Alex's Epics of India Blog

I work as a Writing Assistant in the OU Honors College, and I had to take a full semester-long class which dealt largely in giving constructive -- not always positive -- feedback on writing. That said, I thought these articles were interesting and helpful still. Feedback should be mutual! Source . 1. Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset The important takeaway from this article is the list of five strategies to foster a growth mindset and give good feedback: (1) be specific (2) focus on what the reader is doing (3) focus on the process (4) make sure it can transfer (5) take yourself out of the feedback. These are all good suggestions, and putting them all together paints a cohesive picture of what good, constructive feedback is. As the one receiving feedback, I would really appreciate these strategies being followed. 2. Why Do So Many Managers Avoid Giving Praise? One of the things that struck me about this article was that many ma...

I think that the most interesting topic for me to pursue is Death Stories. As I said in my earlier Topic Brainstorm post: " Other than birth, death is the singular uniting constant in the human experience, and consequently, the most universal theme in literature and life. To write about death is to write about life -- about what it means to be alive, because life is predicated on the looming certainty of death." I think that examining the concept of death -- especially what makes a 'good' or heroic death -- in Indian epic, as compared to Greek epic (thus examining the both the Eastern and Western viewpoints), would reveal a lot to me about how the Indian people contemporary with the composition of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata cope with death as an idea-construct. I think that my stories will center around Yama, the god of death, as narrator who greets the dying and examines whether he/she is 'good,' whether the death was 'good,' and what it m...

In this section of the Ramayana , Narayan describes the beginning of Rama't time in exile -- his encounters with his brother Bharatha (who had learned of Kaikeyi's deception) and with the demon Soorpanaka; his battles against Soorpanaka's fourteen commanders and against Kara; and his pursuit of Mareecha disguised as a golden deer. Narayan also recounts the great power of Ravana in occasionally funny ways, like when Ravana insults the moon. Also, Ravana reveals the ancient Indian conception of time -- the flow of seasons. When Ravana ordered the seasons to cease, "there was a complete standstill in time. Minute, hour, day, month, and year lost their boundaries. And mankind was lost in a seasonless confusion" (82).  I feel bad for Soorpanaka. Kinda. Source . At the beginning of this reading and in the middle were similarities to the ancient Greek epic the Iliad . As you can probably tell by now, I really enjoy finding parallels between Eastern and Weste...

In Part A of Narayan's Ramayana , I found the epic surprisingly accessible and therefore more interesting than I expected. Because the prose is written in a modern, easy-to-read style, I am able to connect better with the characters and get deeper into the story. The hero, Rama, is an instantly likable character who the reader or listener admires right away. However, he is very Mary-Sue-esque -- he is described as "perfect" and thus has no obvious flaws. The treachery of Kaikeyi does not anger him at all, and he goes along with it without fuss. Though he has been tricked by Kaikeyi to think that his father commanded that and was not forced by Kaikeyi, he still does not object to abandoning the throne and so much power to become a hermit. One episode I really liked in this part of the Ramayana is the section which describes the stringing of the bow of Shiva as the way through which Rama wins the hand of Sita in marriage. Thought to be impossible because of the str...