Growth Mindset: Cat Memes for Days

Source: Growth Mindset Cats.

I like this one because I've always believed in the "learn from your mistakes" concept. I have done that various times in my life. Plus, I love how cute and innocent the cat looks in this meme.

Source: Growth Mindset Cats.

I love this one because this really speaks me. When I found something difficult, I used to give up easily. I was especially like that during freshman year. I think over the course of the last 3 and half years, I've learned to not give up so easily and keep trying.

Wikipedia Trails: From Adam's Bridge to Black magic

Wikipedia Trails: From Adam's Bridge to Black Magic

NASA image showing Adam's Bridge connecting India (on top) to Sri Lanka (bottom). Source: Wikimedia Commons. 

I started this trail off with Adam's Bridge. It is mentioned in the Ramayana that this was a bridge built  by Rama, Lakshmana, and Hanuman to reach Lanka to save Sita. I was curious to see if there actually is something still there. From the pictures you can tell that there is still land that connects India and Sri Lanka, but it is not a whole landform. It has broken down but still forms a sort of connected looking path. One of the theories for this is that it occurred when Sri Lanka broke away from the Indian mainland, which to me makes the most sense. 

From there I went to the article about King Arthur. I had read books about this when I was in grade school so I was curious to know more about the legend of King Arthur. After reading the article, I learned the difference between the children's book and the real legend. 

The next article I went to was the one about The Sword in the Stone. It is a 1963 Disney movie. I was curious about it because I wanted see how Disney changed it up from the legend to make it more child-friendly.

The last article I went to was the one about Black magic. I was curious about this because I wanted to see the origins of black magic. It has always been associated with witches and devil worship, so I was curious to see how and when that started. 

Extra Reading: More Babbitt Jataka Tales

Jataka Tales

by Ellen C. Babbitt

For this extra reading, I read the Part B of the Jataka Tales. Just like last time, I had a good time reading these as well.

I really liked reading "The Ox Never Envied the Pig." Basically, the story is about these two oxen brothers who do all of the hard work on the farm and are only given straw and grass to eat while this lazy pig doesn't do anything and gets good food to eat. One of the oxen, Little Red, is grouching about having to do hard work but not getting good food in return. The older brother, Big Red, says to Little Red that he shouldn't be envious of the pig. The pig is being fattened up with the "food of death." They're going to eat the pig for the wedding feast, so be happy that you get to live a long life.

I really liked that one because I've always lived by the moral of the story. "Work hard and you'll be rewarded in some way." I'm not going to say that I don't envy people because I do, but I know my hard work will pay off one day.

Pig. Source: Max Pixel.

Week 14 Story: Sita: The Independent Woman

Sita: The Independent Woman

Sita got home from her long day of work and just slouched on her couch. She had been working hard for the last few months just to get her bills paid on time. Ever since her husband Ram had dumped her, she had had to move out of their apartment and find her own place. 

She still hadn’t forgotten about that day. Ram had dumped her in front of everyone at the hospital she had been working at then. He had asked her to move out of their apartment, as well as his life. She had cried for days on end after she had moved out.

Sita ended up moving in with a friend for almost three weeks until her friend’s roommate came back. She was lucky that she knew somebody who was moving out of that apartment building and she got his apartment. She continued working, taking double shifts so she could make more money. She considered herself lucky that her parents had raised her to be independent because she knew she would be able to make it on her own. 

When it had been a few weeks after their breakup, she found out she was pregnant. She was scared about what was going to happen. When she told her parents, they said they would support her completely. She hadn’t even told Rama yet but she knows it’s not going to go well. “Oh well,” she thought. “I’ll raise this baby on my own. I don’t need Ram.”

One day she went to one of her prenatal checkups and found out she was having twins. Ever since that day, she realized she was going to have to tell Ram now. She had gone to his apartment, their old apartment, and had a talk with him. At first, he was mad that she hadn’t told him when she had first found out. But nonetheless, he was ready to offer her any kind of support she needed. In that moment, Sita realized that she didn’t need him anymore. Over the past few months she had kept herself busy that she didn’t really think about Ram as much. 

Sita looked at Ram and said “Listen, I only came to tell you so you wouldn’t be blindsided one day if you found out from someone else. I didn’t come here to ask for your help.”

“But what about child support? You can’t handle two babies all by yourself with your salary,” said Ram.

“You don’t know what I can do now, Ram. I may have seemed dependent on you when we were together, but I have changed since then. I can and I will go through this all by myself. I already have enough support that I need from my family and friends,” said Sita. “Oh, and I want the divorce finalized now.”

And on that note, she left his apartment and his life. But this time, she left with her dignity intact and her head held high. 

Ram sees a pregnant Sita. Source: Youtube.

Bibliography: Sita Sings the Blues. Nina Paley.

Author's Note: After watching Sita Sings the Blues, I realized how much I hated how clingy and dependent Sita was portrayed in the movie. I decided to write a modern day version of how Rama had exiled Sita even after she had gone through his Agnipariksha, the fire test, to prove that she was still pure. In this modern version, I wanted to give her a new personality and be independent, so I wrote about her having a job and being able to pay her bills all by herself. In the Ramayana, Rama doesn't know about Sita being pregnant until much later when he finds two boys singing about him. I wanted to change that up and show he does find out and offers Sita help, but she is independent and doesn't need his help. 

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues, Part B

Sita Sings the Blues

by Nina Paley. 

Sita cries a river after Rama exiles her. Source: Wikimedia Commons. 

I finished the rest of the movie for the Part B reading for this week. In my last reading post for this, I mentioned how I think Sita is shown as this desperate and clingy wife. I was thinking about writing a story for this week about Sita being the opposite of that. This second part of the movie gave me some good examples of how I could write her as this independent, strong woman I want to portray her as. 

• One part is where she goes into the forest after she is exiled by Rama. She stays alone and is pregnant while at it. I could do a modern day twist of her being this working woman who's determined to go through this pregnancy by herself. 
• Another part is when she's forced to do a test again to prove her purity to Rama. I can write about her doing the opposite of complying and being like "Yeah, no thanks. I don't need to prove myself." and then just walking off. 

However, there were some downright funny scenes that I just might end up writing about.

• The scene where Rama and Sita's sons are older, and they're singing praises about Rama. But in reality, they're lowkey dissing him at the same time. They sang something like "Rama set his wife ablaze, got her home, kicked her out," and then "duty first, Sita last." 
• Another part that was funny to me was after Rama asks Sita to go through a test again, she is like "If I'm truly impure, then may Mother Earth take me back into her womb." So Mother Earth comes, Sita starts to run to her, everyone else runs after Sita, and then when Sita tries to jump into "the womb", she pauses and the music does like scratch stop. I just thought that was pretty funny.

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues, Part A

Sita Sings the Blues

by Nina Paley. 

Sita sits by a tree after she is captured by Ravana. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

For this week's reading, I decided to watch the movie Sita Sings the Blues. I wish I had watched this earlier in the semester when we had free choice of Ramayana readings. But I'm also glad I got to watch it now because this was such a fun stress reliever. At first I thought it was just going to a long video of informational stuff, but it was actually really fun and some parts were downright hilarious. 

I think my favorite thing about the whole movie are the shadow puppets! They're the narrators and they're so funny! It's like, they're narrating but also they're just casually discussing it as if they're just sitting at home and just talking. 

From the readings I had done earlier in semester, I learned that Sita was a very devoted wife. Her devotion for her husband Rama can be seen from her actions. I feel like the movie made her seem like a very clingy, desperate wife. Especially the part where Rama saves her and he starts doubting her pureness. He thought since she had been in another man's house, she was impure. Eventually Rama forgives her after she goes the fire trial. Rama is like "will you forgive me Sita?" and she goes "of course Rama, I live only for you." That part kind of irked me. 

I think for a story I would make Sita this super independent woman who shows attitude and strength, instead of just crying all day and waiting for Rama to come save her from Ravana. 

Tech Tip: Meme Generator

Tech Tip: Meme Generator

I used the ImgFlip meme generator to make a meme for another blog post and now I feel like I'm going to keep making memes because I love memes. 

The meme I created for the Growth Mindset blog post. Source: ImgFlip.