Story: The Ultimate Question

Draupadi couldn't remember then last time she had gone to bed before three in the morning. She worked 30 hours a week (and she still needed more money) and balanced that with classes somehow. After an afternoon of working at a local company, she spent her remaining hours on schoolwork. Her friends were whoever sat next to her in class. She wasn't always in this predicament. Another classmate she had befriended last year had taken the scholarship she depended on for money. Draupadi and Yudhishthira had been chatting one day before class when Draupadi mentioned that she had made a much higher grade on their statistics test than Duryodhana had.

"What did you make on that test last week?"  Yudhishthira had asked Draupadi.

"I made an A, what about you?" Draupadi responded.

"I also made a pretty good grade." Draupadi nodded and said,

"Most people did really well. Those people who made lower than an A should probably just drop the class, honestly." Unfortunately, Duryodhana had been sitting behind them.

"How did you do, Duryodhana?" Draupadi asked.

"I made a C." Yudhishthira and Draupadi started snickering. A few people from around the lecture hall looked over. That was the moment that Duryodhana, exhausted from sleep deprivation and motivated by his competitive nature, vowed to get back at Draupadi for insulting him.

Duryodhana worked all semester to make better grades than everyone else. He stole answer keys and even e-mailed professors for extra work, telling them that he had terrible circumstances that made him more deserving than the other students. He applied for the same scholarships as Draupadi, giving a sob story to the scholarship donors so that he could receive what she depended on.

Now, Draupadi was suffering through the worst year of her life without the money she needed. Often she would call home in tears, asking why good things happen to people like Duryodhana. I mean, everyone knew he cheated on tests and copied homework. Her parents had no answer except that she should persevere and forgive Duryodhana, but that was too difficult for Draupadi. She thought back on her life before the ordeal. She had time for friends, extra money for eating out sometimes, and at least 8 hours of sleep every night. It was a dream. Now, she was getting four hours of sleep per night. Her friends had eventually stopped inviting her to functions when they realized that she would never say yes. Duryodhana continued to do well in school so the professors all liked him and recommended him for special projects and internships. All the students, meanwhile, knew how he had achieved his status. Everyone knew he was a cheater, but it didn't matter. Duryodhana continued to prosper, while Draupadi and her friends suffered. Though all of this, she just had one question for life or fate or whoever controlled the universe: Why did the evil do well while the good suffered?


A/N
I wrote this in response to reading about Draupadi's moment of despair in the forest with the Pandava brothers. She is thinking back to how the evil Duryodhana, who tried to make her his slave, is now prospering, while her and the brothers, who are good people, are stuck in the forest. She remembers how she used to have such a luxurious life-- full of beautiful clothing, good food and a comfortable bed. Now, she's in a forest--wet, sleeping on the ground, and merely surviving. She asks Yudhishthira why the evil prosper. This question comes up a lot even in our lives. We wonder why the bad people around us are doing so well while we suffer. I connected a lot with Draupadi's question and decided to make a parallel story in which Draupadi and Duryodhana were students. I like to write what I know, so that's what I did.

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata 

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part D

The last part of the epic concerned the war that the Pandava brothers are still waging. I'm going to be completely honest; reading about people fighting can be extremely boring. It is difficult to remember which person chopped off whose head, and which person has a new problem with another. So, in writing my notes, I only wrote about specific people who stuck out to me. The first part that seemed really dramatic was  Abhimanyu's death. He was killed "like a forest lion surrounded by hunters" which really conjured up a picture. After hearing about how his son was killed, Arjuna vows to avenge his death.

At least there was one, not exactly funny, but witty moment to give the reader a break from all the dying and killing. The part where Bhima tries to convince Drona that his son Ashwatthaman had died by saying over and over "Ashwatthama (the elephant) is dead" was actually kind of funny, since it was actually an elephant by the same name that was killed. And Bhima just kept saying "the elephant" really quietly after saying Ashwatthama's name. Of course, it wasn't funny that an elephant died, just funny that he found a way to tell the truth.

The only part of the battle that seemed to make sense was the dramatic match up between Arjuna and Karna. Rules of battle came into play several times during their fight. At one point, Arjuna's celestial bow was broken and so he begged for a pause in the battle. Karna refused. So later, when Karna's chariot broke, and HE needed a pause, Arjuna refused as well, and ended up killing Karna. I thought it was interesting that Arjuna wanted to allow the pause, but his advisor Krishna made him reconsider having mercy on Karna, since he was responsible for Draupadi's harsh treatment and Abhimanyu's death.

On a random note, I wished that they went into more detail about the jewel on Ashwatthaman's forehead, like what it did and what they stole it to use it for.

The last part of the reading really captures the imagination. The scene of all the fallen warriors coming back to embrace their living relatives was magical. Wives were even allowed to go back with their dead husbands if they wanted to. The moment of dawn when the dead had to return to heaven was beautiful to imagine.

Vyasa summons the dead warriors: Wikimedia

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata 

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part C

A common plot element that carried over from the Ramayana was exile. In this story, the Pandava princes and Draupadi (who follows them) are exiled into a forest for 12 years. They suffer through bad conditions, but also see really beautiful parts of the land. At one point, Draupadi has a little breakdown because she realizes that she was living so well back in the city being royalty, and now has nothing except grass to sleep on and rags to wear. She brings up a common complaint among us non-storybook people: Why do bad people prosper and good people suffer? This part really captured my attention because anyone could relate to having it really well and then having it all taken away. She ends up getting really angry about the exile, ad has to be calmed by Yudhishthira. He explains how anger makes it worse, and that she needs to embrace forgiveness instead. I liked their dynamic conversation because it sounded like any friends comforting another when something does not seem fair.

                                           Image: Wikipedia

The other part of the exile that I liked reading about was Indra's celestial city, Swarga, in the clouds (there were even cloud spirits who took Arjuna there). It was such an interesting and unexpected twist that Arjuna's "punishment" was to stay in Indra's city and live among the street dancers and singers as a nobody. And he goes straight from this weird life of dancing to battling demons. For my story this week, I think it would be fun to explore this time in Arjuna's daily life.

The last part I will talk about is the contrast between Duryodhana and Arjuna. Many times in the story, their actions are compared, and eventually it is revealed that Arjuna usually makes the wiser choice. He's also less self-absorbed, which makes him seem more favorable to the readers. The choice between Krishna and the army was interesting to read about. It is similar to a part in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, in which the main character has to choose which chest to open-- the gold, the bronze, or the lead. If he chooses the correct chest, he is allowed to marry the King's daughter. The obvious choice would be the gold chest, since it is prettiest right? Well, it's actually the lead chest. In reading this part of the Mahabharata, I think that Krishna is the equivalent of the lead chest.

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata