding more background to the life of Bhudevi as a cow and her feelings towards the kings in this story. I could also add more detail to the return of Vishnu as different people.  Cow: Pixabay Bibliography: Laura Gibbs, Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata 

Hocus Pocus: Pixy.org Story: The year is 1693, the Sanderson sisters are going about there normal day to day activities when suddenly Mary's nose starts tingling. " I smell a child" she tells her sisters. The three sisters become excited, they have been unable to steal the youth of a child for over a year. They get dressed grab their broom sticks and leave the house. They traveled only a mile, before noticing a camp of five sleeping teenage boys and one sleeping woman. They hated using boys for the potion but the boys were young, and the witches were desperate. As the sisters continued to the boys, attempting to not make a sound, one of the boys awoke. This boys name was Billy. Billy had heard the stories of the witches and he was prepared to fight them to protect his mother and brothers. As Mary and Sarah fought Billy Winnie became intrigued. She had fallen in love with Billy, and couldn't bare to steal his youth, so she instructed her sisters to stop.  Billie admire...

Story 54 Bhima Fights a Rakshasa: Bhima watches over camp while his mother and brothers sleep. Two rakshasa siblings approach them in hopes of eating them, but Hidimbi, the sister rakshasa,  falls in love with Bhima and helps to defeat her own brother.  They then marry and have a son named Ghatotkacha.  An idea I have for this story is to incorporate the characters of the Movie Hocus Pocus. By turning the Rakshasas into the Sanderson sisters. And Bhima and his family into the people they are trying to steal youth from.  One thing that stuck out in the story that I can use in my own story is the sentence "I smell Humans" because in the movie Hocus Pocus, Mary is famous for her line " I smell children," which is very similar.  Hocus Pocus: Pixy.org  Bibliography: Laura Gibbs, Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata

Mahabharata: Wikimedia Plot : Most of part A is composed of stories to introduce the characters of the Mahabharata.  These characters include:  Vyasa: Writer of the first Mahabharata and Son of Satyavati Shantanu: King of Hastinapura Married Ganga, who was sent to earth to bear his children and then kill them. Married Satyavati: Daughter of a fisherman, Also daughter of King Uparichara, born among fish Devavrata: 8th son of Shantanu, Later called Bhishma Chitrangada: Son of Shantanu and Satyavati Vichitravirya: 2nd son of Shantanu and Satyavati Amba: daughter of King Kashya, would somehow cause Brishma's death Ambika and Ambalika: sisters of Amba Wives of Vichitravirya  Dhritarashtra: Son of Vyasa and Ambika, born blind Pandu: Son of Vyasa and Ambalika, Born pale Vidura: Son of Vyasa and a maid,, reincarnation of Yama god of dharma Kunti: 1st wife of Pandu Madri: 2nd wife of Pandu Gandhari: wife of Dhritarashtra Yudhishthira: Son of Kunti and "Pandu"  Bhima: Son of K...