Week 5 Story: Sita's Diary

Dear Diary, 

After months of praying, my prayers have finally been answered. Rama finally defeated Ravana.  I knew he would! I knew that every bit of torture that I had endured had all been worth it because today, I finally got to return home to Rama. I was so excited to see him! I must say I was a bit surprised when he sent Hanuman to come and get me… I thought Rama would be so excited to see me that he couldn’t possibly wait and would come running to me and wrap me in his arms and take me away from Lanka…but that didn’t happen. After I think about it though, I suppose I understood because he was probably exhausted after such a long battle and he probably just needed to rest…which was probably for the better since Hanuman told me that the state that I was in was one that was unfit for a king and that Rama wanted me to look the best I could when I saw him. I would hope that Rama wouldn’t care what I looked like, but he always deserves the very best of me and so I was glad that I had the chance to make myself presentable for him. When I arrived to see him my heart was filled with so much joy! After all this time, I finally got to see the face of my true love. For so long I have only been able to see him only in my thoughts and dreams. I couldn’t wait to be embraced by him and go on to live out the rest of our lives together in complete bliss! When I walked up to him though, he was cold and distant. I asked him what was going on and he told me that he feared that I had been unfaithful to hime with Ravana. I assured him this was not the case, but he still didn’t believe me. He then asked me to engulf myself in fire to prove my innocence. Of course I said yes. I’d do anything to make him happy…but even after I came out of the fire completely unscathed, he still didn’t seem to believe me. As miserable as everything that I went through was, nothing compares to the pain that I now feel for the distance between Rama and I…if I had known that I would come back and Rama would be miserable at the sight of me, I would have ended my life there in Lanka. But I have hope that things will get better… they have to, for Rama is my king and I exist only for him…without him there is nothing left to live for…

-Sita

Below is the image, "Sita's Ordeal by Fire" from the Wikipedia Commons. 

Author's note: This diary entry is based on the section of the Ramayana when Sita returns to Rama after he has defeated Ravana. It is written from Sita's perspective. I am hoping to write my storybook from the women's perspective in the Ramayana and I wanted to try out the first person narrative. 

Bibliography: R.K. Narayan, The Indian Epics Retold: The Ramayana, pp. 179-180.