Ryan McElyea's Storybook Favorites

Hanuman slab at the Swing Pavilion in the Veerabhadra Temple

By Premnath Thirumalaisamy. Source: Flickr

Temple of Doom

The first story that I chose was titled Temple of Doom and I originally clicked on it because it sounded like an Indiana Jones type of story. The story is a click through Indian epic adventure that seemed to have a somewhat slow start until the end of the first section. The story seemed to introduce the characters and everything but it seemed almost as it was missing some information in regards to the story itself. Another thing that was somewhat strange but interesting to me is the name of the sections. For example, one of the sections is “Out of the Frying Pan,” and it was surprising to see that type of title on an Indian epic for me. I feel like this story also had a decent inclusion of some of the background history of Indian culture.

Tales of Temples

I feel like I got click-baited once again by a title for a story that seemed like it would be action-packed but it was pretty much the polar opposite. This tale went more through the history and culture of the India temples that seem to be an important part of Indian culture. The specific temples mentioned throughout the tale had references to Hindu, which seems like a huge allusion to the Indian culture, as we know it. So even though it was not the action-packed adventure that I was looking for, it offered a great deal of historical reference that seemed to keep me interested.

Campfire Animal Tales

This story really caught my attention with the theme and the images that were used throughout. The story talks about camping, which is something that I love doing and spending time outdoors. Another interesting thing that the story talks about is “Indian Palm Squirrels” and it’s just kind of funny because the University of Oklahoma has so many squirrels as well and it actually even has a reference to it in the tale.