Dear Diary,
Today I
am to meet my new husband, or should I say husbands… I can’t believe that I am
going to have to marry 5 men! I could barely put up with the stink and disorder
one created, how can I possibly put up with five. Although, now I have maids
and butlers to help me I suppose I will just have to manage. I wonder what
father will use to make sure that the competition is fair; I heard rumors from
the staff that it might be a bow and arrow contest. Well, here I go off to meet
the men of my dreams! *cue unenthusiastic swooning* I wonder how Cici is doing…
She did not seem well yesterday, she is my favorite dog and I would be quite
lost without her!
Sincerely,
Draupadi
Dear Diary,
Yesterday
father hosted a big competition to see who could shoot the bow and arrow and
strike a small goldfish! It was quite impressive to see all the men come and
try to win my hand in marriage, although some I am very glad were not even able
to bend the bow. In the end I met five men, all brothers none-the-less that
will be my new husbands. I have heard that they are brahmins from one of the
maids, so I am not sure how our marriages will work out. And I bet father is
having a conniption fit because of this. Although they are all quite handsome
men, so perhaps this new marriage could work out for the better. Oh! I have
also received an update on Cici, she is doing much better. Apparently one of
the kitchen staff accidently gave her chocolate and that made her quite ill.
But she should be fine by tomorrow, so I plan to have one of my maids pick her
up from the advisor’s office.
Sincerely,
Draupadi
Dear Diary,
Very big
news from the last twenty-four hours! The five brothers are not brahmins at
all, but princes! Yes the Pandavas princes! I am so excited now for our wedding
ceremonies, although it will take five days for all of them to be completed.
However, that simply means I can ask father for five dresses! He has already
begun to spoil my husbands-to-be by giving them gold necklaces and trinkets, as
well as good for their mother. She seems quite nice too, maybe a little pushy
but with good intentions. I hope to get to know her better after the wedding
ceremonies. Father wants us to get married immediately so within the next week
or so I will be a married woman! I also received Cici this morning! She is
doing so much better, back to her old self. I am very glad to see that this was
a minor illness and nothing too serious. I would have been heartbroken had
something happened to her. I hope that my new husbands are not allergic to
dogs, for I will simply have to have a second home for Cici and I!
Sincerely,
Draupadi
 |
| Draupadi's swayamvara |
Author's Note:
This week we read the Mahabharata which is written by many authors. I have been wanting to do a diary entry style story for a while and I thought that this week would be the perfect opportunity. I also really liked Draupadi's story and how she ended up with five husbands. Although, it was due to karma I like to think that she was somewhat excited about all of the festivities in her honor and that she would be marrying five princes (I know I would be)! I wanted to portray her story from her perspective so the diary entries allowed me to give some insight from Draupadi's own mind. I may have to use this style again because it is fun and relaxing compared to having to write a complete story from new!
I really like this type of story telling. I've seen people write it as a single diary entry before, but I like that this is a serious of entries. It lets us see what she's thinking as the events are playing out. I think Draupadi's story was one of my favorites from the Mahabharata so far, so I really loved your retelling. What girl wouldn't love getting 5 wedding dresses?!
ReplyDeleteDiaries are always a really interesting way to get the perspective of characters. I enjoyed reading about some of the day-to-day activities of Draupadi. We typically get a summary of the events in the original versions. It's interesting that you tied a subplot (Cici) into the main diary entries. Perhaps she could also talk about what she's heard about other events from the Mahabharata. I'd like to read more stories like this and get a deeper perspective on some of the characters.
ReplyDeleteDiaries are always a really interesting way to get the perspective of characters. I enjoyed reading about some of the day-to-day activities of Draupadi. We typically get a summary of the events in the original versions. It's interesting that you tied a subplot (Cici) into the main diary entries. Perhaps she could also talk about what she's heard about other events from the Mahabharata. I'd like to read more stories like this and get a deeper perspective on some of the characters.
ReplyDeleteHi Kaitlin,
ReplyDeleteThe diary style of telling this story was an excellent idea! It made the story much more personal and I kept looking forward to Draupadi’s next writing. I love how you gave Draupadi a voice of excitement. Often times these stories just focus on the men fighting for the women. We never get to see how the women is feeling, let alone see that she might just be enjoying having all these men fight over her hand in marriage. I wonder if she felt a connection to any of the men fighting for her before the men won. What if you designated an entry all about how she grew crushes on 5 of the suitors? It would be fun to show that she was interested in the 5 princes before she realized they would each win and be her husbands. You could go into how she cant believe she can only have one since all 5 are desirable and then elaborate on her excitement when she gets to marry all 5!
I loved how you did diary entries as your story for this week. This definitely inspired me to try to the same next week. The diary style helps to keep everything in chronological order. I feel that because you have everything in time order, transition is easier. I just was a bit confused as to why there was a dog in the story, and what purpose it had. I did though liked hearing about how passionate Draupadi was about her dog.
ReplyDelete