Shivani's Blog!

An elephant and his keeper playing in the water. Source: Wikipedia There was once an elephant named Sammy who was a kind and loving animal. His keeper built him a lovely living quarter that was connected to his house so that the elephant did not feel like he was not part of the family. The keeper had a wife and 2 kids who would come play with Sammy every day after school. Sammy was so happy and blessed to be a part of such a great family. He was content with his life. He would help with chores outside the house, like sweeping the outside concrete or watering the plants. Sammy would even help the keeper's wife with hanging laundry outside on the clothesline. Sammy would never do anything to hurt anyone, especially his family who treated him so well. One night, after the family hugged and kissed Sammy goodnight and went to sleep, a group of thieves happened to congregate right outside of Sammy's sleeping quarters. They were planning to break into most of the houses in a nea...

Image of a tusked Asian elephant in India. Source: Wikipedia The Elephant Girly Face Girly face - name of an elephant; named after being so kind and gentle this elephant never hurt anyone robbers came to the area and sat on the ground where Girly Face was sleeping; they talked and woke up the elephant; they talked of breaking into a house; they would kill anyone who would wake up; they said a robber shouldn't be afraid to kill and they have to be cruel and have no pity. A robber can never be good. Girly face heard all of this and thought that these men are teaching her how to act the next day, the elephant killed the keeper who arrived to feed him by slamming him to the ground; another keeper came to see what was going on and he ended up killing him too for several days Girly face was like this an no one wanted to come near her. However, they still left food for her The King found out about the behavior of the elephant and sent one of his wise men to find out what is ...

Two turtles on a pipe in a pond. Source: Pexels The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking Turtle lived by a pond geese were looking for food; became friends with the turtle; came often geese ask if the turtle wants to join them in going to their home that is far from where the turtle is geese offered to take him only if the turtle could keep his mouth shut turtle agrees and says he will keep his mouth shut geese wanted the turtle to hold the stick while the geese hold the other ends as they were flying, some children saw the three of them and said that they looked ridiculous the turtle couldn't keep his mouth shut and began to say that it is none of their business the turtle let go of the stick and fell to his death geese left and proceeded to their home lesson: the turtle couldn't keep his mouth shut and lost his life because of it Bibliography: Babbitt, Ellen. The Jatakas Tales of India, Part A. Source .

The Om symbol, a sacred sound and spiritual icon in Hinduism. Source: Wikipedia For this week's Wikipedia trail I started with Krishna since we have the option to read his tales for our storytelling for the week. Krishna is the 8th avatar of Vishnu. He has many names. He goes by Govinda, Mukunda, Makhan Chor (which literally means cream/butter thief!) He loved to eat butter as a child, hence his name, and he played the flute. All of the women surrounded by him are the avatars of Lakshmi, Vishnu's consort. Krishna led me to searching for avatar and its meaning. Avatar means descent, or the incarnation of a godly figure on earth. Avatar is most commonly associated with Vishnu because he has so many forms. The same concept of incarnation can apply in Buddhism. The next term I was led to was the Bhagavad Gita , a Hingu scripture written in Sanskrit. It is a part of the Mahabharata. It was written by the sage Vyasa, since the Mahabharata was written by him. This text has be...

I definitely use the Canvas dashboard often. I use it every time I log into Canvas so I can navigate to the class page I need access to. I really like it because it is easy to access and it is really user friendly. I configured it by changing the names of the classes from the course numbers to the actual name of the class so I don't have to remember what number is which class. I feel that this system is a lot easier than D2L. At first, I did not like it at all since I was so used to D2L. However, as weeks went by, I found it to be a lot easier to use. I was so used to the complexity of D2L that the simplicity of Canvas became a problem for a while. One feature I love is that we can see who is in the class and the ability to email through Canvas so we don't have to go to Outlook to email someone.

James J. Gallogly, the University of Oklahoma's 14th president. Source: Wikipedia My reading for this week went great. I finished both portions on time like I usually do. My favorite part was about Kunti and her meeting with the Sun God. I decided to write about that and I am thinking about writing a continuation story about it. My best writing that I have done this week was my Mood God story and my research paper for Research Methods class. I thought I did a pretty good job because I had a lot going on and I still managed to get it done, and it was decent for the time that I had. There was a story I read that was written by another classmate that I found was really interesting. It was from the perspective of the women of Ramayana and it was a much-needed read. The original version of the Ramayana only focused on the men of the epic and how they were feeling. The women went through a great deal, but they were not explained and their trials and tribulations were not spoken abou...

Sita and Rama in a 1950's bazaar art piece. Source: Wikipedia I started with Sita , who was the consort of Lord Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu. She herself, was an avatar of Lakshmi. She was one of the central figures of the Ramayana and was the Daughter of Bhumi, the earth goddess. She was adopted by King Janaka and Queen Sunaina. This led me to Ayodhya  which is an ancient city thought to be the birthplace of Rama. It is 1 of 7 different pilgrimage sites for the followers of Hinduism. There is much controversy about the present Ayodhya and the ancient Ayodhya being the same place. Ayodhya leads me to Treta Yuga  which is the second out of 4 different yugas. Yugas are the ages of mankind in Hinduism. In a way, it is like different ages (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, etc.) of the earth. During this yuga, people grew more materialistic and the power of humans diminished a slight bit. However, this period brought knowledge of the universal magnetism and humans learned and unde...

Narayan with Lakshmi, his consort. Source: Flickr Narayan is a God, in the image, his deep sleep represents the dissolution of the world. The universe does not exist when god is sleeping, just as we are not aware of the world when we are asleep. world exists and stops existing with the cycles of Narayan's sleep  Greeks, Christians, Muslims, do not believe in rebirth - have chronic need to be heroes, be "saved" and to surrender to God. Hindus do not have this dillemma because of the rebirth belief. we have many lives to live and in different worlds that exist. ocean of milk represents possibility shesha - serpant - the remainder that remains when everything is destroyed. Narayan sleeps on Shesha - when he sleeps, time is still Shesha - Adi Shesha or Ananta Shesha, primal or endless remainder World exists when Narayan is asleep but no one is aware of its existence no observation w/o observer. Observer = Narayan consciousness = uncreased paper, beins to cr...

I have been using browser bookmarks ever since it became available for us to use. I use bookmark folders to organize links needed for each of my classes. Each folder within the semester folder (Fall 2017, Spring 2018, etc.) is named by class. I have my bookmarks toolbar visible so that my bookmarks and folders are easily accessible. I am really happy with my current bookmarking strategies because it makes everything so easy to find since it is organized into categories. I would suggest having separate folders for school and other categories (recipes, makeup, etc.) so that links and folders do not get mixed up. Another suggestion is to make sure you are saving the bookmarks in the correct folders. I have instances where I forget to change the folder and then I have to end up going through all of the folders to find a certain link.

Boon of Indra with Kunti. Source: Wikipedia There was a young girl, around the age of 4 years old roaming the streets of Jaipur. She was constantly abused and beaten at home so she will escape her home environment and found peace in alleys of the city. One day her uncle saw her walking around in tattered clothes and took her in. After that day, her parents never attempted to look for her. This girl, who her uncle lovingly named Kunti, discovered that her uncle was actually a king! She was so happy to be treated with respect and dignity. Only a week after her uncle brought her to his kingdom, she was adopted and formally a part of such a loving family. This was everything this kind, selfless, young girl deserved. As Kunti grew older, she had such an undying love and appreciation for her uncle. She would follow him everywhere and they had a beautiful father-daughter relationship. When Kunti was around 16 years old, her father's friend, a Sage named Dhurwasa came to visit. One ...

Sculpture of Suryadev, the sun god. Source: Wikipedia Kunti's past - she was raised by her uncle, Kuntibhoj, who loved her as she was his own daughter. Sage Dhurwasa visited the kingdom one day. This sage was very short tempered and was known for cursing people who even slightly offended him. Everyone feared him except Kunti. They had a good relationship and talked about spiritual things. He eventually gifted her with a mantra whispered in her ear. She had no idea what this meant, so she asked the sage what this was for. He told her that this mantra could summon any god she wished for. When the sage left, a curious Kunti wanted to test this mantra to see if it would actually work. She spoke the mantra while facing the sun and Suryadev, the sun god, appeared before her! She was so shocked that she could not answer the sun god when he asked why she has summoned her. Kunti embraced the Suryadev and as the blinding light faded, she had a child in her arms. However, because she was...

Shantanu meeting his son, Devavrat, for the first time. Source: Wikipedia Shantanu fell in love with a goddess, Ganga, and would not question her. She drowned the first child and the king was so upset, but said nothing as the queen drowned the next 6 children. He finally stepped in to prevent the death of his 8th child. Ganga revealed that the children were drowned because they were celestial spirits being punished for something they did in their past lives. She took the 8th child and vanished. 16 years later, Shantanu visited the riverbank of Ganga because he really missed Ganga and his son that she took away. He was interrupted by some sounds of fighting which turned out to be a young archer taming the Ganga river by shooting arrows into the river. All of a sudden, Ganga appeared and told Shantanu that the young archer was actually his son, Devavrat. He was taught by the sage Parshuram. Shantanu brought back Devavrat to his kingdom. The people of the kingdom were really hap...

Looking back at my progress in the course, I see that I am a little ahead thanks to the extra credit. I have a routine of doing my readings and then completing the notes and story telling on the days they are due. I have work on Thursdays so I write my story while I am working. I might change my schedule up a bit for the next half of the semester. I will try to complete my work early and if possible, in 2 days so that I can have more time for my other homework and studying. Clip art of boy reading/studying. Source: Max Pixel

Overall, the quality of the comments and feedback I received were really great and helpful. Most helpful comments are those explaining what was wrong with my story so that I can revise it and make it better. The quality of my comments and feedback to other students are great as well. I try to give feedback and suggestions that can improve their stories. I sometimes also give feedback for the blog itself so that other people won't have issues (ex. layout, font, etc.). I really like the idea of the comments since we don't get to meet in person. The comments give a sense of togetherness and act as a way to communicate and get to know one another. I am really happy with the comments I got on my introduction and blog in general because most of the comments are really supportive and make me happy when I am reading them. Looking forward, I don't really have any changes to make on my commenting and feedback on other students' blogs. I could give more feedback and make my pos...

Overall, the reading and writing assignments are promoting thought-provoking processes and I really enjoy the assignments. My favorite readings so far have been the Ramayana and the Jataka Tales from earlier in the semester. While reading the assigned readings, I take notes and post them on my blog. I find these pretty helpful, as they give me an overview of what I have read. The information I write down are notes about the reading and notes about what I think I will write about. Sometimes my notes and my storytelling are based on each other, but other times I find something else that is more interesting to write about so I don't use my notes that much. One research strategy I have been using is to read the assigned reading and then follow up that reading with a summary of the reading I find online. I am really happy with my research project because I am learning so much while I am writing stories and making a site for other readers. I love to read stories about Ganesha and I hop...

Krishna, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Source: Wikipedia Krishna goes to Hastinapura as an emissary and Dhritarashtra throws a lavish reception for him. Vidura says that Krishna is not interested in such reception that is over the top but only wants peace and justice. Meanwhile, Duryodhana makes plans to kidnap Krishna. When Krishna is in Hastinapura, he sees Kunti and they talk; she informs him about the news of her sons. Krishna asks Duryodhana and asks for peace but he is ignored. Not even the urging of his mother makes him change his mind. When Krishna escapes his avatar and becomes his true form. Duryodhana realizes that Krishna cannot be captured. Krishna tries to convince Karna to leave Duryodhana but it did not work. Karna warns Kunti that he will only attack Arjuna but will leave the other 4 sons alone. I believe this is a really intense scene since it is right before the beginning of the war. A lot of dialogue between the characters, especially Krishna and Duryodhana ...