Sita and Rama have become immortal and are now living
in the modern-day world but nothing has changed. Sita is still singing the
blues and is often sad because of Rama. She never really forgave him for
exiling her. Rama is often to busy being a leader to the village to pay much
attention to her and Sita is growing increasingly saddened over it. While she
increasingly grows more and more sad everyday, she sings more and more. One day
Sita was singing in a park while Rama was out tending for the village and a
young man comes up to her.
“Hello my name is Pierre, do you know you have the
most beautiful voice I have ever heard.” Says Pierre.
“Thank you so much I often sing in private where no
one can hear me?” Commented Sita.
“That is such a shame the whole world should be able
to hear your voice. I am actually the leader of the London Opera and just by
hearing your voice I wanted to invite you to sing in our company. We could use
a voice like yours.” Said Pierre.
“That is very kind of you to say but I don’t think I
will be able to because of my husband and my life here in India.” Said Sita.
“Well that is truly a shame but if you change your
mind, this is where you can find me.” Pierre handed her a card with is number
on it and continued on his walk in the park.
Sita was thrilled for the opportunity but was afraid
of how Rama would react. Sita continued to sit in the park and sing until she
needed to head home to prepare dinner. The whole afternoon and evening Sita
thought of the reaction Rama would have if she told him she wanted to leave to
join an opera. While Rama and Sita ate dinner Rama only talked of work and
himself and never questioned how Sita was doing. Sita then realized that Rama
never asked how she was doing and never gave her praise for the things she did.
The next morning during breakfast Sita built up the courage to tell Rama about
the opportunity and his reaction was just what she expected.
“You can not leave me here in India to go sing in
another country, I forbid it.” Said Rama
“But Rama it is an amazing opportunity and you can
come visit me all the time and come see me sing.” Said Sita
“You can not go and leave me here, you will never make
it far in the opera, you have never had training before. Said Sita.
“You are right Rama, I will not succeed. I will see
you when you get home after work.” Said Sita.
After Rama went to work Sita continued with her daily
ritual of her walk in the park and was sad that she could not go sing in the
opera. She sat on a bench in the park and thought about her life. She realized
that this was not the life she envisioned for herself when she was a girl and
she thought yes, I may not succeed in the opera but I most certainly will not
if I do not try. Sita ran home packed a small bag and left a note on the dinning
room saying “Rama, I love you but I love to sing as well and I have to try.
Please come see me soon. I love you.”
Authors note: This story is adapted from Nina Paleys recreation of the Ramayana. In her story she uses the same plot as the original story but during many points of the video she has Sita singing about her troubles in a separate scene.
Howdy Olivia,
ReplyDeleteI really dig this modern day Sita and Rama story. I though your story was great. I love how Sita and Rama are now immortal. It was nice to see Sita stand up for herself, after all she has put up with by being with Rama. Overall, I really enjoyed the modern day spin on the original story.
Hi Olivia! I liked how you made Sita and Rama immortal. It was definitely interesting to read that even though they had to live among the mortals, Rama still treated Sita the same way he from before. I also like how you allowed Sita to go off on her own against Rama's wishes. What happend after Sita left? I would like to know more about her opera adventure! What if you added more about Sita at the opera and make it end where she would be singing and see Rama in the audience. I think that would be a sweet ending!
ReplyDeleteGood job lovely story, so proud, muah, muah. It's always interesting to think how characters in old stories would live in our modern world. I wonder what happened when Rama discovered guns? would he have aster gun powder? hollow point Brahma bullets? the possibilities are endless. Good job, love your story.
ReplyDeleteOlivia,
ReplyDeleteI loved this story! I chose to use Nina's version of Ramayana for last week's readings too, and I loved it! I have had such a problem with Sita's characters in all of the Ramayanas because of how weak and submissive she is. I like that you noticed that too and changed her persona in this story. In my story, I changed her personality too and made her stand up for herself!
I think your beginning was very realistic, which is refreshing and I enjoyed! I also chose Sita Sings the Blues and think you picked up on some good aspects. Reading stories of Sita being empowered and thinking for herself makes me feel she finally gets the story she deserved! The ending was definitely cute and actually I did not expect it lol.
ReplyDeleteYancey, I really enjoyed your story and I liked how you gave Sita another story line besides the one she is given in Ramayana. I felt bad for her when she was exiled even though she had already proven herself. What more could Rama have wanted? Anyway, giving Sita the courage to go and make a life of her own without Rama gave it a nice touch of staying true to yourself and taking on tough decisions.
ReplyDelete