Step Up: Ravana's Time - Storytelling Wk. 7

Ravana stepped out onto the dance floor. He had millions of chains and bangles attached to each hand, elbow, and shoulder. Watching him sway to the beat of a distant drum was like peering out onto a vibrantly violent sea. The moon had perched itself on a nearby mountain for a better view of the strutting and spinning that was certain to occur.

From Flickr

Out of the edge of the clearing, Rama appeared. He wore what resembled a bright orange tracksuit, except this suit could never aid a runner; it included giant, billowing parachute pants. Rama's posse assisted him in putting on his dancing boots, which were sequined all the way to the top. The glimmer of these boots was so intense that it blinded Ravana as he swung, spun, and stepped rhythmically across the floor. He nearly crashed into a tree nearby before recovering into a full-on frolic of limbs in excitement.

He called out to Rama, "You silly people nearly ruined my groove!" Rama scoffed at this remark and replied, "Is that what you call a groove?" Ravana immediately stopped his dance, but that's not to say his jewelry and sweeping clothing did not continue his last few lines for him. Ravana then turned away and crossed his arms. Years passed before he shattered the silence, "I challenge you... TO A DANCE OFF!"

Rama looked down at his own feet purposefully and back up again,"Let's do it."

It was very obvious early on that Rama was outmatched by the incredible dancer that was Ravana. For every spin, flip, and bow that Ravana had to offer Rama, Rama managed to either trip himself or knock down a bystander at the floor's edge. The dance would have ended after only a few seconds if Rama hadn't lost his sparkling boots while attempting to click his heels together between his drunken stumbles. The boots were quite beautiful, but their maker had clearly mistaken Rama's feet for those of the great Vali because they merely dangled at the ends of his legs whenever he picked up his feet.

The music finally began to carry off, leaving Ravana to revel in the beauty of his victory. What Rama was doing could no longer be classified as dancing. He had fallen down so many times that every joint in his body began to ache, and so he had begun to resort to only bobbing his head up and down while appreciating Ravana's final jaunt across the floor. Rama then collapsed and was only able to escape the clearing once some of his crew carried him away in their arms. Just as Ravana thought he would never have to deal with the atrocious dancer ever again, he heard Rama yelp out in the distance, "I'm going to take you down with my own bow and arrow tomorrow!"

Ravana was taken aback by this comment. "Do people actually resort to violence to resolve their issues?" he asked himself. That thought lasted about as long as it took for the beat of the drum to make its way once again over the mountain, and Ravana's dazzling dance carried him off into the night.



Author's Note:
While Rama did not ever participate in a dance with Ravana, I thought it might be entertaining to let Ravana win something over him. I felt a bit of sympathy for him. While he was a very powerful king of the Rakshasas, he deserved to be really good at something he clearly enjoyed. I'm not sure if Buck ever alludes to Rama's dancing skill, but I'm going to have to give it up to Ravana on this one.

I quickly discovered while writing this that I had no clue how to describe dancing. I originally meant for this to be funny, and it was to some extent, but I ended up liking the Ravana vs. Rama reversal even more. The part at the end is supposed to be describing the lack of preparation of Ravana for the upcoming final battle.

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

Reading Diary: Week 7

Hooray! The end of the Ramayana forever! I never thought I would make it this far, and especially not twice.

This is an absolutely beautiful scene, the flowers marking Lanka where the battle was once held. I think that's also extremely sad. That's essentially the burial ground of all of Ravana's effort, however vain it may have been.

The whole fly-over scene with Pushpaka can be so sobering. Rama resents his actions against Vali, for which Sita does nothing but console Rama for his actions. He gets a 'get out of jail" pass on that one.

That silly Hanuman needs a story told about his collection of all of the waters of the world's rivers. He would probably figure out a way to have tons of fun along the way. He is also told to bring anything beautiful he finds along the way.  That could be his chance to pick up some ladies for the coronation ball?

This part can be so boring. There's not conflict left. I now know the ending. It's not a problem I have with the Ramayana, really just with books in general. The only book I remember ever being excited to read the post-resoution was the first of the Harry Potter books, for what it's worth.

I don't feel as bad for Rama having to wait those 14 years to take the throne now. Fourteen years is merely NOTHING relative to his 11,000 year reign in power. That might as well have been an afternoon daydream -- and/or nightmare.

Also towards the end, great, Sita is now the victim of the "Sins of the Father" with a karmic banning. Rama needed to suffer in order to save the kingdom but also because of his father's past debt to Kaikeyl, and now Sita will likely suffer as well

I will say that the ending is much more beautiful this time.

Reading Diary A: Week 7

We are so close to being finished with the Ramayana. I just needed to let that out, for my own sake.

Malyavan

• Chief advisor to the Emperor Ravana of Lanka.
• Some relational view to Vibishana: also opposed the war being fought against Rama.
• All I could think of his flashback was an old dude in slippers freaking out at the family reunion about past duties. PTSD is a messed up thing.
• Does Shiva physically take him? It almost sounds like Malyavan dies on the hill top -- taken by Shiva. I feel like this should be more obvious, but it definitely is not.

• The scene of him being taken from Lanka could be a somber but beautiful one

Jambavan

• He's the master of disaster. So much blood and gore in this scene caused by the annhilation of Rakshasas.
• I might have missed it in a past reading, but why is a bear king in with this party? I found out on wikipedia that Jambavan is sometimes also described as a monkey king, which makes his presence more sensible, but bear kings are really cool, obviously.
• The two magicians / wizards on the hill would be a nice addition to the brothers' storybook I read the other day. I don't think they reappear, but just making stories about these demon magicians could be really awesome

Ravana preparation

• I'm not very good at this type of storytelling, and I can't see myself attempting a foray anytime soon, but SOMEONE needs to write a story about the epic wind dance party that Ravana throws the night before an epic battle. Ravana is clearly a partier, and while he earned himself a charioteer in his dance, he also could show off some sick moves to Sita in his final attempt to win her over.
• Time comes to nag Ravana, which sounds like an annoying little sibling at his dance party, too

There's not much to write about from the epic battle. My initial storybook project was going to be centralized around weapons, and the astras in the final battle are the most varied and intriguing of the entire story.

I'm also so relieved that Sita did not have to prove herself to Rama after she is saved but instead is reunited through Agni, the fire god. Agni is super interesting, and is shocked whenever Rama either refuses or does not recognize his true deity name. It's probably just Rama being humble again.