Storytelling Wk. 6: Next is Reclamation

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The scrawny youngster dragged his feet as he approached the group, being extra careful to not look at any one member the wrong way. His wispy dark hair flew past him in the arid wind and he only managed to keep his yellow headgear attached by tying a bright red shoelace around it. The dirt of the entire playground lay nestled in his shirt and pants. Still with his eyes affixed to the cracks in the pavement, he asked, "Can I play over here with you guys?'

The playground was meant to be fun. It should have been fun. For Vibs, it wasn't. Before that day, Vibs spent most of his time trying not to get stepped on while excavating in the sandbox. His only real interaction with people would last as long as it took him to apologize, usually a woefully stutter-ridden "S-s-sorry!" Vibs had no interest in standing in the way of anybody.

Probably the most interesting thing about Vibs was his proximity to something far less kind and unassuming. Vibs was the brother of Ray, the biggest, baddest, and whiniest punk to ever patrol a jungle gym. Ray was not one to be crossed, and most of the kids who had crossed him didn't come out for recess any more. Ray was also manipulative. Despite his overwhelming size, he managed to convince teachers that it was he who was being bullied or having lunch money stolen. Even though Ray was obviously a bad fruit, most knew better than to ever get near him. Thus, his effect on the playground was minimized to mostly fear and not treachery.

That changed one day when I brought my new Spalding basketball to recess. It had a cool leather print and was one of those internalized air pump balls that couldn't go flat even if you tried. I took a long shot, probably about ten feet farther from the hoop than I should have been, and missed the goal completely. I was obviously embarrassed, but that emotion I felt does not compare to what I felt when the ball bounced off the head of the recess ruffian.

Much unlike his usual primal nature, he did not beat me into submission nor yell until his throat dried up. Instead, Ray simply grabbed the ball and sat on it. That's not to say he didn't acknowledge its beauty -- he wouldn't stop touching the new leather with his grimy gauntlets. I was already devastated whenever Ray snatched it, but knowing Ray had my ball made it somehow easier. It was like knowing that it had been blown into oblivion -- completely unreachable, unlike losing a ball across a fence. I had already begun to cope with life after my ball. That's why I couldn't comprehend what Vibs was doing when he tried to kick the ball out from underneath his brother. Ray lashed out, "What are you doing, Squirt?!" to which Vibs replied, much louder than he had ever spoken to someone on this playground, "It's not your ball to take. Give it back, or I'm telling Mom."

Ray proceeded to turn away from all of us, being sure to never come up off this new perch. I groaned as the leather began to stretch and grind between the friction of the massive Ray and the grisly pavement underneath. Vibs again tried to reason with his oaf of a brother, "Ray, maybe they'll let you play with them if you give the ball back. Not everyone is as mean as you are." To this response, Ray huffed out a, "No, I'm alright where I am," and then again turned his back on Vibs.

Vibs would not get another chance to plead with Ray. His slight frame was sent in full somersault down the hill by Ray as he ran off with the ball, clearly playing football with my basketball. The moment was too ugly for any of us to watch. I was so sure that Vibs was buried in all of the dust kicked up in the scuffle, but he managed to get up quickly enough to keep his hat from ending up in the street.

...

So now I stand back in front of Vibs, the bravest runt on the playground, and say, "Of course you can play, but your brother still has my ball." Vibs replies, showing once again that his beast of a brother could not faze him, "I think I know what we can do to get it back."

Author's note:

I realized as I wrote this that a huge chunk of my story actually covers much earlier in the book, where Ravana steals Sita (or Ray steals the basketball from Rama) and I hope that part was okay to include in order to tell my story of Vibihshana's conflict with Ravana and his eventual leaving of Ravana's side to join Rama. I also was not trying to objectify Sita as a basketball, but instead trying to find a relatable object of children on a playground. I still can't figure out how to describe the scene, either from Rama's perspective or Vibs. Rama gets the perspective of Vibs being sent through the dust, and can talk about the size and personality difference between the brothers. I had a difficult time locating a picture of boys fighting over a basketball, so I ended up using it to set the scene on the playground, before Vibs is sent to the dust. I thought modifying the names into something more like what kids could comfortably use made the story flow better than just having their full names. It was hard to describe how Vibs would show him treasures of the Lankan land, so I decided getting the ball back from Ravana would be relevant symbolism.

Source
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Week 6: Reading Diary

Nala

• Monkey whose special skill is to make rocks buoyant. This is particularly useful as Rama's troops need to cross the ocean into Lanka. Not really sure why Nata wasn't helping out whenever they were asking who could jump across the gap to Lanka earlier in the book.
• Credited as builder of the Rama Setu, or the bridge that allowed Rama's forces to enter modern-day Sri Lanka
• Varuna tells Rama that Nala is a divine architect of the gods, and Nala even fights in the great battle between Rama and Ravana
• Nala (and sometimes Nila) managed to get this rock buoyancy power due to mischeif in their youth. Once upon a time, the ornery Nala would often throw divine talismans or images into the water for fun. Because of this bad habit, the sages put a curse on them that disallowed anything thrown into water by the monkey from drowning. This led to the great career as a water architect
• Wounded in the battle by the arrows of the Great Indrajit
• In some versions, Nala constructs the living quarters for Rama's army while marching on Lanka

Vibhishana

• Clearly the wisest Rakshasa in all of Lanka, as he persitently asks to return Sita to Rama.
• This marks a place where the tide could have taken a major turn. I could imagine trying to weave a tale where Ravana listens to his loyal (brother?) Vibhishana and chooses to give back Sita to Rama. It's like trying to turn the story back into a happily ever after ending.
• A completely different story would be the inner conversation going on between members o the camp other than Rama whenever Vibhishana attempts to come aboard their camp.

Angada

• Son of Vali and Tara, nephew of Sugriva. Tara was also once the wife of Sugriva before Vali banished Sugriva and later killed by Rama. I think this should maker things awkward as his own nephew was birthed by his own ex-wife? That sounds like some melancholy sitcom right there.
• Catches a spy bird but is not allowed to kill Suka
• One of the "peaceful" messengers of Rama's. Says basically everything that Ravana's party has tried to convince Ravana of already, but it is all to no avail.
• I think it's interesting to note that most of Rama's threats that were delivered through Angada all were very direct. Most of them boiled down to, "you will die if I don't get my Sita back". This is significantly different than some of Ravana's threats where he says "One of these days..." and trails off. It's this that makes me think that the Rakshasas are not only built to destroy and kill. That being said, I think the Rakshasas are also more interested in pain and torture than the average human. Such a conundrum.

Week 6: Reading Diary A

Sampati, the vulture

• Huge vulture, sibling of the great Jatayu that once defended Rama and Sita. Clearly, these birds are of great nobility. I see them as being reincarnates of some amazing king from a past life, although going from King to super vulture wouldn't really be much of an ascension
• Sampati is an unsung hero in all of this, as his coming clearly marks a momentum shift in the search for Ravana. If he does not show up with information on Ravana's presence across the water, there's a fairly good chance that the search party ends there. The morale was definitely low.
• I'd like to tell a story of Sampati and Jatayu where Sampati doesn't lose his ability by flying too closely to the sun. I would keep the part where he essentially burns himself to protect Jatayu, but an epic battle would be way better of a story for the loss of Sampati's flying ability. It might also be interesting to talk about Sampati's recovery to fly, or how some engineer in a town nearby helped create a prosthetic to use as a wing. Maybe once his wing was repaired, Rama could fly on the great vulture during the epic battle against Ravana, instead of the chariot.
• I can't put my finger on it, but this part of the book is clearly my favorite. I think everything up until this point can have its interesting moments, but once they actually get the search party down to the tip of India and start to proceed to Lanka, the book really thrives for me. Reading is no longer a task after this point.

Hanuman

• Clearly, Hanuman has known this ability to cross the ocean so easily by growing to be a giant, but he was either hesitant to do so, or was not paying attention during the discussion of crossing the 100 leagues. I think it would be interesting to write a story about how Hanuman came to be able to grow into a giant. Could this be his family trait? Is there a limit to how large he can actually get? Is there a limit to how long he can stay in this form?
• The story of Hanuman growing to be large enough to jump across the ocean is awesome, but imagine it from the perspective of a bystander -- that would be incredibly frightening. All the poor animals of the hillside and river are being throttled about while Hanuman is gaining all of his size.
• The stories of the mountain king-god that rested underneath the passage to Lanka was incredibly interesting. Apparently, the large mountains of the world used to be able to have wings and fly whenever the wanted, and it was only when Indra punished them for their carelessness while landing that they finally lost their wings. They make out Indra to be some sort of bad guy, but I think it's obviously clear that the mountains flying and landing wherever could cause massive devastation. Indra clearly knew what he was preventing.