“AH, Rama, you have finally returned to us!!!” screamed the crowd that welcomed and awaited Rama as he approached the throne. He saw his sandals that his brother, Bharata, claimed from him 14 long years ago. It seemed like an eternity ago.
Rama approached his brother Bharata who was so overwhelmed with joy that he could hardly speak complete sentences. He said, “Rama, Rama, Rama, you are our one and only true king! Come, sit, let me place your sandals on your feet once again.” Rama sits on the steps next to the throne. Still, he has spoken no words. Bharata begins to tie the sandals back onto Rama’s calloused, dirty feet but, noticing how filthy they were, requests that he be able to wash them. Rama nods and Bharata proceeds to wash them and then tie the sandals onto his clean feet.
“We must plan the coronation!!” shouts Bharata, so loud that everyone in the village would hear.
Meanwhile, Sugriva and Hanuman decide that Rama would just absolutely love to have water from every river in the world, so Sugriva delegates this mission to Hanuman. Hanuman begins his expedition to each and every river, collecting one drop from each. This only took one day with the aid of the Time gods. Hanuman becomes very excited to see how appreciative Rama will be of his gift.
When Rama and Sita were on their adventure of 14 years, they realized that it was only polite to bring back gifts for their friends upon their return. Shortly before they began their journey back to where they started, they made a few stops and bartered with the little cash they had with them to gain some presents for the buddies.
Sita gave a pearl necklace to Hanuman, one that she paid for with three bags of salt. Rama honored Sugriva with many presents, including one that he collected while in battle with Ravana: one of his heads. Rama was kind of messed up like that after the battle.
Rama and Sita, still in love and as beautiful as ever, approached the throne together and sat on it as one hundred of their closest followers bowed down at them and begged to be able to kiss their feet. Rama looked at Sita, eyes full of love and joy, Sita responded with a knowing nod of all of their troubles and their adventurse, they kissed each other in front of the entire assembly--- the first time a public display of affection had ensued!! But then Rama said to Sita, “We need to talk”....
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| Coronation, Source: Wikipedia |
Author’s note: I decided to replay the return of Rama and Sita in a light hearted fashion, almost making fun of the extreme actions taken upon their arrival. I thought it was pretty funny and I hope you did too!
Works Cited:
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.
Hey, Mary! Great storytelling post- it was very fun and whimsical, and I appreciate how it isn’t too serious which definitely helps break up the serious tone found throughout the book. I loved your choice of words. For example, you said “buddies” which made me smile since it was so light-hearted but a fun way to read the story. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Mary! I really enjoyed this! I have definitely felt that the celebrations in the Ramayana are over-exaggerated and kind of cheesy, so I'm glad you kind of made fun of it too! I love how you made fun of Rama for giving one of Ravana's heads as a gift to someone. Only in the Ramayana would that gift be considered sweet! Also the idea of everyone begging to kiss their feet was a great inclusion because I could easily imagine them actually saying that in the Ramayana! I also like how you alluded to how Rama would soon betray Sita with the "We need to talk.." comment, even though he just went through hell getting her back. Great job retelling this story in a light-hearted way!
ReplyDeleteMary, I really liked your storytelling post! At first I thought it was just going to be about the reunion of Bharata and Rama, so it was a cool thing that you included more of the story from the Ramayana. It was pretty funny to read, loved the extra notes in there and sarcasm. The part where Rama and Sita finally kiss is so perfect then he is like 'we need to talk'... priceless! The way you depicted Rama's character in your post was more truthful in my opinion to how we all felt about Rama while reading the book and not just how the book presents him. Great job!
ReplyDeleteMary, you did a great job with your story! I enjoyed reading the whole scene and was delighted about the return of Rama and Sita as well. I thought this whole scene was such a celebration and joy for the people of Ayodhya. You did a great job describing the love and affection all the people shared for Rama and Sita really well. I also enjoyed your background and picture you used for this specific story. You did a great job!
ReplyDeleteHello Mary,
ReplyDeleteI liked how your story was very light-hearted, and the jovial nature most of the story stood in great contrast to your last sentence, "We need to talk", which was a nice touch. I think you did a good job of working out the dialogue and reactions of the crowd, but I would like to suggest either work on moving out some of the commas or forming smaller sentences, because some of them may have been run-ons or otherwise just long reads. Good work on your post.
I think you did a good job accomplishing your goal of making this story more lighthearted, but I wish you had done more. Pushed it further, per say, perhaps almost into parody levels. My main wish is for you to indent your paragraphs. It’s easy to do in word and then just copy and paste. It’ll make reading your work so much simpler.
ReplyDelete