First Indian Epics Blog

5 Tips for Taking Feedback Like a Champ The Psychology of Comparison and How to Stop I selected these two articles because I felt like they most related to the way that I tend to handle feedback and posted assignments in general. I'll start with The Psychology of Comparison. This is something that I think about quite often. Whenever I have to post something I am always afraid of doing it incorrectly or too differently and I always feel like I need to look at everyone else's work first, so that my post will blend in more. And it isn't so much about the content of my posts. I'm not worried about having differing thoughts as my fellow students, I just want to make sure that my format is correct, or should I say, incorrect in the same ways as everyone else's. But I thought the section talking about making sure that you stay away from saying things like "my site will never look as good as theirs" was really crucial. Looking back at some of the storybooks...

Women of the Ramayana: I know very little about the Hindu goddesses, but I think it would be interesting to do some creative writing on them. In present day, we are seeing a shift in how women are responding to how they have been wronged by powerful men. Women are no (rightfully) no longer staying silent and they are taking down powerful men, so I think it would be interesting to parallel what is happening today with female characters and stories from ancient Hindu texts.  Sita seems like a good character to start with. She is not only a central character of the Ramayana, but she is overall a central character in the story. Weapons of Gods: I think exploring the  weapons of the gods is a topic that you could translate into a modern day commentary on several different topics; militarization of police, conflicts in the Middle East, or, without getting too political, you could just make up some interesting stories. I think that the weapon choices that are made by the ind...

Re-telling of The Foolish, Timid Rabbit... Not really sure why rabbits are considered dumb in this picture, but it was funny Running From the Truth Like a Dumb Rabbit , May 2, 2015 One day, as the sun was setting, an ambitious young rabbit was sitting beneath a tree. This ambitious rabbit was envious of the wise old lion and his influence over the other animals and was trying to figure out a way to sway the other animals to follow him. But he had nothing of value to say. He was just a blowhard with nothing of importance to say, so it seemed impossible to ever take center stage. Then he thought, “I may have nothing of importance to say, but all I have to do is say SOMETHING, almost anything, and as long as I say it loud and confidently enough, some creatures will inevitably follow me. And then other creatures will follow them, and so on and so on.” So, suddenly, the young rabbit jumped up and yelled, “The end times are here! The world is ending!” And he ran as quickl...

Reading Notes... Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbit The Foolish, Timid Rabbit I liked this story on several different levels. For one, I think its a good example of the herd mentality. People have a tendency to follow what most people are doing and consider "the norm" to be the best, simply because everyone else is doing it. They initial hysteria seems to stem from the rabbits own paranoia. But then that paranoia is confirmed when the coconut falls. The rabbit was waiting for the world to begin to fall apart and the moment that it seemed like it was indeed falling apart it refused to stop and think of other possibilities, it just went with the first thing that popped into his head (sort of a case of confirmation bias) and ran. This then leads to more animals simply following what everyone else is doing until the lion sets the record straight. It reminds me of one of my favorite Mark Twain quotes: "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to ...

Reading Options... Ganesha, Saraswati, and Shiva in Japan http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/image-ganesha-saraswati-and-shiva-in.html 17 Fascinating Women from The Mahabharata Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of women's movements around the world, especially in the United States. So it would be interesting to parallel the powerful female characters in the Mahabharata to the powerful women of today. Krishna and Narakasura: Confidence Versus Arrogance I know very little about the Hindu gods and goddesses, but what I do know is mostly concerned with Krishna. So, learning more about Krishna is always something that peaks my interest. The Lord of Lanka: The Rise and Fall of a Demon King This was just one that I randomly generated and it was the one that popped up. Demon King sounded very heavy metal, so I went with it.