February 6, 2018

Reading Notes: Reading A: The Ramayana p. 89-133

Love Letters. 

I continued reading The Ramayana by R.K. Narayan pages 89-133. The first story we read is about the feud between to monkey brothers Vali and Sugreeva. At first, I thought Rama had done something wrong because he helped Sugreeva get rid of Vali by killing while being hidden. When Vali was dying I was worried we were going to learn that Sugreeva had lied about the circumstances of their argument and would result in a learning lesson for Rama. However, the tale was the opposite, and we find that Vali did do everything Sugreeva said, so it was justifiable that Rama ended him (p. 103). But would The Ramayana be the same story if Sugreeva had lied? What if Rama would have gotten help from Vali. He possessed the gift of gaining the strength from his foe, could this have been helpful in a fight against Ravana? Also, because Rama helped Sugreeva defeat his brother and become the King, Rama asked that Sugreeva provide a monkey army to help him get Sita back after the rainy season was over. I was surprised to read that Sugreeva was late with his army and Rama had to send Lakshmana to remind him (p. 109). Sugreeva blamed his forgetfulness on drinking too much alcohol, but I am sure he was aware that he was neglecting a promise. I wonder what he was so worried about and what was going through his head while he was avoiding Rama and Lakshmana? Once again, we get a glimpse of how much Rama genuinely cares about Sita and how much he misses her (p. 108). The book has an underlined love story about Rama being heartbroken that his true love was taken away from him. Maybe during this time while Rama is pining after Sita he writes an enduring love note to her, letting her know how much he loves her and how much he misses her. Creating a love letter would be a perfect story since Valentines Day is just around the corner.


******
Image: Love letter. Source: pixabay by bohemienne

No comments:

Post a Comment