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WWII an Indian Epic

Image: Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, then a flight lieutenant, with pilots of No 1 Squadron by a Hawker Hurricane aircraft in World War II in Burm. Rediff 

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Comments

  1. Hey David! I really like what you have done with your project! I think it's awesome that you are combining the stories we have read in class with something you are passionate and very knowledgeable about. I really liked the picture you included with your introduction as well. I really think it helps with the understand of what's going on in your story. One thing I would suggest is maybe breaking up your introduction so that it's a little easier to read. Another thing that will help you is if you work on your home page a little more because it's a little empty right now. I know there's not a lot you have on the website overall, but if you start adding things to the homepage now it'll be a little less intimidating later. Overall, I think it's going to be a really great website and I can't wait to see what your stories look like.

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  2. Hi David. First off, I think this is a fascinating idea. Tell the story of the Ramayana through the lens of World War II is incredibly original and bold. I am very interested to see how you weave the events of the war with the narrative of the ancient epic. Both are long and fairly complex stories with a lot of moving parts and I applaud you for taking on such an ambitious endeavor. I also really like the images you have used for your banner and on the Intro. One thing that I think would help on the Intro is an Author's Note. With the Author's Note you could give the reader some insight into your thought process and motivation behind the project and this story. I am very curious how this is going to play out. What specific battles / events from WWII are you going to meld with the events of the Ramayana? How are you going to incorporate the elements of the epic into the real life history of the Second World War? Needless to say, I can't wait to see how it all turns out!

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  3. Hi, David! This is such an interesting storybook topic! I actually really enjoy learning about the World War II era, so the title definitely caught my eye right off of the bat! I am so curious as to what gave you the idea for this topic!! You do a really great job of setting up the war environment. I especially like how you’ve combined the recognizable names of the Ramayana with various war terms. One suggestion is to just clarify a little farther to the reader what exactly your storybook will include in terms of the specific stories. Are there certain points of the Ramayana that you intend to include more of than others? You don’t have to say it point blank, but a little more clarification might be helpful. Another suggestion is maybe including a list of vocabulary for those readers that are not familiar with all of the World War II terminology. Totally just a suggestion! Overall though, I think you have created a really fascinating storybook! I am excited to read more of it throughout the semester!

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  4. Hello David!

    I think that using an actual war as the backbone for your indian epics battles is such a creative idea! I think the picture you chose is also a great visual for the story that you intend to tell. I also like how you gave each battle a name like operation vishnu. The only suggestion I might have is to put a paragraph break in between the battles to make it easier to read. Your intro has a lot of detail and I had to read it a couple times to make sure I caught onto all the information you were telling. Other than that I cant wait to read how you tell about each battle in the times of WWII.

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  5. Hi David!

    I think that it's really cool how you took Rama's adventures and put them into the context of an actual war that took place. It makes a lot of sense when I think about it. I also really enjoyed that you used other characters names as things in your story, like Operation Vishnu and Third Ravana. I think that was a really nice touch. One question I have is are there certain parts of the Ramayana that you intend to cover in your stories? For instance, the big battle at the end at Lanka? I agree with Bri that a paragraph break might make the Introduction a little easier to read. Other than that though I think it was really well written. I can tell that you put a lot of thought and work into this project and I'm excited to see how the finished product turns out. Keep up the great work!

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  6. Hi David! I think it's really great that you are updating the Ramayana to take place during World War Two; this allow you a lot of creative license! And it seems like you plan to take advantage of all of it. I really like how you use the names of the characters from the Ramayana and incorporate them into armies and events of the Second World War. The progression through the war mirroring the progression of Rama's story is a really nice way to organize your project. One question I have: Are you going to try to incorporate the Mahabharata as well? The Mahabharata was much more focused on war than the Ramayana was, so it might be a valuable text to use as a reference point in order to convey a warlike project. Also, the 'sides' in the Mahabharata seem as though they would be more suited to aligning as countries did in World War Two. However you decide to complete your project, I'm glad that you seem to have been able to integrate class material with an outside interest.

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  7. Hey David! I read your introduction and the start of your first story and I have a few comments. I chose to look into your storybook because I'm interested in history, especially WWII-era so I was interested in reading what you wrote. I really like what you have for your introduction. The idea of being as historically accurate as possible throughout the story seems like a great idea. When I was reading your introduction and author's note, I was left wondering how you could seamlessly intertwine Rama, the Mahabharata, and WWII into one story. I'm very interested to see how that occurs. I was thinking if you could not think of a way to do this, you could potentially have Rama tell the story of a friend he met, and have that friend be a character from the Mahabharata.

    Once I began to read your first story, the methods you're going to use to tie Mahabharata and Ramayana characters together became clear. I must've been overthinking tying the two together, as you did it fairly effortlessly by putting Mahabharata villains as the enemies while the Ramayana characters are the US forces. However, I think that it would be necessary to include a footnote in your author's note discussing where you brought each Indian epic character in from.

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  8. Hi David!
    I know you are not yet finishes with your first story yet but so far by reading it seems to have a great start to it and you're guidelines seems very intresting that youre going by. One of my intrest is World Wars as well, I used to study them a lot so im excited to see what you include further in the story as there is so many different battles you could portray. I think mixing all the stories and including them into one big story is a great idea so you can interpret many story lines into one. I wonder if you could even add some female characters in there and maybe include something like the movie Mulan, which would make this story line even more crazy but maybe worth looking in to. Im exciting to read your upcoming stories.

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  9. Hi David! I am commenting again now that you have some stories added to your storybook. Overall I think that you explain the battles in great detail. I think operation overlord is my favorite so far. The beginning was very descriptive and I had an easy time imagining this battle. I see that you introduced sita into this story at the end and was hoping to read more about her in the next story. The battle of the bulge was a great continuation of your previous story. I liked the images you used and can tell that you must know a lot about WWII. Just as I had thought from reading just your introduction that this is a great topic and you've done a great job expanding on your original idea.

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  10. Hello,
    I love the detail you put into your blog! It looks so nice and it all flows together. I had my doubts when I thought you would combine WWII with Indian Epics but I think you did a rather good job. How much research did you have to do on the different battles that happened during WWII to write this? The introduction definitely sets up for your stories by both informing the reader of who is involved but also how. After reading Operation Bodyguard and Operation Overlord I saw how you incorporated the two together. I think you did a great job using terminology used during WWII. I found myself imaging Rama running to the bunkers and reading through mud as I had seen on the many WWII movies I have watched. I like how you got Rama and Sita to meet! I can’t wait till you branch off with their story from this!

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  11. Hey David,

    Overall, I love your site. I love how each page has a clear photo that takes up the whole page. Everything is very clean and looks great so it separates itself from a lot of the other pages I have seen. Your overall story also separates itself from every other story I have seen. I only read the Operation Bodyguard story and I could totally see the parallels between WWII and the Ramayana. I do not known much about Operation Bodyguard so reading this story was a little difficult to picture everything that was going on. I also felt like the story ended without much of a conclusion. I noticed the word count was under 500 words, so I think you have some more room to write out a more cohesive conclusion. Other than that I love it and I will be coming back to read your other stories.

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  12. Hi David,

    It looks as though your Storybook project is complete! In both content and style, it is exceptional. The images you've chosen fit your subject and setting of the second world war perfectly- how you've managed to format it to where several images lay behind the text in such a way that serves to enhance rather than suffocate your overall website look is impressive! Not to mention the fact that you've gone above and beyond with supplementary video in one! I think your choice to parallel the epic The Ramayana from class rather than the more clear choice of The Mahabharata was a choice many might not have taken, but it paid off beautifully. As this weeks Feedback comment strategy had to do with paragraph formatting, I have to say there is nothing I have suggestion wise to improve this aspect of your writing. With every story, you set the pace with perfectly situated spacing. You have such a way with storytelling in all of your episodes, but I think my favorite is Operation Bodyguard simply because this part where Rama hides Sita is a part of the story that so appeals to me. I can certainly see how it relates to the events of illusion that took place to lead Hitler astray. Overall, very good looking, well constructed, and well written project!

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  13. Hi, David! I really enjoyed your storybook! I still think this is such a cool topic! You do a really great job of really describing the setting of the story. You also do a great job of reporting the story in a way that is very militaristic. I feel like I’m watching a special on the History channel whenever I’m reading it! (I like the History channel, so that’s a good thing.) Since you are telling the story about Rama and the Pandavas, it makes me wonder what they are experiencing too. Maybe you could add in a bit about their experience in the camp as well, like you do with Rama at the beginning. A side note, I love the word “strafed”! I like that you include Sita at the end! It adds just a little bit of romance in at the end! Overall, I think you do a really great job with the story!

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  14. Hey David! It has been a little over six weeks since I last visited your storybook and I was excited to go back to see what you have added. I have really enjoyed your formatting of teaching me about history and about Indian mythology all at the same time. The last time I was at your storybook, you had only completed your introduction and first story so I decided to read over them quickly again and focus on your newer stories.
    The first story I read was Operation Overlord. The first thing that popped out was your strong use of imagery in your story! It was very detailed. At this point of reading your story, I was wondering if this story mirrored any of the epics? Could this story be paralleled with the battle for Lanka? I enjoyed reading about the battle for Lanka and during your story and I think that'd be a cool crossover.
    The next story I read was The Battle of the Bulge. I really liked that your story was made to mirror the Battle with Khara.
    Overall, I really enjoyed reading your storybook! You did a great job of teaching readers about both Indian mythology and history. This was an interesting storybook!

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