Rough!

Well, I haven't been to class much; this semester I had an explosion of work I wasn't prepared for and on top of that I was sick for over a week. I am so ashamed for my absence. Even if I'm overwhelmed with work, it's counter productive to not go to class. In any case, I will regularly be going to all of my classes, especially Asian Performance. I'm am genuinely very excited to learn dancing!

One thing I HAVE been keeping up with is reading the Ramayana. What a wonderful story! From the beginning I have loved the stories. When I read it, it feels as if I'm reading the history of an age before our time, one that fully existed before the magic and spirits suddenly disappeared from this world. It's the type of feeling I get when reading Greek stories, especially the story of Homer, or other tales about gods and goddesses. It's like a time gone by.

I think one of the most interesting things is how much the men cry in the Ramayana. A friend of mine, studied abroad in India, and she said that the men are much more apt to of more comfortable to cry than the average Western man. I watched an Indian movie (I believe it was called, "Lage Raho Munna Bhai") and the men cried a few times, and these were guys were portrayed as supposed to being strong, manly men.

What is most beautiful about the Ramayana is the love between the characters, and the understanding of this love, especially from Rama, despite the effects of fate. For instance when Kaikeyi was poisoned by Manthara, Rama knew how much his "mother" actually loved him, and her actions were not her own. And he tries to help the rest of his family understand what has truely happened, and help the others understand his dharma. There seems to be no evil from the characters and are only from demons and such! I kind of diminishes the amount of tension, but it's also kind of beautiful. On a random note, I wonder where the idea that blue skin signifies divinity comes from.