Sita Ram

See, I have absolutely idea what to write about. I don't have any unanswered questions, suggestions to improve the class (because, well, I'm pretty satisfied with our class), and points I wanted to get out there. To be honest, I only have praise for this class. I truly believe that I have learned more in this single quarter than my three years of English, and the sheer presence of Artem Potemkin in our class makes it more deserving of this praise. So instead of wasting my time trying to find a question (that has been answered from multiple points of views already ) or unneeded suggestions for improvement, I will give you readers some information in my life that is currently giving form to my convictions. This is going to be a long read.

As you can see from the title and my current blog background, I am participating in a musical called Sita Ram, which is being shown December 14th and 15th. Sita Ram is based on an ancient hindu epic called the Ramayana. Long ago, there was a god named Vishnu whose responsibility is to keep the earth in a state of order. When the world needed to save itself from chaos, Vishnu would come to earth in a form of (usually) animals and help out. Ravana, a servant of the gods, was an upright person and proved himself to the gods that he could be trusted. Because of his good deeds, the gods granted him immortality. This immortality corrupted him with pride, selfishness, and greed, and Ravana started wreaking havoc on Earth. The gods called upon Vishnu to go to Earth and restore order. After going multiple times, Vishnu would only go to Earth if his true lover, Lakshmi (another god), would go down with him. And so, they do go down to earth as humans, but they would not know of each other. Vishnu was born as the human, Rama. Lakshmi was born as the princess, Sita. Vishnu had also had a special bow, Shiva's Bow, that was also sent down to Earth. This bow was so heavy that it took 1,000 men to move it from place to place, but it was special because it had the ability of love. Let me elaborate. These are not cupid arrows. These are arrows that cleanse you and essentially revert you to the good you once were. Now, the bow was placed with Sita and her royal family. Only a suitor who had the strength to string Shiva's bow could have Sita's had in marriage. So yeah, Rama is wandering the world, and he stumbles upon the princess. Sita and Rama's eyes meet and at that moment they knew that they were meant to be together. It was literally love at first sight. The literal translation of that meeting was,"The beautification of beauty was beautified." So yeah, you can imagine that once their eyes met that you could see rays of light, flowers blooming, etc. Sita, then, invited Rama to compete with the suitors to gain her hand. Many lords tried and failed, and even Ravana could not lift the bow. Rama stepped before Shiva's bow. He closed his eyes and asked the gods that if he is worthy to lift the bow. Right there, Rama started meditating until finally the gods granted permission to him. Rama then took his pinkie and tied Shiva's bow with his pinkie. After Rama does this, celebration ensued, and Sita and Rama get married. This happiness didn't last for long, and the two lovers get exiled from the palace. In the forest, a shape-shifting demon tried to seduce Rama because, well, he's hot. He refused, and Surpanakha devised a plan with Ravana so that Surpanakha could get with Rama. Convinced by Surpanakha, Ravana kidnapped Sita into a faraway unknown place, and Rama slumped into a depression. A new character was now introduced. A talking monkey named Hanuman came to Rama to ask why he was sad. Rama told Hanuman the depressing story, and Hanuman told Rama that he and all the monkeys of the world could help him find Sita, if he sorted out a problem for him. Hanuman explained that the monkeys are currently in a civil war, and if Rama could help one side win, the monkeys could search for Sita, unified. So, Rama, with Shiva's bow, helped end the civil war. Since the war ended, the monkeys decided to celebrate, and celebrate they did. They held a celebration that lasted three months, until Hanuman noticed that Rama was getting pissed. The monkeys remembered their promise to Rama and started to search the world for Sita. After much searching, they finally find Ravana's palace and start a war with him and his demons. It was an epic battle, and the monkeys were losing. However, the monkeys had an ace in the hole. See, Hanuman wasn't just a special talking monkey. He was also a demi-god. Hanuman used his powers as a demi-god to become enormous, like bigger than King Kong enormous. He lifted a mountain, which Rama was on, and flew it to the battle. Since Hanuman was flying so high, the mountain caught on fire from the sun. The herbs on the mountain started burning and sprinkled down to the injured monkeys on the ground, which healed them. With this reinvigorated boost to the monkey army, Rama and Hanuman pushed towards Ravana. Due to Ravana's immortality, every time Rama would cut off one of Ravana's heads with an arrow, another head would grow, until Ravana grew ten heads. Finally, Rama had an epiphany. He used Shiva's bow's ability. Rama prayed and meditating before setting up his shot. Rama, then, shoots Ravana in the heart, and all the darkness is freed from him. Ravana reverts back to his old self where he remembered why he was granted immortality in the first place. More celebration is done on earth, and Rama and Sita go back to the heavens as Vishnu and Laksmhi. All the while as this is happening, Hanuman is left alone on earth. Hanuman became filled with distraught because his best friend is gone. Hanuman asked to take him with to the heavens since he's a demi-god. Another monkey comes up to Hanuman asks why is he filled so much sadness. Hanuman says, "Oh no, Rama and Sita have gone. I'm all alone." The monkey responds, "What are you talking about? Just open your heart, and they will be there." Imagine how much faith that would actually take. To literally pry open your chest with your hands hoping that you don't die is ridiculous, but that is exactly what Hanuman did. The monkey did not lie. Once Hanuman opened his heart, there was Sita and Rama sitting there. So yeah, after this test of faith, peace overcomes the world.

Now, how the hell is this so important to me that I have to tell you about it? Is it because I want a little spot of fame? Or is it because my choir told me to promote this?  But, it is not because of any of that. First of all, I believe in cultural awareness. Mark Twain once said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” This quote holds much truth. Though we can't all literally travel, stories can be shared to change people's perspectives. I mean, to this day, people regard this as sacred text, use lessons from this story as framework for their life, or truly believe that this story happened. To be honest, I don't find that many people know much of the eastern culture which makes this great service to the public. Even if they don't care much for it, it's still a great story of love, adventure, and action.

There is also the fact of 100+ choir members from multiracial, multicultural, and different socioeconomic backgrounds performing with some kind of purpose or conviction. They are literally pouring their hard work, beliefs, and heart into this production. I think that's just absolutely beautiful. The youth of my generation all using different philosophies to get to a place where they can perform with a purpose. Not only are they performing with a purpose, but they are performing at a level that strives for excellence which makes it all the more powerful. This applies to the conductors, auditioned actors/singers, directors, composers, dancers, acrobats, set-designers, etc.

Well, now for the sprinkles on the ice cream, the music, choreography, costumes, set, and acting is culminating into a refreshing astounding experience. The set music is a mix of jazz, world music, classical, some rap, gospel, etc. (all with eastern style music influence). Yeah, that's right. Sita Ram is a westernized version of the Ramayana, but in the pre-production phase of Sita Ram, our director went as far as to go to India, talk to his friend's grandfather about the story of the Ramayana, and basically ask permission to westernize the story (by asking questions to preserve the story so that it still respects the Indian culture). There is almost literally nothing out there like this music set. The choreography of the choir is a mix of modern styles of dance with inclusion of traditional Indian movements. The team that's working on this is just incredible.

How do I wrap this up? Well, I will say that I find a person with no meaning a sad thing. I will say that I find a person with meaning but with no means to reach it even sadder. Though I find it beautiful for the person with conviction and carrying it out, the culmination of a diverse people, all with different beliefs and philosophies, excellently performing a unified, original production is gorgeous. And, even, more astonishing is that this is done by our youth. So yeah, I believe that this production is my form of "cultivating my garden." And it's looking pretty good.

But, if you're actually interested in buying a ticket for this, click here.
Shout out to my friend Samantha Frondoso for coming to the show!