Week 9: The Return

This story is  based off a continuation of my week 7 story
Additionally, it uses parts of a week 9 reading option

Days had passed but it surely did not feel like it. Roku has accomplished his mission of getting his father back; the five children from what he called "a surprised adoption" had taken his father away from him, and this was him getting them back.

Although he got his physical father back, he seemingly had not gotten his attention back. Ever since the day his children were taken away from him, Bryan had put his blood, sweat, and tears into finding out what happened to his children. Yes, he was given explanations to why they were gone, or taken away, but it did not seem right. Why would they either be doing drugs, running away, or writing death threats? They were so happy together, weren't they?

Bryan could not rest. He would do everything he could in his power to get his children back. Were they criminals by law? Absolutely. Were they criminals to Bryan? Absolutely not.

As heroic he sounded, nothing was working. He was not wealthy enough to afford bails for his children, so that was not an option. Sweet-talking the law enforcement keeping his children away from him was not either. So, like Roku, the root of these problems, he had a master plan.

That plan was to get in trouble with the law.

And so he did. One evening, while waiting by the crosswalk, Bryan spotted an elderly woman. He was trying to get caught, this was part of his plan; waiting for more of a crowd to form in order to be caught, Bryan prepared himself. The time came, and he snatched the ladies purse. The next thing you know, he was imprisoned.

Thankfully, his town had the organizational skills of a four year old. This meant that every criminal, regardless of the law they broke, was smushed into one building of confinement. You could have stolen a candy bar from a convenience store and had a third degree murderer as your roommate.

His plan was falling into place. He was able to find four of his five kids and get them in on the plan of busting out. He found out Roku was behind all of this; he had framed each and every kid.

Every day at lunch time one of the kids would sacrifice their lunch to dig a hole bigger and bigger until it was able to free them. Until one day, they were able to.

But the fifth child was still missing. Roku had gotten him to "run away." He was found at a homeless shelter, where Roku had told him that his father no longer loved him and was kicking him out. The pleasure on his face when he found out this was not true when seeing his father and siblings again was unmatched.

Now, it was time to get revenge on Roku.


--Author's Note--

I continued my story from Week 7 where a jealous biological son was prompted into getting the love of his father back after 5 children were placed at his door for his father to raise. Although these kids brought him a lot of joy, they did the opposite for Roku. Roku was able to frame them and trick Bryan in thinking they were forever lost, but Bryan was not able to let this go.

Additionally, I took parts from a week 7 story of the drona and princes to add to the "revenge" plot of Bryan getting his children back.

The kids and Bryan were in confinement

Reading Notes - The Five Tall Sons of Pandu (Part B)

Title: The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu
Author: Richard Wilson
Illustrator: Frank Pape
Year: 1914
Source



Duryodhana objects to Yudhishthira being named king of his own realm, so he prepares for war. In Virata's court, the Pandavas deliberate. Krishna's brother Balarama advocates for making peace, but Satyaki, a great warrior of Krishna's clan, calls for war. Drupada argues they should seek allies while also appealing to Duryodhana for peace. Krishna goes on a peace mission to Dhritarashtra. Krishna's appeal moves Dhritarashtra, and Drona also argues for peace, but Duryodhana insists on war, and his decision is absolute.

When the great armies first meet on the battlefield, Arjuna hesitates to attack as enemies his own uncle and cousins and also his teacher Drona. Krishna persuades him to obey Duty (Dharma), and Arjuna agrees.

The great and aged warrior Bhishma leads Duryodhana's armies and they have the advantage on the first day. On the second day, Arjuna and the Pandavas rally, and Duryodhana threatens to replace Bhishma with Karna. Bhishma tells Duryodhana that the gods are not on their side because their cause is not just, but he still fights boldly, to Arjuna's dismay. Yet Arjuna beats off all attacks, and the battle continues. On the next day, Bhima slays many of Duryodhana's brothers but he barely escapes with his life. And so the battle goes on.

Fighting for the Pandavas was Shikhandin, who had been born a woman but transformed into a man, a warrior destined to bring about Bhishma's death. Bhishma would not fight someone who was born a woman, and so he lowered his guard when meeting Shikhandin in battle, and at that moment the Pandavas shot him full of arrows. Bhishma does not die right away, however, and instead lies on a bed of arrows, surrounded by the princes of both sides who weep for him.

Before he dies, Bhishma urges Duryodhana to make peace, but Duryodhana refuses. Karna later visits Bhishma, and Bhishma reveals that Arjuna is his brother; the charioteer who raised him was only his foster father, and Karna was in fact the first-born child of Kunti, Arjuna's own mother. Even so, Karna is still determined to kill Arjuna.

Drona replaces Bhishma as general of the army, and he vows to capture Yudhishthira. Arjuna has sworn not to attack Drona except to save Yudhishthira, so Drona's attack on Yudhishthira fails and the Pandavas all fight bravely. Duryodhana grows angry at Drona and threatens to replace him with Karna. Drona says he will do his duty, promising that either he or Arjuna would die that day.

Drona's son Ashwathaman is a great warrior also, and one of the war elephants has the same name. Bhima kills the war elephant, and when Drona hears that "Bhima has killed Aswathaman," he despairs, thinking his son is dead. Drona asks Yudhishthira if the news is true, and Yudhishthira replies that the elephant Ashwathaman is dead, although Drona hears only that Ashwathaman is dead. Draupadi's brother (Dhrishtadyumna) then rides up and, seeing his own father dead on the battlefield, he kills Drona. Karna will command Duryodhana's army next.

Duryodhana is confident that, unlike Bhishma and Drona, Karna has no secret love for the Pandavas. Karna and Arjuna face each other in battle; the result is a draw.

The next day, Karna vows that either he or Arjuna will die that day, and he asks to have Shalya, the king of Madra, as his charioteer. But first he encounters Yudhishthira, and the two of them fight. The result again is a draw, and Karna awaits Arjuna.

After a brief quarrel, Yudhishthira and Arjuna apologize to one another, and Arjuna rides out to face Karna. Karna manages to break Arjuna's bow, and according to the rules of war, Arjuna asks for a respite to obtain a new weapon, but Karna continues his attack. In the midst of that attack, he repairs his bow. As Arjuna launches his own attack, Karna's chariot wheel sticks in the ground, so Karna begs Arjuna for a respite. Arjuna lets Krishna decide, and Krishna says no respite will be given. Karna and Arjuna continue to fight, until finally Arjuna shoots the fatal arrow, and Karna falls down dead upon the field.

Even after Karna's death, Duryodhana vows to carry on the war. He puts Shalya in command. When Yudhishthira kills Shalya, Duryodhana flees into the forest near a lake. [In the traditional version, Duryodhana uses supernatural powers to hide inside the lake itself.]

When the Pandavas find him, Duryodhana vows to kill them all. Bhima says that he is the one who will kill Duryodhana. They fight with maces, and Bhima knocks Duryodhana to the ground unconscious.

The Pandavas then race back to their camp, having learned that Drona's son Ashwathaman has killed their own sons. When Duryodhana comes to, he sees Ashwathaman standing there. Ashwathaman explains that he has killed all the sons of the Pandavas. Duryodhana then dies.

This was the end of the war. Pritha (Kunti) revealed to the Pandavas that Karna was also her son, and that Arjuna had thus killed his own brother. The Pandavas therefore mourned over Karna and all their other losses, and Yudhishthira acknowledged Karna's strength and skill, and "so the story ends in reunion of heart if not of life [and] in pity for the conquered rather than in boastful triumph over their fall."

Image Source

Reading Notes - The Five Tall Sons of Pandu (Part A)

Title: The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu
Author: Richard Wilson
Illustrator: Frank Pape
Year: 1914
Source


Pandu is the father of five tall sons: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva. When Pandu dies, his brother Dhritarashtra, who is blind, becomes king. Dhritarashtra has one hundred sons; Duryodhana is the eldest. He hates his cousins, the sons of Pandu (the Pandavas). Drona trains the young princes in the arts of war.

When the princes have grown up and mastered the arts of war, Drona organizes a tournament. The cousins engage in mock battles, but Duryodhana and Bhima fight so fiercely that Drona puts a stop to their contest. Arjuna performs amazing feats of archery.

Then a mysterious warrior, Karna, challenges Arjuna. He matches Arjuna's feats exactly, and then he and Arjuna prepare for a duel. The herald proclaims Arjuna's lineage and then asks the stranger to do the same; he cannot. Duryodhana then crowns the warrior as king of Huga (Anga).

A charioteer then enters the tournmanet ground, and Karna bows to him as his father. Bhima is outraged that Karna is the son of a charioteer and mocks him. Duryodhana defends Karna's skills and virtues, despite his humble birth. Darkness ends the tournament, and everyone realizes that Karna is a warrior whose talents rival those of Arjuna.

Duryodhana is furious when Yudhishthira is named as heir apparent to the throne. Duryodhana tries to trap the Pandavas and their mother Pritha (Kunti) in a burning house but they escape, disguising themselves as hermits.

They then go to the swayamvara of Princess Draupadi, daughter of King Drupada of Panchala. Drupada has heard of Arjuna and hopes he will enter the contest; to be sure Arjuna will win, Drupada sets up an archery target he thinks only Arjuna can hit. All the suitors fail to string the bow; Karna strings the bow, but Draupadi declares she will not accept a low-born husband. A hermit, Arjuna in disguise, then strings the bow and shoots the target.

People are amazed! Draupadi declares him the winner, but the other suitors are angry and attack the hermits. Krishna raises his hand to stop the hostilities, and all bow to him.

Arjuna then takes Draupadi home and tells his mother he has won a prize. Not knowing what the prize is, Kunti declares that it must belong to Yudhishthira as the eldest, so Draupadi will be the wife of Yudhishthira, not Arjuna. [Note that this is a major change in the story that Wilson introduces: in the traditional version, Kunti tells Arjuna that he must share his prize with all the brothers, so Draupadi becomes the bride of all five Pandavas.]

Now that the Pandavas have made an alliance with King Drupada, Duryodhana divides the kingdom: Duryodhana takes the richer part of the kingdom along the Ganges and gives the western portion on the river Yamuna to the Pandavas. They build a beautiful royal city and perform a special sacrifice to make Yudhishthira king.


Dhritarashtra attends, as does Duryodhana, along with the kings of many other kingdoms and Krishna too. When Yudhishthira honors Krishna as the guest of honor, Shishupala, King of Chedi, gets angry. Krishna uses his discus weapon (chakra) to behead Shishupala.

Now that Yudhishthira is a king in his own kingdom, Duryodhana is mad with jealousy and decides to trick Yudhishthira in a game of dice, with the help of Prince Shakuni (who is actually his maternal uncle). Shakuni cheats and Yudhishthira loses everything, gambling even his brothers and himself. Then he loses Draupadi. Dhritarashtra is appalled and vows that the Pandavas shall not be slaves; instead, they shall go into forest exile. [In the traditional version, the forest exile is the result of a second gambling match, which Yudhishthira loses as he did the first.]

When a servant summons Draupadi, she refuses to go. Then Duryodhana's brother, Prince Dushasana, drags Draupadi by the hair into the council chamber.

She begs her husbands to avenge her, but they can do nothing. Karna taunts her, as does Duryodhana. Dhritarashtra then offers to grant Draupadi a wish; she asks to go into exile with the Pandavas. The Pandavas and Draupadi go into the forest for twelve years of exile and a thirteenth year that they must spend in disguise.

While the Pandavas are in exile, Duryodhana comes to visit and mock them, but he ends up needing their help to escape the gandharvas of the forest (led by Chitrasena), and that makes Duryodhana hate the Pandavas even more. Another prince (Jayadratha) tries to abduct Draupadi, but the Pandavas rescue her. They visit wise men who tell them stories, like the tale of Savitri who conquered death and the love story of Nala and Damayanti.

They spend the year of disguise in the court of King Virata: Yudhishthira as a brahmin priest, Bhima a cook, Arjuna a dancing master, Nakula as a stableboy, and Sahadeva as a cowboy (and Draupadi as a hairdresser to the queen). Near the end of the year, Duryodhana, together with Drona and Karna, steal King Virata's cattle. Virata's son, Uttara, calls for a chariot-driver to take him into battle, and Arjuna offers to go. Uttara thinks Arjuna is only a dancing teacher, but finally agrees. Arjuna takes Uttara to where the Pandavas have concealed their weapons, disguises as corpses hanging from trees, and so they prepare themselves to fight Duryodhana and retrieve the cattle.

Uttara is amazed by the quality of the weapons. Arjuna reveals that they are the weapons of the Pandavas. Uttara then asks where the Pandavas are now. Arjuna then reveals the truth about their disguised identities. When Drona sees the monkey banner (Kapi Dhwaja, in honor of Hanuman), he knows it is Arjuna who pursues them. Duryodhana escapes, but they rescue the cattle and bring them back to King Virata. It is now time for the Pandavas and Draupadi to reclaim their kingdom.

Drona trains the princes

Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City (Part A)

Long after the reign of King Bharata, there was a king in Hastinapura called Vichitravirya, who died and left two sons: Dhritarashtra, the older son, who is blind, and his brother Pandu, who becomes king. Pandu has five sons: Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna by his wife Kunti, and Nakula and Sahadeva by his wife Madri. These sons of Pandu, the Pandavas, are said to be the sons of gods. When Pandu dies, Dhritarashtra becomes king. King Dhritarashtra and Queen Gandhari have one hundred sons, and they grow up together with the five sons of Pandu. Duryodhana is the eldest of those one hundred sons, called the Kauravas (descendants of Kuru). Together, the Pandavas and the Kauravas are the Bharatas, the descendants of King Bharata.


Drona is the boys' teacher, and the Pandavas were his best pupils, arousing the jealousy of Duryodhana. Drona then leads his pupils in an attack on King Drupada of Panchala, his enemy, and Drupada prays to the gods for a way to avenge himself against the Bharatas. From the sacrificial fire a beautiful girl emerges: Draupadi.

Duryodhana, meanwhile, grows even more jealous when his father names Yudhishthira as his heir, and so Duryodhana plots to kill the Pandavas and their mother, Kunti. Duryodhana's agent Purochana arranges for their death in a fire, but Vidura (half-brother of Pandu and Dhritarashtra) warn the Pandavas, and they escape the fire by means of a hidden tunnel. Some drunken guests die in the fire, and the people suppose that their corpses are the remains of the Pandavas. Duryodhana rejoices at the news.

  All the suitors are eager to win Draupadi (also called Krishna, with a long "a" at the end: Krishnā, meaning "dark") as their bride. Her brother Dhrishtadyumna explains the rules of the archery contest. Karna, the secret child of Kunti and the sun-god Surya (thus half-brother to the Pandavas), looks like he might win, but because he has been raised as the son of a charioteer (who rescued the baby from the river where Kunti had set him adrift), Draupadi declares she will never marry him.

While in exile, the water-nymph Ulupi takes him to her underwater kingdom and they marry. Thanks to Ulupi's blessing, he is able to defeat a savage alligator who was herself a water-nymph, cursed to take the form of an alligator until freed by Arjuna. Arjuna rescues the water-nymph's sisters from their alligator forms. (Her name is Varga, and the other apsaras are named Saurabheyi and Samichi and Vudvuda and Lata.)

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Week 8 Progress

I am content with my progress thus far into the semester, as I feel like assignments such as the story revisions help me not only improve my writing and creative thoughts, but also my grammar and overall syntax that is extremely useful for improving since it is applicable everywhere. I think I am most proud of my first story that has been revised multiple times now. I feel like I have established a secure weekly schedule of knowing when to do assignments and not letting them sneak past me very often, or at all. I always do them at night as I feel like these assignments are a good way to unwind.

I like class assignments like these, where I am reflecting on my semester. I can get a good understanding of how it going by writing my thoughts down as such. I have used some of the extra credit assignments as well, but I save them usually for the week I have missed an assignment. I have done a few assignments out of interest of the topics of those extra credit assignments, though. I feel like in terms of my blog and my website, I have become more and more creative throughout the semester by developing and building it more and more.

As of now, I would like to hope that I will get more creative throughout the semester. Other than that, I do not have any concrete things I would like to change. Pitfalls such as not completing the assignment's requirements in their entirety because I did not read the instructions well enough are what I want to avoid. I hope I can try to incorporate newer, less modern writing styles and themes in my writing in future assignments. I might add more images and new styles to by blog and website in the near future to improve it and reflect my personality and writing more!

Reflecting throughout the semester

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

I think the comments I am getting are wonderful! Normally, when students are assigned to give feedback to other students, it's just to get it done and sometimes it does not have real value. I feel like in this course, however, since it's not about discussion posts, but rather stories and introduction posts, there is more interest from student to student. This means there is genuine criticism from my peers, and it really helps me improve and learn a lot about new people. This goes the same for my feedback out, where I actually have an interest in giving feedback, so I give much more genuine feedback.

I think the blog set up is really great. I can always go back to someone's blog if I liked their story or wanted to get to know them better through their discussion posts; if I wanted to keep reading their stories if I liked their writing, I could easily go back. It is really helpful with them having introduction posts, as well, as it lets me get to know much more about them in a straightforward fashion instead of strictly through their writing alone.

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This image is especially important to me because I have a bad problem of letting my mistakes get to me, and also not focusing on the things I did right and improving them. A saying I have started to go by that helps me combat this is "it doesn't matter how hard you hit, but how hard you get hit and keep going." Hopefully I can better myself through my writing as well as my personal self and not let them negative thoughts sit in my head.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

I am enjoying the reading and writing assignments. I am particularly happy about how they give me a lot of freedom to write about what I want; for example, even though we have required readings of a particular piece, there are assignments that allow me to create my own story with my own imagination just based on those assigned readings. I like my blog and my website, my website a little more than my blog because of the design aspects, but I like how easy it is to change blogger, so I am content most of the time! I've made a lot of grammatical errors that I do not usually make in my story posts so I want to improve on that, especially proofreading, but I am happy with my content. I think my biggest accomplishment is yet to come, but I predict it would be when I finish entirely revising one of my stories and it gets a lot of both good critical and praising feedback My favorite reading thus far has been the Jataka tales. My reading notes are the entire basis of my story writing, so yes, ver helpful and very important. I learn new reading strategies based on the assignments every week.

The Story of Rama

Favorite Image

I like the image because it is very encapsulating of one of my favorite parts of the Ramayana series.

I want to make sure I get the best of all the reading experiences, so I want to read every story of another classmate's as if I am proofreading my own for a grade, and to really capture every aspect of it. The same goes for the assigned readings.