Week 14 Reading Diary: Rosencrantz and Ramayana

Well, since I totally forgot to do a reading yesterday, I went ahead and did my Tuesday reading of Ganesha Goes to Lunch today.

First of all, I loved the short allegory-type fables at the beginning. The one about the snake and the hermit, I just love the little punch at the end. Made me crack up. i could definitely see myself elaborating one one of these tales, most likely from the snakes POV or something, some twist on the events.

But the real pleasure this week was reading the Ramayana from a totally new perspective: the side characters!

Ever wonder what that guy in the back is thinking?

What Kapur is doing with the Ramayana really reminded me of the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, which told the story of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet" from the perspective of two of the most minor characters. ALthough the entire epic of the Ramayana is not retold here, we do get a more in depth look at the motivations and backgrounds of several of the side characters, from Rama's Brother Lakshmana to Gautama and his wife and even a character I did not even remember from the epic, Guha.It was all just too cool. I really did enjoy reading about Guha and his special way of worshiping Shiva. I found him to be such a compelling character. I may decide to write about him in the future, we'll see.