Blink: Ramayana, (part three of three)

nonfiction by Emily Northey

Yuddha Kanda

The Yuddha Kanda describes how a floating bridge is built to Lanka and Rama crosses it to save his wife.  He fights and finally kills Ravana and saves Sita from her prison.  To test her purity, he asks her to perform a trial by fire, which she willingly jumps into and comes out of unburned and whole.  Rama and Sita return to Ayodhya—Rama’s exile is now over—and he regains the throne.

Blink: Ramayana, (part two of three)

nonfiction by Emily Northey

In the fourth book of the Ramayana, the Kishkindha Kanda, Rama and his brother go to the monkey kingdom, Kishkindha, where they call upon the monkeys for aid in finding Sita.  One of the monkeys, Hanuman, finds out that Sita had been taken to a land called Lanka (believed to be modern Sri Lanka).  Hanuman takes a gigantic leap across the water, as depicted in the Sundara Kanda, and finds Sita.  She refuses to go back with him as she does not want to be touched by any male except her husband.  Hanuman agrees and then attacks Ravana’s palace before returning to Rama.

Blink: Ramayana, (part one of three)

nonfiction by Emily Northey

A Note from the Author

The Ramayana is a famous and ancient Sanskrit epic written by the Hindu sage Valmiki, during the 4th century, B.C.E.  The text depicts different societal roles—king, wife, brother, servant, etc.—and the ideal relationships expected to exist between them.  The Ramayana follows the story of Rama, the hero and prince of Ayodhya and an incarnation of Vishnu, as he struggles to reclaim his kidnapped wife, Sita (an incarnation of Lakshmi, Vishnu’s consort), from Ravana, the demon.  The Ramayana is comprised of 7 books (kandas), each following chronologically the story of Rama and Sita’s journey.

BCN Subway

by Rob Rotell

I step onto the moving walkway in the spacious underground channel between tracks at Diagonal Station, and I lean against the glass shield, and relax. I’m tired, my eyes are red; I’ve just spent the last two hours walking in the dark, looking for a metro station after a late night movie at Yelmo Icaria Cinema. It’s past midnight, Friday going into Saturday, and the drunks, the drugged, and nicely dressed are out, crowding the subway stations, yelling in their languages, frotteuring and ignoring.