Week 5 Storytelling: Rama Online

Rama (source: tumblr)

Name: Rama

Age: 27

Location: Ayodhya, India

Status: It’s complicated

Height: 6’ 2”

Weight: 195 lb

Occupation: King of Ayodhya

Education: Plenty

Interested In: Women

Hey, ladies. My name’s Rama, and I’ve been king for a short while now. I’m looking for a queen, and a friend of mine said that this would be a good way to get the word out. Let me start at the very beginning….

My father, King Dasaratha, had 3 wives: Kausalya, Kaikeyi, and Sumitra. For some reason, none of them had any kids. One day, one of my father’s counsellor found this nutrition supplement that is supposed to help you along or something along those lines. Suddenly, all 3 were pregnant at the same time. I am born to Kausalya, Kaikeyi to Bharata, and Lakshmana and Satrughna to Sumitra. We all grew up like brothers.

At the age of 5, we were all taught by Vasishtha, our governor, in different different areas. We started with the alphabet and grammar. Soon after, we mastered 18 languages. It may seem like a lot, but it’s actually easier to learn pronunciation and stuff when you’re younger. We were also taught music, dancing, and painting. We all know how to play at least one instrument and learned ballroom dancing.

We never left the palace often, and since we had our governor and private tutors, we didn’t exactly go to normal school. As we grew up we picked up some sports like archery and sword fighting/fencing. It was always fun to duel with my brothers and we helped each other learn and grow.

I made a bet with my brothers one day about asking this girl, Sita, out for a date. She is so beautiful, it’s almost impossible she’s real. I had seen her the few times we were allowed off of the palace grounds. I think she’s the daughter of a business owner in our town or something along those lines. Turns out I won the bet and she agreed to go out with me (I mean, who wouldn’t!)

Sita (source: tumblr)

We went out for a bit, before this huge guy, and I mean huge (he was built like a quarterback or something) asked her out. This is the part where it gets a bit iffy. I didn’t see this myself, so I don’t know if they knew each other previously or what, but one of my brothers saw it happen. Now, I don’t know if he knew or not that she’s taken, or what the heck she was thinking, but I saw them out together one day. I tried confronting her, but she keeps insisting nothing happened.

I took her back and we went out for a while after that, before my family and friends voiced their opinions. It always felt kind of wrong after the little spat we had. I never got the chance to ask her outright whether she went voluntarily with the dude (even though it certainly looked it), and she never brought it up. I don’t know if she was purposefully avoiding the topic or just didn’t think she did anything wrong. My family and friends kept saying that she’s denying anything happened because I’m in line for the throne and she just wanted the benefits of going out and someday possibly marrying a prince.

I didn’t know what to think, so I broke up with her. I already had doubts about our relationship, and nothing seemed to be going well after I saw her with the dude; it seemed like we were always struggling just to be civil to each other. There was no more chemistry left with us, and I kind of lost my trust in her. We haven’t seen each other in months, and sometimes I wonder what happened to her and if I could have done something to save or relationship, but my family keeps reminding me that she was the one that went out with someone else, and that I did nothing wrong.

I don’t know much about this online dating thing, but some people seem to find their match his way. Here’s to hoping I find my next queen!

Peace! R.

Author's Note

I based my story off of the beginnings of the Ramayana. The beginning was quite similar, where the king had 3 wives and none of them had babies. I changed the part where the king made a horse sacrifice to a counsellor finding a nutrition supplement. In the story, Rama and his brothers learned all sorts of things at the age of 5. Rama went with his teacher and Lakshmana, his brother, to help out a neighboring city. Went they arrived, the king presented Rama with the bow of Shiva, saying that if he was able to bend it, he would allow Rama to marry Sita, his daughter. Later in the story, Ravana, a 10 headed giant with 20 arms kidnaps her. Rama, Hanuman, and the ape army managed to save her and bring her back. When they got back to Ayodhya, however, Rama decides that he couldn't be with Sita. To prove her innocence, she called the Earth. Mother Earth emerged from the ground with a chair where Sita sat on, and seconds later they disappeared. Sita is now in heaven as the goddess Lakshmi, and Rama, years later, follows her.

I chose parts of the story to write about, and thought that using the dating profile style would be appropriate. Instead of kidnapping, I just said Ravana asked her out when she was still with Rama. I changed the ending to them just breaking up and him not seeing Sita since then rather than killing her off. I tweaked the story a bit to make it fit into a modern setting.

Bibliography: the Ramayana Unit can be found here.