Reading Notes: Mahabaratha, Part A

Pandavas (Wikipedia Commons)

I grew up learning about the Mahabaratha and its various tales. For this set of reading, I decided to read the RK Narayan version of the Mahabaratha. However, I quickly realized that there was a lot to the backstory that I did not know much about prior to the birth of the Pandavas and Kauravas. From reading this part, however, I think it would be interesting to write a story based off of a bystander looking onto the lives of the various members of the family. Without knowing exactly who the characters are, it can get a little confusing to understand both the major characters and even the lineage in the story. In that way, I think it would be interesting to write a story based on another person's perspective looking into the family. I think it would be especially interesting to have a story about Drona training both the Pandavas and the Kauravas or the Pandavas escaping from the fire.

Bibliography: R.K Narayan, Mahabarata, Reading Notes

Tech Tip: Google Timer

I think the timer is awesome and I wish I discovered this before. Usually, when I'm studying or working on a paper, I like to take breaks. But, often times, the breaks that are meant to be 10 minutes end up being 30 minutes long. I will definitely be using the timer more in the future!

Wikipedia Trails: From the Orlov Diamond to the Catherine Palace

Catherine Palace

I was looking through the class Twitter feed and came across the Orlov diamond, so, I decided to Google it. I found out that this diamond was originally from Andhra Pradesh, India, and it is now a part of the Kremlin in Russia. Due to the fact that I love traveling, I clicked on the hyperlink for St. Petersburg so I could learn a little about the city. According to the Wikipedia page, St. Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia, after Moscow, and was once the capital of imperial Russia. Scrolling through the page, the architecture in St. Petersburg is gorgeous. Naturally, during this process, I started reading about the Winter Palace. I honestly think it would be so cool to live in a palace. There is so much history and culture within the walls and it would be amazing to live within it. As I read about the Winter Palace a little bit, I clicked on the link for the Alexander Palace. This palace was the place that the Romanovs were under house arrest in the early 1900s during World War I, before they were overthrown. Finally, the last link that I went to was the Catherine Palace. This palace happens to be near the Alexander and the pictures from the Wikipedia show it to be just as beautiful. The outside is a light blue and the inside of the palace looks exceptional. I could keep going on the palaces, but I think this is a good stopping place.