Week 10 Story Planning: Wonder Woman Hindi Sequel

Wonder Woman. Source

I am planning to continue my story between Rama and Wonder Woman for my Week 11 story. My first story had a portal that brought Rama into Wonder Woman’s world and my last story was a prequel that explained why Wonder Woman was connected to the Indian epics. For this story, I want to make it where Wonder Woman starts to maybe find out some of her roots and connections. She was sent to this dimension by herself when she was born so technically she is completely unaware of the whole thing. Her mother is Kunti and the goddess Durga. In my prequel, I had it where Kunti died but I do not want that to be the case and will go back and rewrite that for my project revisions this week. I am thinking about somehow sending Durga to find Wonder Woman and try to get some of the story between the two straightened out. I want to have a fight scene or battle that involves Durga and Wonder Woman against some enemies but I am not really sure who that enemy is going to be yet. I will probably have one more story following this story so I am planning to add some kind of cliffhanger as well to lead into the final story that I write.

Ideas:

• Durga and Wonder Woman fighting some evil forces
• Wonder Woman learning about her past after her and Durga battle together
• Wonder Woman will be of some type of importance to the Indian Epics due to her connection with Durga
• The Indian characters may want her to return with them to the dimension
• I want Wonder Woman to stay in her dimension so that maybe in the next story she can be sent into the dimension with Durga and she will be the one to have her cultural shock
• Maybe add a love story for Wonder Woman and Rama from the first story that I wrote?

Pikapost. link to the website.
Mahabharata Online Films, link to the online videos

Week 9 Storytelling: The Link

The Link

Kunti. Source

Kunti, the wife of Pandu, took charge of the palace and offered hospitality to visitors. One day, there was a sage named Durvasa that visited her and as always, Kunti offered her hospitality. Durvasa felt as if Kunti’s services were beyond his expectations and gave her a Mantra. The way that the Mantra worked was simple. Durvasa said, “Whichever god you think of while chanting this Mantra will appear in front of you in human form and practically be your slave. In the morning, the god will leave and place a son of himself in your womb.”

Kunti could feel that power of the Mantra within herself but for some reason she was skeptical. She tested the Mantra one day while thinking of the sun god, but she did not expect anything to actually happen. She was shocked when the sun god actually appeared. She said, “I did not want you to actually show up! I was just testing the Mantra given to me by sage Durvasa.” The sun god simply said that he could leave. Kunti refused and wanted the sun god to stay. By the morning, the sun god left Kunti with a child that had earrings and armor on. Kunti did not know what to do with the child, so she simply put him in a basket and sent him floating down the river. This child was the famous Karna.

The sun god appearing after Kunti's Mantra. Source

Throughout the next few weeks, Kunti did similar practices to get herself and her husband a family since they could not naturally have children. She had Yudhistir born by Yama, Arjuna born by Indra, Bheema born by Vayu, and finally Nakula and Shahadeva born by the Ashwins. The reason that two were born to the Ashwins was simply because they are divine twin horsemen and each brother left a child. This family ended up becoming the famous group of brothers known as the Pandavas.

She had promised to herself and her husband that she would no longer use the Mantra to bear children because it seemed completely unfair to others who could not have children on their own. After the passing of Pandu, Kunti had a random thought. “I have only ever called upon gods with the Mantra, but what if I called down a goddess,” she thought.

Thinking of who she should summon in front of her, or if she should even do it at all, her palace was robbed and she felt somewhat helpless herself. She decided to call upon the goddess, Durga. Durga is the warrior goddess that battles evil and demonic forces. She is a fearless goddess that carries weapons into battle while riding on a lion or tiger.

Kunti decided on Durga because if a child was born, she believed the child could help defend the palace. When Durga appeared, neither of the two really knew what would happen. In the morning, as usual, the goddess disappeared. Kunti could hear a baby crying but there was not a baby to be seen. The odd thing was that the baby crying was not a boy; it was a girl.

Durga, the warrior goddess. Source

Kunti fainted. While she was on the ground and slowly losing life, she had visions in her head that the baby was sent somewhere else. It appeared like a completely different time and place. There were skyscrapers and cars, something she did not recognize at all. At the end of her vision, and the end of her life, she saw a baby girl crying in a woven basket at the doorstep of a house in a metropolitan. This crying baby is known as Wonder Woman. 

Baby Wonder Woman. Source

Author’s Note:

This story is a prequel to my Week 3 Story: The Meeting.

The reason that I wanted to write this prequel was to give a reason that the Hindu stories are somehow linked to Wonder Woman. In the original story, The Meeting, Rama was transported through a portal into a metropolitan. He ultimately met Wonder Woman and fought enemies together. I did not feel that it really made too much sense with Rama just randomly being sent to Wonder Woman, so I wanted to create a link between the two settings.

This story is based off the story of Kunti and her Mantra. She was given the Mantra by the sage, Durvasa. Anytime that the Mantra was used, a human form of the god she was thinking about would appear in front of her. In the story, she always summoned males and that left her with a son. In this story, I had her call down Durga, who is a goddess. Since children are normally born between a male and a female there was something that went wrong with using this Mantra. A baby was born, but she was sent to a different dimension. In addition, the baby was a girl instead of a boy because Durga was a female. The baby that was sent to the different dimension was Wonder Woman and that is “The Link” between the two settings.

Pikapost. link to the website.
Mahabharata Online Films, link to the online videos

Week 5 Storytelling: Misunderstood

Working on a new discovery. Source.

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.

Week 6: Story Planning: Continuation of Wonder Woman and Rama Series

Wonder Woman. Source

For the story next week, I am planning to continue my Wonder Woman mix with the Hindu gods. I am unsure if I will be introducing any new characters from the Mahabharata just yet. I really enjoyed writing about the clash of the two universes. The last story focused in on the first time that there was a meeting between the Hindu characters, Rama and Hanuman, and Wonder Woman in the metropolitan scene.

For the next story, I want to do either a prequel or a sequel. If I do a prequel, I was thinking that I want to focus in on Wonder Woman and maybe somehow link her to the Hindu gods and that is why the portal appeared near Rama and brought them near her. It would be interesting to almost do a Superman style where he was born on another planet and brought to earth for safety. However, in this story, Wonder Woman would have maybe been born in the Rama era and teleported somehow to this new dimension in the modern-day metropolitan that she currently lives in. Somehow, she might be linked to a Hindu god and that is why she has some of the abilities that she does.

If I do a sequel, I might jump into another action scene with Rama and Hanuman fighting against modern weapons and villains with Wonder Woman. If I do choose to do the sequel first, I want to implement some kind of interaction that would trigger the next story I write to flash back to a prequel similar to what is mentioned above. I like being able to use the comic book pictures that are out there between Wonder Woman and Rama and revolving my story around them.

Therefore, whatever direction I decide to go, prequel or sequel, I think that I will continue on my Week 3 story with Wonder Woman and Rama.

Public Domain Ramayana, link to the reading online.
Pikapost. link to the website.

Week 4 Story Planning: The Divine Archer

An example of a "group" at work. LinkedIn

For this story I was thinking of using the two sides (Rama and Ravana) and put them both in a modern setting like at a university or working in industry. Maybe Rama is working on one product and Ravana is working on another and they are competing to impress the girl (Sita). For the story planning this week, I essentially took my reading notes and kept the relevant notes and discuss how they can be transformed to fit the story. The ideas are in parenthesis. This story might completely change but it is what I thought could be a possible approach.

• There were four sons that were born: Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna (Maybe say Rama's 3 brothers are his friends instead of brothers)
• Rama is the god Vishnu in human form (Rama is the cool kid)
• Sita and Rama fall in love (Sita likes Rama because he is the cool kid)
• Sita is also a goddess that is in human form (Sita is just some pretty girl)
• Agastya gives Rama weapons that will help him in later battles (Rama gets to work on the interesting project or something)
• Ravana has 10 heads and 20 arms (Ravana can be the weird kid)
• Vibhisnaha is Ravana's brother however he is on Rama's side (Vibhisnaha wants to be on Rama's side since Ravana is the weirdo)
• Sita refuses Ravana constantly (Sita thinks she is too cool to talk to Ravana)
• Ravana sentences Hanuman to death (Ravana makes one of the cool kids with Rama disappear)
• The fire ends up setting Lanka on fire (Indicates the start of a competition or something)
• Kumbhakarna, Ravana's GIANT brother, wants Ravana to give Sita back to Rama
• Both sides get ready to fight (Maybe the two groups on working on different projects or capstone topics and Ravana tries to sabotage Rama)
• Rama shoots off Ravana's crown when he arrives (Rama is being a jerk to Ravana)
• The battle lasts all day
• Rama slays Ravana (I'm not sure if I want Ravana or Rama to be victorious)

The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould. link to website.

Week 3 Storytelling: The Meeting

The Meeting

Rama after defeating Ravana. Source

Rama defeated Ravana at the Battle of Lanka. This was a celebratory moment for everyone, even the gods that sent him. While Rama and his army were returning to the kingdom, there was a strange feeling in the air. The air started to feel heavy and the sky turned dark. The storm appeared to be a hurricane in the sky. Rama and Hanuman felt a strong wing all of a sudden. However, this was not a wind but actually a gravitational pull coming from the storm in the sky. The gravitational pull picked Rama and Hanuman off the ground and into the eye of the storm. The storm opened into a portal and the two disappeared into the dreary night sky.

A storm appears that transforms into a portal. Source

Time and space warped around them and when they landed back on the ground, they noticed that it was a completely different setting. The two had traveled through space and to a modern-day metropolitan area. There was a crowd of people around them dressed in suits and carrying briefcases. The hero of the city, Wonder Woman, approached them to question who they are and what they are doing. Rama and Hanuman were not sure what they were doing there because everything happened so sudden. Due to their hesitation and farfetched story, Wonder Woman believed that the two were lying and were actually there to cause trouble. She placed the two in a cell in the county jailhouse. 

A few hours passed by before people from Rama’s era started falling from the sky as well. However, these people falling from the sky were enemies of Rama and instantly started causing terror in the metropolis. This was an extension of Ravana’s army but strangely, it was led by Sita. Due to Ravana’s death, there was a curse put on Sita that finally turned her against Rama, which is what Ravana was constantly trying to do. The curse was placed on Rama by Mandodari, Ravana's widow, to ensure despair on Rama since she now lost her loved one. Wonder Woman knew that somehow this army was related to the two people that she threw in the county jail hours ago. She went to Rama and asked who these people were and what they wanted. He convinced her that he was on the good side and needed her help to get rid of them.

Rama meeting Wonder Woman. Source

Rama was telling Wonder Woman how the leader of the people attacking was his wife but it appeared that she was under some type of curse to seek and kill him. Wonder Woman, Rama, and Hanuman went back to Wonder Woman’s office to get supplies. One of the weapons that Wonder Woman gave to Rama was the Bow of Vayu, which Rama believed was just some type of fancy bow. When they returned outside, it was the three of them versus the army in front of them. Wonder Woman was able to use her trusty lasso for attacking multiple targets, while using her gauntlets and shield to protect from sword and archer attacks. Hanuman was a master with hand-to-hand combat and able to take on a crowd of enemies at once. Rama and Sita were left alone to a one versus one battle. Rama was hesitant at first because this was the love of his life. However, due to the curse, Sita had no remembrance of their love. She used her strength and threw him into a nearby building within the blink of an eye. This is when Rama was trying to verbally reason with her and she once again pummeled him with her outstanding strength. Rama finally gave in and started to fight back. He noticed that anything that he tried would have zero effect on Sita. The curse was somehow making her invincible. Rama pulled out the Bow of Vayu but when he went to reach for an arrow, there were none left in his quiver. Sita forced Rama into the ground. He realized at this moment that the Sita he loved was no longer there and that he must destroy this being. Sita pulled her fist back and was about to swing it into Rama, which most likely would have killed him, when suddenly Wonder Woman lassoed Sita’s feet and swung her on the floor. Due to the emptiness that Rama felt, a glowing arrow appeared in the quiver. The Bow of Vayu was the exact opposite of Cupid’s bow. The fact that he knew that he could not love Sita anymore made the arrow appear. He loaded the arrow in the Bow of Vayu and fired it at Sita. It hit her right in the stomach and she instantly turned into dust. The battle was now over but it left the entire city devastated.     

Rama deals the final blow, saving earth with Wonder Woman and Hanuman. Source

Author's Note:

When I was doing research on Rama, I found a page where DC Comics used Hindu gods in some of their comic issues. The source had a few comic scenes from the issues so I took those and wrote a story around them. Because Ravana was always trying to convince Sita to get rid of Rama in the Ramayana, I wanted to incorporate where after Ravana died, it caused Sita to turn against Rama. Who knows, maybe Rama and Wonder Woman will fall in love! I like adding the twist that Rama and Sita aren’t together because throughout the epic, it seems that they are destined to be together.

I really like this style of writing or reading something like this in stories because it is a mix between two cultures. The story, Ramayana, is an old, traditional epic from India. Wonder woman is a character from the 20^th century in America and the style between the two is different yet related. Both of them seem to have some sort of relation with supernatural elements. I feel like DC comics had the similar thought when they first started to introduce the Hindu gods into their comics. They produced with stories with multiple Hindu gods with one of the other well-known ones being Kali.

Public Domain Ramayana, link to the reading online.
Pikapost. link to the website.

Week 2 Story Planning: Ramayana PDE

Cultural Silhouette. Source 

Public Domain Ramayana, link to the reading online.

Characters:

Rama

• Son of King Dasaratha and Queen Kausalya
• Prince of Ayodya
• Vishnu as a human avatar
• Married to Sita

Sita

• King Janak is her father
• Married to Rama
• Lakshmi, goddess avatar, Vishnu's consort

Ravana

• Rakshasa cannot be killy by a god

Lakshmana

• Rama's brother
• Married to Sita's younger sister, Urmila

King Dasaratha

• King of Ayodhya
• Well liked king

Viswamitra

• A sage
• Wise man
• Was once a king
• Gained powers through meditation
• Takes Rama to defeat a demon and lift the bow of Siva

Ganga

• Goddess
• Daughter of Himavan
• Siva brought her to earth and she became the river Ganges

Siva

• Able to tame the powers of the other gods
• Married to Parvati

Lava

• One of the sons of Rama, but does not know

Kusha

• One of the sons of Rama, but does not know

Vasishta

• Offers King Dasaratha advice

Rishyaringa

• Great rishi
• Presided over the sacrifice that King Dasaratha offers to get a son
• Combination of deer and man

Tataka

• Beautiful woman transformed into demon when she tried to seduce Agastya
• Drinks blood of living creatures and kills everything
• Rama slays her and breaks her curse

Kaikeyi

• King Dasaratha's third and youngest wife
• Saved King Dasaratha's life in battle and he said he will do anything she asks

Sumitra

• Second wife of Dasaratha
• Mother of Lakshmana and Shatrughna

Kausalya

• First wife of Dasaratha, however they do not have a close relationship

Manthara

• Asks King Dasaratha to exile Rama nd crown Bharata as king

Guha

• King of the hunters
• Loyal to Rama

Bharata

• Son of King Dasaratha

Shatrughna

• Lakshmana's twin
• Follows Bharata everywhere

Sumantra

• Chief counselor of Dasaratha
• Brings Rama into exile

Surpanakha

• Ravana's sister
• Attempts to seduce Rama and kill Sita

Maricha

• Ravana's uncle
• Rama defeated him with a magic weapon

Khara

• Ravana's cousin
• Likes to kill rishis
• Rules an area near a forest

Jatayu

• Golden eagle
• Speaks like a human
• Loyal to King Dasaratha
• Pledges service to Rama
• Dies defending Sita from Ravana

Kabandha

• Bad rakshasa
• Has no legs or head

Sugriva

• king of the vanaras (magical monkeys)

Hanuman

• Advisor to Sugriva
• Son of the win god Vayu

Vibheeshana

• Ravana's younger brother
• Joins Rama's army

Sampati

• Golden eagle
• Jatayu's brother
• Wings burned when he flew too close to the sun

Jambavan

• King of Riksharaj (magical bears)
• Ally of Sugriva and Rama

Indrajit

• Ravana's favorite son
• captured Indra, the king of the gods

Kumbhakarna

• Ravana's brother
• Giant with infinite strength
• Sleeps for six months at a time before waking up and eating everything

Agastya

• Blesses Rama

I am planning on using a lot of the main characters to make a full on war style story. Rama and his allies and friends will be on one side and a lot of Ravana will be on the other side. I will probably cut a lot of these characters down but I wanted to list them all out and see what they could offer to either side.

Week 1 Story - The Hardest Time of My Life

An Image of a Struggling Student Her Campus

A was the grade,

that I wanted in the course,

B was Billy,

the kid that never showed up to the lectures,

C was the Class,

that always happened on every day of the week,

D was the Dean,

that made sure that the course was impossible to pass,

E was the Effort,

that I always put into the class to do my best,

F was the Failure,

that I would not be able to accept,

G was the Grades,

that would determine the outcome of the letter score,

H was the Holiday,

in the middle of the semester,

I was the Impact,

that this grade would have on my life,

J was the Jokester,

that sat in the back of the classroom,

K was the Kids,

that cried after the first exam,

L was the Letter,

that I needed to be an A,

M was the Music,

that I listened to while I studied,

N was the Nights,

that I did not get any sleep at all,

O was the Obsession,

that was driving me to do my best,

P was the Parties,

that I had to skip to not fall behind,

Q was the Quiet,

that I needed to hear while I tested,

R was the Retest,

that could make the difference in my grade,

S was the Studying,

that drove me crazy all year long,

T was the Test,

that I managed to do the best in the class on,

U was the Uneasiness,

that I experienced throughout the whole semester,

V was the Vision,

that I had to be the best,

W was the Wisdom,

that I obtained from the semester long course,

X was the Xylitol,

that kept me going on the long nights,

Y was the Yield,

that the end of the semester held,

Z was the Zero,

that I got on the final exam,

And that was how I failed 1st grade.

Author's Note. The original story goes through the alphabet where every sentence starts with the next letter in the alphabet all the way from a to z. I took the idea of the story formatting and turned it into a story about a specific topic. The topic was a class that was taken in school.

Bibliography. "A was an archer" from The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang. Web Source.