Epics of India - Vinay Kalvacherla

Two Turtle Jatakas The Turtle and the King There is a turtle that a king's young sons think is a demon  King - loves sons a lot  Sons - quite wimpy, seem entitled Many suggestions are tossed about as to how to kill this poor "demon" One man suggests throwing it in the lake The turtle (who is very smart) uses reverse psychology to get them to throw him into the lake, where he lives happily  What if the turtle tried to tell people he was not a demon? The Turtle and the Geese Turtle made friends with Geese Geese invited him over; since he can't fly, he was supposed to clamp his mouth on a stick that the geese carried (aka, if he spoke or opened his mouth, he would fall from the air and die)  Turtle heard children commenting on how geese were carrying him, fell and died (because he opened his mouth)  Moral: think before you speak; the turtle was foolish Potential plot twist: the geese were fooling him and taking him to kill and eat him G...

Seeing the reading list for this class makes me extremely excited for many reasons. I am not only a Religious Studies major, but I am also of Hindu background, so I am familiar with all the various stories and mythologies associated with the Ramayana and Mahabharatha to some extent. Additionally, last semester, I took Dr. Moodie's Introduction to Hinduism class, so I had more exposure there, too. In her class, we read R. K. Narayan's edition of the Ramayana, so this semester, I I will read the other version . I am actually quite excited for this reading, because R.K. Narayan's edition did not include the story of the twins Lava and Kusha and of Sita's departure. Another item of interest for me that I hope to look more into is the character of Bhumi - Mother Earth - that seems to play a part both in the Ramayana (with Sita's departure) and in the Mahabharatha with some of Krishna's feats, like the killing of Narakasura. Goddess Bhumi also overlaps the super inte...

Time management is a key to painless survival in college, and I lament that it is one of my weaknesses. Like many of my peers, I tend to do many things last minute and therefore impose extraordinary amounts of unavoidable stress on myself. Reading the article " Myth of 'Too Busy ,'" I definitely see some avenues to improve upon this weakness of mine. For instance, I am a person who likes in-the-moment, and that is very easily accessible through social media. Unfortunately, for me, that means long-term stress - so, a strategy that I will adopt from the article is to cut down on social media use. Additionally, reading the article, " The Important Habit of Just Starting ," I think another long-term goal that I can make for myself is to reduce my impulsiveness. The formula for motivation that is given (in which impulsiveness and delay are in the denominator) indicates that if I reduce my impulsive behavior, it can help me make better use of my time by increasing...

I think that the use of technology tools in this class is both helpful and innovative. As I have used the Blogger blogging medium in the past, I feel more comfortable with the technology tools that are specifically related to blogging. My use of Blogger for this class, though, can perhaps help me learn even more about it and can help me use it effectively for other purposes in the future. No class that I have taken in the past has used the technology medium to the extent that this class does, so I am quite excited for that. A graphic depicting several articles of technology Source.

Seeing the assignments that we have for this class, I am filled with nothing but excitement! The variety of assignments we have and the flexibility we have in completing them is something I've never experienced with other classes, so this is new for me. I am actually quite excited about the "Storytelling" assignment, as it can both help me reflect on the material and hone my inner creativity. The H.E.A.R.T extra credit assignments also seem particularly interesting - they seem to give me an opportunity to focus on personal wellbeing, something that, often times, college students seem to lack. A meme highlighting the stress that some students experience with their college material Source. 

While I have not specifically heard about Carol Dweck and the "growth mindset" with that particular terminology before, I have been exposed to that philosophy in the past, although to limited extents. Specifically, my understanding is that Scandinavian countries tend to impose a more growth-mindset oriented approach to education, explaining why their education systems are much more successful than ours. Having learned more about this mindset through the TED talk, however, I feel that I would definitely be interested in taking on this mindset throughout the rest of my education, both at OU and beyond. As a learner, I learn through making analogies to material in my head, and tend to learn memorization-heavy material (like history) the slowest and with the most discouraged attitude. Hopefully, taking on this mindset will help me tackle these classes with a new attitude, helping me both learn material better and enjoy the material better. A cat teaching us the wisdom behind...

Hello all! My name is Vinay Kalvacherla, and I am a sophomore Religious Studies, pre-med major. Many people wonder why I chose this major - when I introduce myself to people, one of their first questions is usually always, "what are you going to do with that?" That question usually becomes clear when I tell them that I am pre-med; but regardless, people often wonder why I'm not a stereotypical biology or biochemistry major. My reason for pairing Religious Studies and medicine stems from many things. Primarily, I came to college to learn more about people. I believe that it's impossible to be an effective healthcare provider without knowing about people and being able to interact with people. And, more specifically, I feel that religion is a foundational aspect of understand why and how people think the way they do - another consideration that can significantly impact patient-provider interactions. Having said these things, does that mean that my sole purpose of stud...

One of the storybooks that I browsed that caught my attention was a storybook called " Memoirs from the Battlefield ," which chronicled the stories of two warriors, Arjuna and Karna in the Kurukshetra war of the Mahabharatha. The title of the storybook was very compelling, and one that I felt was quite fitting. Fortunately, I was familiar with some of the background of the Mahabharatha, so I understood the context behind it. The introduction did a good job of catching my attention, and was both concise and descriptive. The layout of the storybook in regards to interface and organization was also very good. Krishna revealing his Vishwarūpa to Arjuna during the Kurukshetra War Source A second storybook that caught my attention was called " The Heroic Hanuman ," a storybook chronicling tales of the divine half-human, half-monkey from the Ramayana named Hanuman. The layout of this storybook was different than the previous one's, but was still compelling in...

Quiet, quant, and magnificent - such adjectives are only but a blimp of the brilliance that the Dutch capital of Amsterdam exuded. Having spent a good portion of the summer in Europe, I had the opportunity to see a variety of European cities: the cosmopolitan London, the artsy Paris, and the quaint Amsterdam. Of course, as my title indicates, the latter was my favorite; never have I met such nice, happy people who cared so deeply for people around them and for their environment. Almost everything  in Amsterdam ran on bike - children, men and women alike traversed the city on their bicycles, making cars seem like an anomaly. Just take a look at this picture, which captures the heart of the city's vibe - what place on Earth can beat that! A view of a street in Amsterdam along one of the city's numerous canals National Geographic. Source: NatGeo

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