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Rama Wrecks the Pushpaka
Exhausted after fighting Ravana for days, Rama knew that he
had to get back to Ayodhya before his exile was over so that he could save his
brother Bharata’s life. As Rama and Sita began to search for a mode of
transportation, Vibhishana swooped down in a pushpaka, which is kind of like a
flying chariot.
“Here, Rama,” Vibhishana said, “take this and hurry back
home!”
Excited because he had never been in a pushpaka before, Rama
and Sita hopped in and Rama started playing with the gadgets and cool stuff within
the pushpaka. While Sita was focused on getting home before the exile ended,
Rama was having fun playing around in the pushpaka. There were no “flying
chariot” police at the time, so Rama began to speed and do flips in the
pushpaka. Sita was terrified, but Rama was on the edge of his seat.
“Slow down!” Sita yelled.
“Don’t be a back seat pushpaka driver!” said Rama as he
pushed the pedal to the floor. “This is so much fun!”
Rama was speeding around curves, winding through dense
wooded areas, and flipping over mountain ranges. Although Rama was having a
good time with the pushpaka, he forgot the only rule to flying a pushpaka… fly
on the right side of the sky. As Rama pushed the pushpaka to its limits, he
ended up spinning out of control and went into the left side of the sky, where
another pushpaka driver was. The two pushpakas crashed and fell out of the sky.
“Now look what you did, Rama!”, yelled Sita. “We are now
stuck in the middle of nowhere!”
Both pushpaka drivers were not hurt, however, their
pushpaka’s were pretty badly damaged. Rama knew he had to quickly repair the
pushpaka and get back to Ayodhya as soon as possible. So he went out searching
for help.
As he, Sita, and the other pushpaka driver ventured for
help, Rama suddenly recognized where they were. They were near the same
location where Jatayu was buried! Rama searched and found Jatayu’s grave, where
he plead to Jatayu’s spirit to give him strength and knowledge to repair the
pushpaka. Jatayu used to a professional pushpaka driver, so he knew a lot about
pushpakas.
“Oh, Rama. How are you so wise, yet you still wrecked a
pushpaka?” came a voice in the mountains. It was Jatayu’s spirit.
“You need to change out the alternator and flush the intake
lines to get the pushpaka working again,” the spirit said. “And slow down!!”
Rama took the advice of Jatayu and repaired the pushpaka. He
got both pushpaka’s up and working again, however, this time Sita would not let
Rama drive, so Rama sat in the back and watched the in-flight entertainment all
the way back to Ayodhya.
Authors note: I decided to tell the story of the journey back to Ayodhya on the pushpaka in a little more humorous fashion.
Bibliography: Buck, William. The Ramayana: King Rama's Way (1976)
(Rama and Sita with Jatayu's Spirit Credit: http://www.harekrsna.de)
Hi Tyler! I loved the humor you brought to the story! It seemed like a modern comedy! Little details like "there were no “flying chariot” police at the time" really were great. I thought it was really interesting that you brought Jatayu back to guide Rama and were still able to stay true to the humor of your take on the story. I'm usually the backseat driver, I have to admit, so I found Sita's interjections pretty funny. Great job-- I really enjoyed this!
ReplyDeleteTyler, I really liked the angle you chose to tell this story. Just within the first line where you mention that Rama was exhausted and realized he needed to be back in time to save his brother Bharata from his ruling, is truly fascinating. It shows a substantial amount of perspective and I think that it is very well written.
ReplyDeleteTyler, I really enjoyed your story! I like how you gave it a nice exciting twist. I liked the part when Rama told Sita not to be a back seat pushpaka driver. Nice job on adding humor to the original story we were assigned to read. I look forward to reading more of your stories in the future.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone in the class has chosen this direction to tell this story so big points on originality. Also you had some great lines. "No Chariot police" was golden, it made me laugh. This way of telling the story takes the serious moment in the Ramayana of Rama returning home and lightens the mood so that the reader is presented with a different aspect of the journey. Sure they had just fought a war, and Rama was heading home to take over the kingdom, but hey flying in a chariot is cool and that is one aspect in the Ramayana that does not get expressed much. By showing that Rama is capable of having fun you have helped create a more well rounded character. Good Job.
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