Reading Notes: The Ramayana, Part B

• Great quote from Rama, "A word given is like an arrow, it goes forward. You cannot recall it midway. . . "
• People were truly and visually upset about Rama leaving and no longer being king.
• Rama's father (the previous king) died in shock after hearing that Rama actually did leave into the forest. 
• This was the first time the country would be without a king
• Bharatha was unaware of his brothers exiling after him mother made the plan to make Bharatha the next king over Rama.
• Kaikeyi did not seem sad at all over the kings death.
• once Kaikaeyi tells Bharatha the truth of the deal the king made with her and Rama's exhile, Bharatha becomes upset calls his mother a snake and says that she killed his father/the king. Said that she deserved to die for what she did.
• Bharatha refused to be king and wanted to get an army to go out with him to try and retrieve Rama to get him back as king.
• Rama wanted to honor his father's wish of a 14 year exile and refused to come back and become king until that time had passed.
• The gods worried that if Rama returned and became king at that time when Bharatha was begging him that Rama would be unable to complete his destiny.
• Kamavalli, extremely beautiful girl and brother of Ravanna.
• Kamavalli says she is not evil like her brother or the rest of her family and wants to be different from them.
• Kamavalli offered to marry Rama and he rejected her.
• Kamavalli was actually Soorpanaka still Ravanna's sister, but a vastly different appearance than her disguise.
• Soorpanaka had her nose, ears and breasts chopped off by Lakshmana.
• Soorpanaka returned to her family and said that Rama and her brother had caused her appearance change.
• Soorpanaka got her brother Kara to go and try to kill Rama, but Rama killed him instead.
• Soorpanaka goes to Ravana and says what happened to her and blames Rama. 
• Ravanna asked what provoked Rama to do this to her and she says that she was trying to bring Sita to be Ravanna's wife and starts describing how great and beautiful that Sita is.
• Ravanna becomes obsessed with the idea of Sita.
• Ravanna starts making plans to steal/take Sita from Rama.
• Ravanna tells Mareecha to lure Sita away in the form of a golden deer and that he will do the rest.
• Ravanna's plan works as it lures both Rama and Lakshmana away from Rita.
• Ravanna picks up the ground under Rita and takes her away.
• Ravanna kills Jatayu.

Feedback Strategies

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The two articles I read were Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job!" and The Trouble with "Amazing": Giving Praise that Matters. The biggest message I received from these pieces were that when it comes to feedback we all need to be better. I can definitely relate to this idea and am a big believer in verbal affirmation/encouragement. I had a teacher last semester who was great, but one of his few flaws was his word choice when giving feedback. Whether the work I was doing was potentially worthy of an A, B, or C the only comments on my work would be is that it was "good". This was incredibly frustrating.  It is not only important to give feedback in order for others to improve, but also it needs to be helpful feedback. Be specific when giving constructive criticism. "I liked the word choice you used in the paper and your transitions were extremely smooth."  That is so much better and more informative than just, "yeah, that's good". If teachers, coaches, bosses and others in authoritative and leading roles are willing to buy in to this philosophy and give helpful feedback it will pay dividends in future improvement.