Week 5 Storytelling: Misunderstood

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Misunderstood

Rama and his group of friends were walking through the courtyard at their private high school. This group of friends were the popular students at the school that everyone wanted to be a part of or hang out with. The group of friends were about thirty minutes late to class and it did not seem that the teachers or anyone cared because of their status. This was probably because Rama was part of an elite family in the area.

The next day a student named Ravana was running late to class as well. It was a rainy day, so he was completely soaked and splashed by cars speeding through the puddles on his daily walk to the campus. He walked into the same class that Rama was late in previously by a few minutes and the teachers sent him to the principal’s office. The principal gave Ravana a detention for being late. Ravana was the kid that no one liked in this school. It is not that he was a bully or anything. Ravana just seemed different and did not fit in with the other students or the staff.

The popular girl in the school was named Sita. Of course, Sita and Rama were a couple and everyone was jealous of this power couple. Sita was an incredibly beautiful girl and Ravana wanted to be with her more than anything. This made Ravana envy Rama even more.

Every year, this high school has something similar to a science fair where groups compete against each other with invention ideas and it is called the Invention Fair. Rama and his group were on the same team as usual. However, since Ravana did not have any friends he was in a group by himself. Ravana was extremely clever and focused a lot of his time on schoolwork since he never is invited to parties, events, or anything. Ravana decided that this time he was going to come out on top of Rama.

This event lasted for the last two months of the school year and students were allowed to work on the project during class time. Ravana spent at least six hours a day doing research and working on prototypes for his project. Rama was often out hanging with friends and did not really put much effort in, but of course he would have something to turn in during the competition.

Rama ended up paying a small firm to make a prototype of his invention since money was not a problem for him. Rama’s invention, however, was not a very good idea and was actually something that already exists. Rama "invented" a phone case that can be placed on a cell phone and charge it. Ravana had a great idea but he did not have the money to produce it. Ravana made a device that was similar to a breathalyzer where a patient can breath into it. The device then printed out data to find traces of cancer. At the fair, a lot of people liked the fabrication of Rama’s project but they did admit that this item already exists. When they viewed Ravana’s project, it was a great idea that a lot of businessmen were actually extremely interested in.

Ravana was able to start a company based off of his idea and became a well-liked individual in the industry. Even though Ravana had an extremely difficult time in high school, his work ended up paying off and he became successful.

Author's Note:

I wanted to write a story based on the characters Rama and Ravana. I changed the setting to be taking place in a high school environment where Ravana was the nerdy kid and somewhat misunderstood. Even though high school was not a great place for him, he persevered through and became successful.

The person who wins is said to always be the one that tells their version of the story. For example, “only the victors write the history textbooks” and this could somewhat be applied the Ramayana. Since Rama was ultimately the victor, maybe the audience only knows his side of the story and not Ravana’s. If Ravana won, then maybe the audience would tend to agree with Ravana’s point of view because it would be more aimed towards his motives. I am not saying that it is the case for the Ramayana but it is something to think about. In the story I wrote, Rama looked like the cool kid that had everything going to him while Ravana was the nerd that no one really wanted to be around and I feel like this can be seen parallel to the actual story. Even though in this story it was not about Ravana defeating Rama by killing him, it was Ravana defeating Rama by working hard on the project.

Public Domain Ramayana, link to the reading online.