Epics of India - Vinay Kalvacherla

I actually tried the Pomodoro strategy this week with my blog comments, project feedback, and project work, and was quite surprised by my level of productivity! I think that having a timer like the Pomodoro really helped me realize how much time I was spending procrastinating and wasting my time previously, and helped me really focus and pace my work. Setting up a time and knowing when I would have my next break really helped me focus for the entirety of the time. It was little difficult the first sets of time (because, evidently, I was not used to working for 25 minutes straight at a time), but I got used to it and am getting better at it. I hope to keep trying this throughout the week and next week with my assignments, too, because it's a great tool to help improve my efficiency! A meme depicting the lack of efficiency that I initially had when I tried this technique.  Source. 

Today, I spoke to a friend about what I learned about growth mindset in my Epics of India class. Basically, he had a really important deadline coming up for this one group that he was part of, and he was keen on making the project that he was submitting for them as perfect as possible. He was expecting feedback for it, but I knew that he wanted as little feedback as possible, since, ideally, it would be perfected in the first draft itself. However, I told him that, even if he gets more feedback and his project advisors find more areas of improvement than he had anticipated, it's best to take on a growth mindset and learn from his strengths to tackle his weaknesses. I think it really helped him stress out less about the project and be more open to feedback he may receive - a success, I'd say! A great visual that I showed my friend to explain the growth mindset.  Source. 

The Bhagavad Gita: Revised Arjuna looked out at the battlefield, eyeing his enemies across from him. He caught sight of Bhishma, Drona, Duryodhana, Dussahsana...all his cousins whom he had grown up with. They had been raised as brothers under the same roof and eating the same food. How unfortunate it was, he thought, that now they get ready to spill each others' blood.  It was overwhelming. The thought of having to spill the blood of his teachers and brothers in order to acquire rule of a kingdom seemed so petty in that instant. Arjuna couldn't do it.  He put his sacred bow down and removed his crown.  "Krishna," he said to his divine charioteer, "I cannot fight. These are my teachers and brothers; I cannot bring myself to kill them." Krishna drove the chariot out into the middle of the battlefield, between the two armies. Everyone stopped and stared, confused at what was happening. "If you don't want to fight," replied Krish...

Bhishma is wounded, Arjuna lays him a bed of arrows; it is Amba's revenge Drona becomes the commander of the Kauravas Arjuna's son Abhimanyu is slain; Arjuna seeks revenge by killing Jayadhratha (with Krishna's help) Next, Ghatotkacha is slain by the dart given to Karna by Indra  Drona is killed through trickery; the Pandavas kill an elephant named Ashwatthama (the name of Drona's son), and Drona basically resigns upon hearing that The Pandavas cut off his head  Karna takes command Dussahsana is killed by Bhima (rather gorily), Bhima drinks his blood (as he had vowed to do) Arjuna and Karna fight; Karna has a wheel stuck in the ground, Arjuna seizes that opportunity to kill him The Kauravas are losing; Duryodhana hides in a lake, but the Pandavas find him and fight him Bhima breaks his knee, which is apparently breaking battle rules, and kills Duryodhana Ashwatthama tries to kill the Pandavas in their sleep after praying to Shiva Arjuna, instead of ki...

Pandavas now in exile  The Pandavas (especially Bhima and Draupadi) were angry at Yudhistira, and they call for war, saying it is the duty of a Kshatriya to do so  Arjuna goes on solo adventures again, acquiring weapons from Shiva so that the Pandavas can fight the Kauravas  Also goes to Indraprastha and acquires weapons from Indra, learns arts, destroys demons  Rest of the Pandavas go on a trip to Kamakhya, where they are met by Arjuna and where they meet the sage Markandeya Bhima meets Hanuman, they discuss caste The Kauravas run into the Pandavas again, and the Kauravas say they will perform an imperial sacrifice Karna vows to kill Arjuna  Karna gains access to a powerful dart from Indra after giving up his armor Jayadhratha, King of Sindhu, kidnapped Draupadi and carried her away, but she is rescued by the Pandavas Both Arjuna and Duryodhana try to solicit the alliance of Krishna; Arjuna picks just Krishna, Duryodhana picks Krishna's army...