@NotYourAverageRiver
Lil Miss Ganges!
1,756,998 followers
3 following
@YoKingShantanu
Hey @NotYourAverageRiver, I saw you earlier down by the Ganges. You were lookin' fine. I will give you loads of money if you go ahead and marry me. Deal?!
@YoKingShantanu
Yo @NotYourAverageRiver , I promise to not check your texts or tweet history if we get married. I won't call you when you're out clubbin'
@YoKingShantanu
I still haven't heard back on my offer. I'll send you a gold elephant. @NotYourAverageRiver
@NotYourAverageRiver
I accept your offer. See you around. Love you lots ;)
@NotYourAverageRiver
I had a child born today. It's swimming with the fishes.
@LilRiverBaby1
@NotYourAverageRiver that was soooooo cold of you to toss me in that river. I'm going to unfollow you. Did you see what she did to me, @YoKingShantanu? I need you to come fish me out.
@LilRiverBaby1
You took a selfie after tossing me into the river?! @NotYourAverageRiver
@LilRiverBaby1
I'm glad to have company and all, but did you really have to cast all seven of us into a river? Hit up the broskis with a follow though! @LilRiverBaby2 @LilRiverBaby3 @LilRiverBaby4 @LilRiverBaby5 @LilRiverBaby6 @RiverBabythaCreator
@YoKingShantanu
I got a call from some of my "high up" buddies. They're saying you sent @RiverBabythaCreator to them, too? C'mon. @NotYourAverage River, that's horrible
@RiverBabyThaCreator
I mean, I'm just a little baby and all, but @NotYourAverageRiver must have a reason for all of this. Maybe you can talk to her, dad. @YoKingShantanu
@YoKingShantanu
I know I said I wouldn't question you or nothin' but we need to talk. Message me back @NotYourAverageRiver
@NotYourAverageRiver
I cast those babies into the river for all of their past sins. Don't worry though, this one's a keeper! @Bhishma4real
@NotYourAverageRiver
Those babies were eight Vasus cursed by Vasishtha, himself. If anything, I did them a favor by freeing them from this mortal realm! #NotSorry
@NotYourAverageRiver
@YoKingShantanu it's been real and all but I've got to go #brokenpromises #loveyanot
@YoKingShantanu
That's cool @NotYourAverageRiver, at least I have my son to raise. Can't wait until he can throw a football! #NFLready @Bhishma4real
@Bhishma4real
Sorry, dad, but I think I'm going with mom. #priorities @NotYourAverageRiver
@YoKingShantanu
K @Bhisma4real
@Bhishma4real
It's not your fault @YoKingShantanu, I just have some things to work out with old man Vashistha. He and mom go way back. It could be worse. You're still the king!
@YoKingShantanu
Can't get Michael Bolton's, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?" out of my head. #np
@YoKingShantanu has made his tweets private.
Author's Note:
This was a Twitter synopsis (although I did not always adhere to the 140 character limit) of the opening story in the Mahabharata. In the story, King Shantanu (I've also read Santanu) sees a beautiful woman on the banks of the Ganges. This happens to be Ganga. She agrees to marry him only if he agrees to one condition: he is to never question her actions. Ganga proceeds to have seven children and subsequently drowns each one in the river. Upon the birth of the eighth child, Shantanu cannot hold back any more and confronts Ganga. Ganga finally explains that these "Vasus" had been cursed by Brahma, and by killing the children she is lifting the curse from them upon one year of birth. Since their agreement had been broken, Ganga then leaves with the baby. The baby goes on to be raised by Vashistha.
I tried my best to format this exchange at the very beginning of the Mahabharata to make it look like Twitter. I hope everyone can decipher who is talking to whom, but the gist is the bold is for the person posting each tweet. I tried to make the deaths of the babies being cast into the rivers more lighthearted and mystical. I know I didn't get to put much content in the story, but the twitter formatting actually uses up a ton of words and characters.
Hey @NotYourAverageRiver, I saw you earlier down by the Ganges. You were lookin' fine. I will give you loads of money if you go ahead and marry me. Deal?!
@YoKingShantanu
Yo @NotYourAverageRiver , I promise to not check your texts or tweet history if we get married. I won't call you when you're out clubbin'
@YoKingShantanu
I still haven't heard back on my offer. I'll send you a gold elephant. @NotYourAverageRiver
@NotYourAverageRiver
I accept your offer. See you around. Love you lots ;)
@NotYourAverageRiver
I had a child born today. It's swimming with the fishes.
@LilRiverBaby1
@NotYourAverageRiver that was soooooo cold of you to toss me in that river. I'm going to unfollow you. Did you see what she did to me, @YoKingShantanu? I need you to come fish me out.
@LilRiverBaby1
You took a selfie after tossing me into the river?! @NotYourAverageRiver
@LilRiverBaby1
I'm glad to have company and all, but did you really have to cast all seven of us into a river? Hit up the broskis with a follow though! @LilRiverBaby2 @LilRiverBaby3 @LilRiverBaby4 @LilRiverBaby5 @LilRiverBaby6 @RiverBabythaCreator
@YoKingShantanu
I got a call from some of my "high up" buddies. They're saying you sent @RiverBabythaCreator to them, too? C'mon. @NotYourAverage River, that's horrible
@RiverBabyThaCreator
I mean, I'm just a little baby and all, but @NotYourAverageRiver must have a reason for all of this. Maybe you can talk to her, dad. @YoKingShantanu
@YoKingShantanu
I know I said I wouldn't question you or nothin' but we need to talk. Message me back @NotYourAverageRiver
@NotYourAverageRiver
I cast those babies into the river for all of their past sins. Don't worry though, this one's a keeper! @Bhishma4real
@NotYourAverageRiver
Those babies were eight Vasus cursed by Vasishtha, himself. If anything, I did them a favor by freeing them from this mortal realm! #NotSorry
@NotYourAverageRiver
@YoKingShantanu it's been real and all but I've got to go #brokenpromises #loveyanot
@YoKingShantanu
That's cool @NotYourAverageRiver, at least I have my son to raise. Can't wait until he can throw a football! #NFLready @Bhishma4real
@Bhishma4real
Sorry, dad, but I think I'm going with mom. #priorities @NotYourAverageRiver
@YoKingShantanu
K @Bhisma4real
@Bhishma4real
It's not your fault @YoKingShantanu, I just have some things to work out with old man Vashistha. He and mom go way back. It could be worse. You're still the king!
@YoKingShantanu
Can't get Michael Bolton's, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?" out of my head. #np
@YoKingShantanu has made his tweets private.
Author's Note:
This was a Twitter synopsis (although I did not always adhere to the 140 character limit) of the opening story in the Mahabharata. In the story, King Shantanu (I've also read Santanu) sees a beautiful woman on the banks of the Ganges. This happens to be Ganga. She agrees to marry him only if he agrees to one condition: he is to never question her actions. Ganga proceeds to have seven children and subsequently drowns each one in the river. Upon the birth of the eighth child, Shantanu cannot hold back any more and confronts Ganga. Ganga finally explains that these "Vasus" had been cursed by Brahma, and by killing the children she is lifting the curse from them upon one year of birth. Since their agreement had been broken, Ganga then leaves with the baby. The baby goes on to be raised by Vashistha.
I tried my best to format this exchange at the very beginning of the Mahabharata to make it look like Twitter. I hope everyone can decipher who is talking to whom, but the gist is the bold is for the person posting each tweet. I tried to make the deaths of the babies being cast into the rivers more lighthearted and mystical. I know I didn't get to put much content in the story, but the twitter formatting actually uses up a ton of words and characters.
- Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.
Oh my gosh I think this is the most creative storytelling post I have read so far! I was smiling the whole time I read it, would have laughed if I were not in class right now ;) I think the twitter names and hashtags are hilarious and creative. You added just enough detail to understand the story of the river goddess and the king and their children through the tweets. I like how you made tossing the babies into the river a more lighthearted event, I don't know how it could have been taken otherwise through use of Twitter anyways though lol loved your post! Great Job!
ReplyDeleteHey Jeremy! I really like your story this week. It was really great and gives us a today's perspective of a story written a really long time ago. Today everyone is on and knows about Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and many more. This was a really great way to write a story in Twitter format. I can’t wait to read more of these stories and see some other formats that you can come up with.
ReplyDeleteHi Jeremy! Your story was so entertaining and humorous! I love how you satirically made fun of this part of the story using Twitter! It was very creative and appropriate because the things that happened during this part were so weird! Luckily, I finally gave in and got a twitter about a month ago so I was able to follow what was going on. Great job!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, this was great! I loved reading this, I was laughing the whole time! At first, I thought I was on the wrong page and couldn't figure out how to get to your storytelling post, and then I started reading and realized that it was your storytelling post! I think you did such a great job about going out of the box and doing something creative and different. You really brought light to this story and made it really enjoyable. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHey Jeremy! Great job with this story! I don't have a twitter, but like the idea of using tweets to tell a story because they are short which keeps the reader from getting bored or from feeling tired while reading. It breaks everything up really nicely. I especially loved that you made this story humorous. The opening scene in the Mahabharata is pretty strange and I think when things get weird, you have to get weird too. I think the best way to handle situations is with respect and an infallible sense of humor. I feel like your writing might reflect your personality which is pretty awesome. Also, your decision to use twitter is smart because social media is such a HUGE part of our generation's lives. It makes your story relatable and even more funny because of the play on twitter handles or names. The names you picked were humorous without being too far detached from the story. You brought the Mahabharata into the modern world with this story and I felt like it really payed off. Plus, I would never have thought to give the Ganges and online personality and life even though it is portrayed as a goddess. Super awesome job! This story was legit.
ReplyDeleteRetelling the Mahabharata through twitter is a really cool idea. I thought the twitter handles you made up were very clever representations of the characters in the digital age. It took me a few tries to understand who was who, but after that I really enjoyed the banter. I also laughed at the thought of trying to tell an epic story in 140 characters or less. Using tweets to tell the story of Ganga drowning her seven children somehow makes the story seem more lighthearted. I laughed at the end when Shantanu made his tweets private.
ReplyDeleteHi Jeremy, I really enjoyed reading your story. I thought it was really creative of you to write your story like it was a twitter feed. That is really creative and must have taken a lot of time. Overall I thought it was a great story and I hope to be coming back for more in the future to read more!
ReplyDeleteHey Jeremy! This was quite the interesting concept and a very cool way to retell this portion of the story. I personally don't use twitter so it took me a second to figure out what exactly was going on. By the end though I think I got it all worked out. After reading this I realized just how awesome of an idea this was. This is such a good way to connect with people in our generation and a fun way to retell this piece. I am amazed by your ability to tell this story in such a short style while still maintaining important pieces of information. I also just found a few of the tweets to be quite comical and I actually loled a couple of times (not exactly what people want to hear in the library during finals, oops). Overall I think you did an awesome job with this recreation and wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people in next years class used this same idea. Have a great rest of the semester and good luck with your finals!
ReplyDelete