Dhobi as an evil rat, as cursed by Rama
Rama and Sita re returning from Lanka to Ayodhya. All the people are so happy for Rama killing Ravana and returning back safely. His brothers were so happy to see him and Lakshmana. Eventually, they all crown Rama as a king. Soon, Sita is pregnant and she goes to the dhobi to get her family's Laundry.
Dhobi: How are you dong today queen?
Sita: I am really happy, what about you?
Dhobi: I am doing well, What's the occasion behind the happiness?
Sita: I am going to be a mother soon.
Dhobi sees this opportunity and spreads the rumors all around the town of Sita carrying Ravan's kids. All the town's people find out and believes his rumors. They are furious and goes to the king Rama and advise him to exile Sita so the town is not in future danger. Rama gets angry and asks them who told you all this rumor. Eventually, Rama figures out it was Dhobi, who was spreading the rumors. Rama goes to the laundry mat, where Dhobi resides and curses him to be a rat.
Sita and Rama have ceremonies to decide on the name for their child, where they invite many respectful sages. The sages tells them they are going to have twins, they will be named Love and Kush according to their fate. The sages also tells Rama that they is going to be an evil force, which will try to harm your kids. Rama and Sita becomes petrified so as soon as the twins are born they are protected by many soldiers. As the twins are growing up, Rama prepares them for a possible war between them and a evil force.
One day, when the twins are playing alone in the backyard the rat decides to sneak up on them and try to poison them with his bitting. The twins realize, he was the evil force that would try to destroy them so they get their bow and arrow to kill him. The rat is sneaky and roams around and hides from them until Kush finally grabs him from his tail and change the rat into a person.
Dhobi: Please, do not kill me
Kush: Why should we not, you have caused many trouble to out family and us.
Dhobi: He distracts the boys by making up a clever story, but the kids are intelligent and realize that he is lying and just trying to escape from him. (Dhobi makes a run for his life)
Love: Grabs his bow and aim it at the dhobi with his arrow. He shoots and kills the Dhobi.
The Twins rush to Rama and tell him what happened in the garden. Rama and town people are happy and realize how bad the Dhobi was. They all cherish the deeds of the twins and celebrate with a big Festival of greatness over evilness.
Bibliography: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley
Author's note: Originally, the second part of the movie started with Dhobi spreading the rumors of Sita carrying Ravana's sons. Rama is furious and believes the town people and exile Sita to the forest, where she has the twins and sings for her love, Rama. I did not like the way Sita was sent away so I made it into a happy ending, where Rama would not treat Sita so ruefully. Also I wanted to punish Dhobi for starting this so I made him into a rat and killed him by the twins.
I really like that you added another character (Dhobi) into the story. I don't like sad endings neither, so I changed the endings of most stories in this class. I enjoyed reading your story, especially you made this story into a happy ending. I agree with you that Rama shouldn't have treated Sita the way that he did. He should have trusted Sita and be more confident in their relationship. Also, as a king, he should've known better how to deal with the rumors and gossips.
ReplyDeleteI love that you changed Sita's exile in this story to where Rama let her stay and punished the dhobi instead. Poor Sita has been through so many terrible things since she married Rama; it is only right that she be allowed to stay with the man she loves. It is all the more satisfying to see the twins end the man who would have resulted in their banishment.
ReplyDeleteUrvi,
ReplyDeleteI did not watch this video, so I'm glad you chose this story to tell. I like that you based your story off the original, but changed the things you didn't like about it and told it how you wanted it to be. I probably would have liked your version better after reading your author's note. I'm looking forward to reading more of your work throughout the semester.
Great job!