Week 3 Story - Therapy Session with Bharata
This story can now be found on my Portfolio: https://sites.google.com/view/ramabyajh/story-1
Therapist: Hello Bharata, My name is Mrs. Krishna. Welcome home to my new office here in India. My assistants have repeatedly told me that you must speak to me, urgently. So Mr. Bharata, how can this therapy session be of help?
Bharata: I have been through a scandal, Mrs. Krishna. I've been working so hard to make the name of my own and the name of my family worthy. I just don't know what to do at this point. I have never dealt with such shame.
Therapist: Well, Mr. Bharata. Let us take this step by step. Explaining your situation to me can help me help you. So Bharata, what is going on between your family that has left you utterly so disturbed?
Bharata: It all started when I left for Ayodhya to the kingdom of the Kaikeyas with the rajah Ashwapati. I knew my father's days were coming to an end. An entire seven nights passed until I reached back home. As soon as I stepped a foot into our hermitage, I knew something felt different...
Therapist: What happened next, Mr. Bharata?
Bharata: My mother, Kaikeyi, informed me that my father has passed away. I fell down immediately to the floor to release the unstoppable grief caused by his death. My mother told me not to grief over his death. I stopped and thought to myself. Discussing in my mind how to hold all the pain in, I realized my mother was acting suspicious. I look around me and read the context. Shatrughna and Manthara were also suspiciously nervous. I also noticed my elder brother, Rama, was missing.
Therapist: But, why is everyone so nervous? Is there something else other than the death of your father?
Bharata: My mother, Kaikeyi, had two wishes that Dasharatha, my father, owed her. He knew that he must grant her the two wishes for anything and at any moment. The first wish was to exile Rama from the kingdom for fourteen years. The second wish was to make me the king in thrown. This is the reason why Rama wasn't around when I returned home. My own mother sent my brother away. I asked my mother, "I have lost my father and my elder brother. Of what good is a kingdom unto me now?" I decided to look for my brother because the seat in throne belongs to him. Before I left to begin my search, I placed Rama's sandals on the throne until it belongs to him.
Therapist: I see why this has brought you so much pain, young man. I think you have made the right decision. One should earn the respect to sit in the throne of a kingdom. What your mother did, Kaikeyi, is unforgivable. I hope to see that Rama forgives her and you guys are able to move past this.
Bharata: Thank you, Mrs. Krishna. I feel like speaking to you about what happened has helped me clear my mind. I shall now return to the kingdom and plan for my father's funeral and my adventure to find Rama.
Author's Note: The original story behind this therapy session is Bharata Returns from the public domain edition of Ramayana. I kept the same plot to tell the story except the ending. In the end, Bharata's mother tells him that the throne is now his. He falls down crying at her feet saying that he will never sit on the throne. I've read a different story about this scandal. Instead of him weeping at her feet, he places Rama's sandals on the throne. I like this ending a lot more just because of the respect he shows Rama.
Bharata on his Mission of finding Rama from the image library for MLLL-4993.
"Bharata Returns" by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). Website: http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/pde-ramayana-bharata-returns.html
Hi AJ! This was such an interesting entertaining take on one of stories from Ramayana. I liked how you gave it a modern approach by incorporating the therapist as well as giving the reader insight into Bharata's thoughts. I was wondering out of curiosity why you picked the named Mr. John Doe the Fifth for the therapist? What if you decided to incorporate a famous Indian sage or guru? That would fit in well with the Indian aspect of the story and not take away from the therapist role. One example is in the Mahabharata where Krishna gives advice to Arjuna! You could even use Krishna as the therapist! Also I think it would be interesting to include details about the setting of your story. Are they in the therapist's office or are they somewhere in India? I would love to see what you come up for that aspect. Overall this was a fascinating and interesting read!
ReplyDeleteHi AJ! I am back to give some more comments that are not really suggestions or my thoughts. I wanted to give more of how I felt about the story as a reader. Personally, I loved the therapist theme to move forward the plot. It was such a drastic change from the original plot and really shows off your creativity. Because of that, I look forward to reading your other stories!
DeleteHello AJ,
ReplyDeleteYou blew me away with your script and your unique approach to the story. It is really entertaining and exciting to read. You were able to give the audience a look into the why and the how in the story of Bharata and really dig into his inner thoughts. I do wonder how you could build off this theme you are setting with the therapy session. I wonder what more characters you could encorporate? Do I hear a group therapy session coming soon? What if you were to start thinking about starting your website for the portfolio around the thereapy session and make the website look like a medical website with schedule times and stuff. This would definetely earn you some bonus points and you can take all credit :). Overall I genuinly like your mindset with the story and I hope you build on it in the future as you gain more knowledge on the stories and characters.
Hello AJ!
ReplyDeleteI actually read this story on your Portfolio first, before I have found it here on your blog. The version I read was different from the version featured here on your blog. Although the portfolio version is the revised version of the story, I honestly like the original blog post version instead. I know that the changes were very minor, and I can only really address tiny things that stick out differently. There are just some key words that I notice that differ from the two stories that I find goes aesthetically well with the story. In the blog version, you said everyone was "nervous" which I think sets a better tone on the story than stating his brother "lost control". This is just one of the few examples, but the issue isn't something very crucial to any extent. Just stating my personal opinions about which story i liked better subjectively, but I did enjoy both versions very much :)