Sunday, March 22, 2015

Week 9 Storytelling: Loving a Crazy Lady

Santanu’s Story

Have you ever been in love? Well, I have, and let me tell you...it is NOT worth it.
You might ask "why?" Good. Let me tell you my story. Let's begin by introducing myself. Hi, my name is Santanu, and I am a hopeless romantic. AA-meeting-style introduction aside, let's jump into my tragedy. 

It all started out swell! I was born as heir to an absolutely beautiful kingdom. I was happy; my people were happy. We were flourishing! Absolutely everything was perfect… except for one little detail of my life; I was single.  In my defense, running a kingdom is really time-consuming! I didn't have time to date! A few years passed and I was starting to realize just how old I was getting and couldn’t help but begin to consider ending my bachelor ways and settling down with a beautiful girl. I wasn’t searching but I definitely wasn’t going to stop myself from finding love if it happened to wander into my life. 

One day, I decided to go on a hunting trip. I absolutely love being outdoors and taking in the beautiful trees and grasses and animals. I get a stupid little smile on my face every time I think about it. It's just so calming!

Anyway, I went out hunting one morning. It was a normal hunting trip like every other trip I've taken. Near the end of the day,I was tired from all the action and decided to go to the river to sit down, take a drink and relax. Just as I was approaching the river, my eyes were trapped on the most beautiful woman I had ever seen! I simply couldn’t begin to think of how my life would be without her. I guess you could say it was love at first sight. As nervous as I was, I walked up to her and began to talk. You know how it goes; eventually one thing led to another and I asked her to marry me! I know, "Yay! Santanu, you're getting married!" But everything was NOT as I planned.

She agreed to marry me on one condition: I would let her do what she wants without questioning it. Okay, yeah, that’s reasonable. After all, I'm not a mean, controlling husband. She should have freedom to do what she wants! I trust her.

Everything was great! She was exactly the wife I was looking for! She was loving, and caring and oh, so kind. She took such wonderful care of me. Marrying her was the best decision I had ever made... that is, until she went absolutely psycho. We finally were going to have a baby, again "Yay Sanatu!" but no. This crazy lady took the baby as soon as she gave birth and ran to the river. And I mean AS SOON as the baby was out, she was gone. Not only did she run to the river RIGHT after giving birth (can I just say ouch?) she DROWNED our child. She MURDERED our kid. I didn’t want to report her. She had been such a wonderful person. She had to have a perfect answer as to why she did such a thing. I wanted to understand, but I vowed to never ask questions. I had to keep my promise! 

I simply put my pain aside and let it be. I grieved and accepted our child's death and kept moving forward. Our marriage soon recovered and things were going well. Or so I thought. It kept happening. Every time she gave birth she would get up and run to the river (again, can I say OUCH?) and drown our baby. WHO DOES THAT?

This happened seven times. SEVEN TIMES before I couldn’t take it anymore. After the birth of our eighth child, I had to confront her. I could not stand being with this crazy lady anymore. I HAD to know why she kept doing this. I asked her why she did it and she immediately went on and on and on with this crazy crap about how she’s the river.

Uhm…. You’re standing right in front of me… how can you be a river? 

We kept fighting and fighting until she agreed to give me the child, Devavratha, after he grew up. AFTER HE GREW UP! She drowned our children and I am supposed to let her RAISE Devavratha? Before I could do anything, once again she was running to the river. She was gone. She was gone with our kid. I was so heartbroken, I didn’t know what to do. I tried my hardest to move on but I just couldn’t do it. She didn't kill him, but she took me away from me. Knowing he's out there somewhere being raised by a CRAZY LADY worried me so much.

Yesterday, fourteen WHOLE years later, Ganga just shows up at my doorstep to drop off Devavratha like this is planned out and okay. And just like that, I had my son back and she was gone forever. Again. I have no idea what he’s like. I don’t even know if we will get along. What if she raised him to be just as crazy? What has she taught him?

Now, guys, I’ve gotta run and get to know my son, but I will tell you this: STAY AWAY FROM CRAZY LADIES. Seriously. Don’t do it. It's not worth it. 

Image of Ganga Running away with their child
Provided by Wikipedia

Author's Note: I wrote this story based on the story in the very beginning of the Mahabharata-the story of Ganga and Santanu. In this story, Santanu fell in love with a beautiful woman who only had one request: do not question her. They were married and had children. Each time Ganga would give birth, she would drown the child in the river. This happened seven times before Santanu questioned her actions and, in turn, ironically still cost him his child. The whole series of events was rather crazy and very quickly discussed in Mahabharata. Upon reading this story I was quite literally shocked at not only the story, but how casually it was told. Narayan's version of the story was told as a bit of background to set the scene. It was such a huge and bold way to begin a book-- I couldn't help but elaborate. I wrote this story in the point of view of Santanu and his thoughts and feelings looking back on the birth, and death, of his children. Being such a dark topic to discuss, I wrote this story in a humorous, dramatic dialogue to lighten the mood without having to exclude information. I found this image earlier in the week and used it, but I included it in this post as well because it so accurately depicts the story in its entirety all in one image. 

Bibliography: Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

12 comments:

  1. Hi Gloria, I like that you decided to write about this situation from Shantanu’s perspective. I know a lot of people have written about this story, but none of the ones that I have read been from his perspective. Overall, I think that you did a great job, but if I had to make one suggestion it would be to have some spacing between paragraphs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Gloria! I liked your story. You added a lot of humor throughout with such a dark situation and I thought that worked out well. I liked how you included that Sanatu didn't believe Ganga when she told him why she had drowned their children and still just thought she was crazy. I loved that at the end you had Santanu worried about getting along with his now-grown son.

    Like Kristen I would recommend putting an extra line between the paragraphs just for ease of reading. Also in the third line, you may want to add a comma after between 'flourishing' and 'everything'. The last thing I'm going to mention is third paragraph when he talks about not being a controlling husband, you may want to change 'im' to I'm.

    Good job on this storytelling assignment!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes!!! I too felt as though Santanu was a bit of a nutcase! Right after I read this part in the book I immediately thought, dang he needs some therapy! You did any excellent job of really capturing Santanu's emotions in this! Your story was both interesting and funny. I really love the part when you mentioned the stupid smile he got on his face when he hunts. I was cracking up laughing! I think you gave more life and character to Santanu than the book ever did! Excellent job! Absolutely brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I loved how you added some humor into your story! I especially liked the humor at the beginning, because it really pulled me in. I also liked how you took this small story and expanded it to show the thoughts of Santanu. I liked seeing him fall so head over heels for Ganga, only to freak out when she started drowning the children. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love your story! As soon as I opened the book and started reading, I thought the whole story was bit crazy! Although there were some sad parts in the real story, by adding humor to your story makes it a lot better. I like how you wrote the story in Santanu's point of view. By writing from Santanu's view, it makes it easier for the readers to understand his feelings. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love this story! When I read the original in The Mahabharata, I thought the whole ordeal was just bizarre. If this woman repeatedly drowned my children after birth I would either stop creating children with her, or run away and hide them after they were born.

    The humor in your story is great! And I like that you expressed Santanu's thoughts of these bizarres events in your story. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like the feel you have incorporated into your story. To me, Santanu is like a really hyper and in-control type person who really throws you into the plot (but in a good way). I think you did a great job with this, and that this brings readers to the main point of the plot instead of being stuck with a drawn out introduction. As I continued reading I really liked how casual Santanu's narration is. It's like he is venting to the reader in a way. His dialogue is easy to understand and even put into a modern perspective. I recently read a story about Bishma's upbringing, and wrote one myself, so it was interesting to see what his father had in mind of the whole incident. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gloria,

    A story titled “Loving a Crazy Lady” – how could anyone pass up on that? Ha ha
    “AA-meeting-style introduction aside…” priceless!
    Sanatu must have thought something was fishy when she agreed to marry only under the condition of doing what she wanted; wouldn’t any rational person think in this manner? It must have been due to the inebriation concomitant to fresh ‘love.’
    Wouldn’t Sanatu have caught on after about the third or fourth child that something was wrong with this lady? Just saying…
    Great use of the caps in various areas of the plot – it adds to the overall flow of the story.
    I was probably just as equally shocked at how casually Narayan mentioned that Ganga had drowned their child! I can still picture my notes from that week and how appalling I found that section to be.
    Now, your story – it was a very easy read. I didn’t catch any grammatical issues. Overall, well done.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hello!
    I really like the tone you used for your story number three. It is so casual, friendly, and it feels like a modern-day storytelling. Your story was good and I think your portfolio is going to get better and better as the semester goes on!
    Below are just a few simple corrections for you to consider:
    “I wasn’t searching but I definitely wasn’t going to stop myself from finding love if it happened to wander into my life.” This was at the end of your second paragraph. I recommend adding a comma after “searching” and before “but”.
    In the fourth paragraph: “Near the end of the day,I was tired from all the action and decided to go to the river to sit down, take a drink and relax.” There is no space between “day,” and “I”.
    In the tenth paragraph: “Knowing he's out there somewhere being raised by a CRAZY LADY worried me so much.” You began this sentence in the present tense (Knowing he’s out there) which would be “Knowing he is” if it was not contracted. Then you ended in the past tense (worried me). I would try “Knowing he was out there” to keep the tenses in line.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey Gloria!
    I really liked the tone you set when writing your story. It was so casual and somewhat comical as well. Adding the humor to an otherwise depressing situation was very entertaining and I really enjoyed reading it! Your story flowed nicely and it’s a very good read because it gives us Santanu’s inner thoughts and feelings towards Ganga. I mean, if I married a wife who did something crazy like that, I would probably have a lot to say about it! He being light hearted and comical about it definitely made it funnier.
    I like the layout of your portfolio because it’s so simple and easy to read. The structure of your paragraphs and sentences was good so it made the story easy to read. The black font also pops out at the reader on the white background. Overall, great story. I really enjoyed reading it and I hope to read more soon!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey Gloria! I chose to look at this story from your portfolio because it was the one that caught my attention. How could it not with a title like "Loving A Crazy Lady"!? I'd like to start by saying your blog looks excellent. The format is simple, yet looks great, and you made good choices with font and backgrounds. As for your portfolio, the post is set up really well and I like how you have a short sentence about each story. That sentence helps readers more than you'd realize!
    This story is hilarious. I really liked the tone you used to write it, and writing it from Santanu's point of view was the perfect choice. The story flowed very well, and I didn't notice any mistakes! You did a great job with Santanu's thoughts and adding in humor to a story that is otherwise morbid was a good choice. Excellent job!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello Gloria! I really like the way that you told this story. I’m sure almost every man can tell us a story about a woman he’s dated that ended up being crazy. In this case, that was Santanu. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be married to a woman who drowns not one, but seven of your children. And the worst part is, he set himself up for failure by agreeing not to question her at the beginning. That should have been a big enough red flag but NO. I also like that you wrote this from a first person point of view, almost similar to a journal entry. We are able to see his emotions towards her and how he was overwhelmed by love at the beginning that he didn’t mind advancing with her agreement. I like that he warned everyone to stay away from women who are crazy! Really cute theme here.

    ReplyDelete