The power of retelling stories not only creates a different perspective, but also leaves a long-lasting impression on the reader. I have read, watched, and heard of many of these stories as I grew up, so seeing how they have been spun into creative themes is both exciting and humorous. After reading through several storybooks, the following three were my top three.
My absolute favorite project was
Rate My Rishi. This topic was not already very familiar to me. The title of the page was unique and gave a fun twist on informing readers of the content. The introduction was informative and fully explained the site in depth. I felt interested in the content not only because of the creative intro, but the layout and style of the website. The design for the pages were simple and images were used for the ratings making it look slightly sloppy since the images were not all the same size. But navigating the site was easy and enjoyable.
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| The Rishi Agastya giving Rama a sword. Source: Wiki |
My next favorite storybook was the
Ganges Gazette. The theme of the website was intriguing, and the title made me wonder what topic the storybook was about. After the introduction of the three babies in Ayodhya, the storybook became clear. I have watched and read the story of Ravana and Sita growing up, so seeing their births explained in a reporter's style was fun to see. The site was creative and easy to navigate. It was simple, yet very much felt like a newspaper.
My final favorite was the
Gossip Girl take on the Ramayana. This project was not only my favorite because it was my sister's, but also because of how creatively it took on the perspective of a dramatic television show. The introduction was hilariously analogous to the show Gossip Girl, and it captured my interest to read the remainder of her site, which I unfortunately never had the chance to do! In each of these storybooks, the author took on a persona in the introduction to make the storybook truly feel as a story in their own unique way. The remainder of her website was well organized and the layout was similar to the theme of Gossip Girl, which only made it more interesting like the other storybooks.
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| Modern day Ayodhya in 2013. Source: Wiki |
Such good picks, Simran! Isn't that RateMyRishi site amazing? That is from years and years ago, but it's still going strong (it's build with the old Google Sites, and I'm not even sure what software the student used to create the text images). Whether it's using a modern web platform to tell the stories (RateMyProf or Tinder or whatever) or a TV show (like the Gossip Girl!) or some other technology (newspapers are a modern technology unknown in epic times!), or even something you dream up totally out of your own imagination, there are so many ways to retell any story. Not to mention that there are so many different versions of the ancient stories too... there are even legends in which Sita is Ravana's daughter! You can see that legend at Wikipedia: Jain version of the Ramayana. Talk about gossip: eeeeek!
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