Week 2: Reading Diary Pt. A

I have really enjoyed the introduction of the characters so far. I always find it interesting the way reincarnation is just a huge deal in Indian stories. Their Gods and Goddesses are always being reborn and receiving new avatars. That’s the thing that really caught me about Rama and Sita. They are avatars and destined to be together because they have already been together for many, many years. I am also very intrigued to see Ravana come back. He seems like the worst sort of villain and I’m excited to see the final showdown between him and Rama. I mean, a 10-headed demon? It’s going to be exciting. The last thing that caught my eye about this tale is that the entire thing is a frame story; or rather there are a bunch of stories within the large encompassing story. I know I should have expected it, since this is an epic, but I was still happily surprised. So far in the story, there’s been a lot of set-up. There’s the set-up of the town, the set-up of the characters, and the set-up of the stories of characters that I assume will come into play later on in the story. It’s fun though. Oh, but everybody is a pushover, and Kaikeyi is terrible! I realize that Rama needs to leave the palace to get his life experience and to rid the world of evil, but that does not mean that Kaikeyi needed to be such a brat. I mean seriously, such a pushover. Then Rama just accepts his banishment without even consulting his father about it. It’s very obnoxious. Poor King.