Peter's India Blog

I'm always been fond of reading Jataka tales. In fact, these collections of Jataka tales have been my favorite kind of reading for this semester because their plots are very interesting with lots of suspense and rich visual details. I've read a lot of Jataka tales about monkeys, which seem like the favorite Hindu animal, but I haven't come across a reading with a wolf. A story written about a pious wolf, I thought, would be an absolutely amazing read. So I read the amazing story of pious wolf and other great tales. But the story of pious wolf particularly stood out in my mind. I like the beginnig of the story how the wolf is impriosoned so tightly: "Once there was a flood, and there was a large rock with a Wolf sleeping on the top. The water came pouring around the rock, and when the Wolf awoke he found himself imprisoned, with no way of getting off, and nothing to eat." Obviously, the wolf was desperate to escape: "“H’m!” said he to himself, “here I m,...

I found myself fascinated with India. So I decided to do Wikipedia trail about India. 1. India : India  is a country in  South Asia . It is the  seventh-largest  country by area, the  second-most populous  country (with over  1.2 billion people ), and the most populous  democracy  in the world. Bounded by the  Indian Ocean  on the south, the  Arabian Sea  on the southwest, and the  Bay of Bengal  on the southeast, it shares land borders with  Pakistan  to the west; [f]   China ,  Nepal , and  Bhutan  to the northeast; and  Bangladesh  and  Myanmar  to the east. 2. China : China  is a country in  East Asia  and the  world's most populous country , with a population of around  1.404 billion . [13]  Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third- or fourth-largest country by tot...

I've searched through and read several articles in  Writers Write   website. One article that really caught my attention was " All About Parts Of Speech " This article caught my attention because I am not so good at constructing beautiful and complete sentences. It's an amazing article that teaches how to make good sentences, and thus a better story. I'm not a big fan of grammar, but I know it's critically important to become a good writer. Unless I speak and write with a correct, proper grammar, people including my readers won't take my stories seriously. I believe my grammar and syntax became really bad partly due to social media and texting. I'm on Facebook almost all the time and texts other friends whenever I find myself have time. Speed is incredibly important in this kind of 'light-hearted' endeavor, so I haven't got used to writing properly. I love this article that talks about the importance of writing properly. It talks about...

I'm always been fond of reading Jataka tales. In fact, these collections of Jataka tales have been my favorite kind of reading for this semester because their plots are very interesting with lots of suspense and rich visual details. I've read a lot of Jataka tales about monkeys and other animals. A story written about an ungrateful prince and beasts, I thought, would be amazing to read. So I read the amazing story of ungrateful prince and grateful beasts. It was unlike any other Jataka tales, in that it was longer and more complicated than the ones I've read before. But with richer plots and characters, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this amazing story. The story began with the King's son, who was cruel, disagreeable, and hurtful: "this son was so cruel and disagreeable, that he took a delight in hurting people, and never spoke to anybody without an oath or a blow." It sounded like a truly intense character with lots of bad personality elements. I also like...

I'm always been fond of reading Jataka tales. In fact, these collections of Jataka tales have been my favorite kind of reading for this semester because their plots are very interesting with lots of suspense and rich visual details. I've read a lot of Jataka tales about monkeys, which seem like the favorite Hindu animal, but I haven't come across a reading with a crab. A story written about a giant crab, I thought, would be an absolutely amazing read. So I read the amazing story of giant crab and other great tales. But the story of giant crab particularly stood out in my mind. There used to live a massive crab in the mountains. I really liked how the author began to say about the crab: "I daresay you have often seen crabs boiled, and put on a dish for you to eat; and perhaps at the seaside you have watched them sidling away at the bottom of a pool. Sometimes a boy or girl bathing in the sea gets a nip from a crab, and then there is squeaking and squealing." It s...

I really liked reading   Just the Language  article. I think it's a truly fascinating and yet concise article, full of writing tips and wisdom. Like it was mentioned in the article, writers really don't know where the writings are going to take them when they start writing: "they find it peculiar that for my novels I need to know, and I need to know not just the ending, but every significant event in the main characters’ lives." It is so true, but it is difficult to know all that farther ahead as a writer. Certainly, I've had difficulty in recognizing and being aware of every significant event in the main characters' lives because I'm usually busy constructing the overall plots and characters' personalities. Wow.. This truly is a conscientious way of writing a story from the beginning: "When I finally write the first sentence, I want to know everything that happens, so that I am not inventing the story as I write it." I think this kind of ...

I'm always been fond of reading Jataka tales. In fact, these collections of Jataka tales have been my favorite kind of reading for this semester because their plots are very interesting with lots of suspense and rich visual details. Monkeys look the most alike with humans, and they are usually the symbol of wisdom in many Indian epic stories. I liked all the readings in Reading A of Inayat's twenty Jataka tales, but one story that particularly stood out in my mind was the story of Monkey-Bridge. Monkey, including the wise god Hanuman, often has taken the role of clever, wise, and smart animal in Indian and Hindu epics. The story begins with a giant-like monkey who ruled eighty-thousand monkeys in Himalayan mountains. Wow.. Eighty-thousand monkeys are a lot and I can't even conceive how many monkeys that the giant monkey ruled in the cold, steep Himalayan mountains. I really like this very detailed, vivid, and full of image description of the monkeys' habitat: ...

Throughout this semester, I've read so many Indian epics, including so many stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The characters in those traditional Indian epics were fascinating. Nevertheless, I've found myself liking Jataka Tales even more although I really like Ramayana and Mahabharata stories. So I decided to read more Jataka tales. I like the fact that Jataka tales always have some sort of life lesson or wisdom in the story. Hawk is one of my favorite animals. I like hawks because they have fierce, focused eyes, aiming at preys. So I wondered how hawks are portrayed in Jataka tales. Although I thoroughly enjoyed all the more Jataka stories, and other stories were all interesting and fun to read, this particular story of "the hawks and their friends" really caught my attention.  The story begins with describing ecosystem of the animals. Their habitats, including that of the hawks, were mentioned to explain how different animals lived in different places, a...

I've searched through and read several articles in Writers Write website. One article that really caught my attention was " Harnessing The Power Of Time In Your Storytelling ". This article caught my attention because I couldn't agree more on how time consuming the storytelling process really could be. I'm also struggling to manage and set aside time to write stories. So I thought reading this article could really help me. And it did! I even like the very beginning of this article. Obviously, the author of this article was highly poetic and creative person, so he described in a uniquely poetic way: "the sky was low and turning to a dirty purple twilight." I really like how the author described how he felt about flying time: " I was conscious of time—not as anything artificial and clear as the white digits on the face of an iPhone, but as something moving us all along, me along. Something moving within me, inside of me, even as it moved outsid...

Throughout this semester, I've read so many Indian epics, including so many stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The characters in those traditional Indian epics were fascinating. Nevertheless, I've found myself liking Jataka Tales even more although I really like Ramayana and Mahabharata stories. The biggest reason why I like Jataka tales so much is that each one of Jataka stories teaches readers some kind of life lesson or general wisdom. So I've decided to read more Jataka tales this week. One of my favorite animals has always been monkey. Usually they are the symbol of cleverness and high intelligence like humans. But in the story of the stupid monkeys, it was different and that's why this story really caught my attention. It has a really interesting beginning. The king's gardener wanted to enjoy the king's holiday and delegate his work to monkeys. I like how the gardener honestly admitted his intention without much cunning or tactic: "To-day my f...

I did read another version of Buddha story some weeks in the past, but I really wanted to discover more about this fascinating Indian epic character. I have grown up in a Buddhist household, but I didn't learn much about the details and who Buddha truly was although I was attending the temple. So I decided to read another version of Life of Buddha story, narrated by Herold. Although the characters were essentially same, but how the stories were told was completely different. The particular plot in the story that I didn't read in the previous version was the Asita's prediction part. It's interesting how both Buddhism and Hinduism, which both originated in India, have the same goal: to overcome the cycle of re-birth. And Buddha in the story was the one who would eventually overcome such unfortunate cycle. Wow this is such a powerful prediction by Asita:"This has happened to you, O noble, generous and hospitable king, because you love duty and because you are...

Among the several stories in the third part of Mahabharata reading, I found the stories of Pandavas and Draupadi and Arjuna most fascinating. When Yudhishthira lamented about his unfortunate fate, it also made me somehow depressed: "Our kingdom is lost to us," he said, "and our fortune; everything is lost; we depart in sorrow, and must live on fruits and roots and the produce of the chase. In the woods are many perils — many reptiles and hungry wild animals seeking their prey." It's such a pessimistic outlook on life in that I thought it would only discourage his brahmins. Although the Pandavas suffered greatly from living in poor conditions of the forest, I thought they also had some good things too: "They wandered in sunshine and in shade; they dwelt in pleasant places, amidst abundant fruits and surrounded by flowers." Arjuna was a great archer: "Stringing his bow, he shot an arrow and hit the boar." Although he was threatened by t...

Once upon a time, two men named Mr. Wong and Mr. Taylor lived. Mr. Taylor lived in the United States and was a very wealthy man. In fact, Mr. Taylor was a successful entrepreneur and the richest man in the world, and he was benevolent and interested in helping other people who were in need. Mr. Wong, on the other hand, was a poor farmer in rural China and desperately needed help because his crops weren't yielding much due to lack of quality seeds and fertilizers. Mr. Wong's government couldn't help him much either because it was very poor just like Mr. Wong.  One day, a staff in Mr. Taylor's philanthropic foundation told Mr. Taylor about Mr. Wong's poor situation and his government's inability to help him to be lifted out of abject poverty.  When Mr. Taylor, a very benevolent and philanthropic man, heard about Mr. Wong's situation, he decided to help Mr. Wong with all he had. Mr. Taylor was a sincere and humanistic man who was truly intereste...

I like the several stories in the Jakata tales, but the story of golden goose was the most interesting story among them because it raised a sudden philosophical thinking inside my head. I particularly like the very beginning of the story with the goose telling himself to help the poor woman: "If I give them one after another of my golden feathers, the mother can sell them, and with the money they bring she and her daughters can then live in comfort." I thought this goose was a generous and benevolent animal since he wanted to help the poor people in need. When I read this somewhat ungrateful line of dialogue between the poor mother and two daughters, I honestly thought they didn't deserve the goose's 'philanthropy' and perhaps they deserved to be poor: "Let us not trust this Goose. Some day he may fly away and never come back. Then we should be poor again. Let us get all of his feathers the very next time he comes." I thought this kind of mentalit...

There are several stories in the Jataka tales, but not all of them particularly caught my attention. One that really did was this fascinating story of monkey and crocodile. I even like the very beginning of this story: Mother Crocodile wanted to eat the heart of a monkey and asked her little son crocodile to catch a monkey. Yet the son crocodile didn't think it's possible since monkeys live on land and didn't come into water. Nevertheless the little son crocodile came up with a witty plan: "I know what I'll do. I'll get that Monkey that lives in a big tree on the river bank. He wishes to go across the river to the island where the fruit is so ripe." I thought it was a clever plan. I also like how the author blatantly labeled her son crocodile character as stupid : "But he was a stupid Crocodile." Trying to kill the monkey by drowning him seemed pretty clever. Obviously, the monkey suffered greatly from going underwater: "When the...

I think Canvas is an integral part of being an OU student. My courses, both traditional in-class ones and online classes, have individual Canvas pages.  Nevertheless, many OU students, including myself, aren't so adept at using Canvas. I've learned about the Dashboard bar in this tech tip exercise. It was really interesting to change Dashboard views. I tried Card view, List view, and Recent activity. They all display my courses in different manners. I thought each one of them had unique advantages.  The most fascinating feature that I discovered was Nickname option and Color management. Wow. I didn't know I could "nickname" my classes in any way I wanted! And I could also change colors? That was a truly fascinating discovery. I did manage my Dashboard page to look more neat and pretty. They are now organized. My Dashboard bar is more convenient and useful than ever. In general, I thought Canvas was kind of messy and not organized, although it ob...

**While I was doing Part 2, check-up, I've found that I didn't declare for one Reading Notes that I did back in Week 5. So, I declared it for Extra Reading for Week 10 instead. When Your Brain Doesn't Sleep (Graphic) I've found this graphic to be relevant to my current state. It's also interesting to learn about the science of brain and sleep. Brain perhaps is the most important organ in our body, and it does many important jobs to make us stay afloat. I've also found several brain malfunctioning experiences I've had due to sleeping less. Lost memories, anger, impaired wit, head in the clouds, slurred speech, and risky decisions all sound very relevant to my personal experiences of getting inadequate sleep. It's so fascinating to learn about the interesting correlation. The graphic is obviously very effective at fulfilling its purpose of informing people about the danger of sleep deprivation. Tapasya (Video) It's truly interesting to ...

I chose to do a happiness challenge because I wanted to feel happier and appreciate the small things that I don't notice and take for granted. I'm sure there are many things around me that I should be more appreciative of. I've been anxious and neurotic largely due to my irregular, random patterns of sleep. Scientists and sleep experts recommend getting eight hours of regular sleep every day. Like today, I've often gotten zero hour of sleep. So for this happiness challenge, I want to get eight hours of sleep everyday for one week from today, Monday, October 29th to Sunday, November 4th. I really want to see if getting eight hours of sleep really makes someone happier like the scientists say. To accomplish this challenge, I have come up with a specific plan that includes several steps. 1. I will work and study only until 9:15 PM. 2. From 9:15 PM to 9:30 PM, I will take a shower to get ready for sound sleep 3. At 9:30 PM, I will be lying on my bed. ...

The title, "The Emotional Weight of Being Graded, for Better or Worse" obviously instantly caught my attention. It's such an interesting title because I'm a college student who has been constantly graded by professors. This article really confirmed my belief about grading. Grading does evoke fear to students who are being graded. I now know why: students often identify  with the grades they receive rather than just looking at them as mere numbers. Their sense of self-worth is often defined by the grades they receive. One interesting new thing I've learned while I was reading this article is that powerful emotions attached to grades drew children’s inherent interest in any given subject. In other words, grades students receive and their feeling about the subject are closely related. If a student receives a good grade on a subject, not only he or she is going to feel more confident about the subject, but also they are more likely end up liking it and feel sa...

Once upon a time, two fierce brothers lived who were managers of a Kansas corn farm. John, who was honest, scrupulous, and fair-minded, disliked cheating and liked to work with his son all throughout the year, especially during the harvest season. John was popular, so he had many followers and sharecroppers who genuinely liked him. In addition, the owner of the farm, who was an old man in his eighties, really liked John and wanted him to succeed his ownership once he died. There was another brother whose name was April. Unlike John, April was greedy, competitive, and was always determined to win. April disliked rules and often ignored the proper procedures when he was working on the farm. One day, April decided to cheat John out of excessive greed. April wanted bumper crops for himself and did not want to share as much with his fair-minded brother John. So April, along with his fellow crooked followers and sharecroppers, decided to revolt against John and his scrupulous follow...