OWPC Chapter 5 – December 16, 2025, 10:03 to 10:51 pm The frame widens, breathes, and resets in this quietly revelatory chapter. Svasti falls into a daily rhythm of visiting Siddhartha in the forest, frequently encountering Sujata there as well, who becomes a close friend. Sujata tells Svasti how she first met Siddhartha a few months before he did, “and how she had since brought him food every day around noon” (35). She met him on a full moon day, carrying an offering to the

– December 16, 5:30 pm (wanted to start, but distracted myself, delayed)   7:36 pm to 8:10 pm Optimism becomes cruel when it syncs up with biopolitical gaslighting about terminal illness. The straight shot—the kill shot—must be explicitly requested, and usually when you’re already out of time. Optimism becomes cruel when it weaponizes and capitalizes on hope. But I’m getting ahead of myself, I’m skipping to the end when I should be establishing a working frame. Here it is:  L

(OPWC Ch. 4) – December 16, 2025, 3:14 to 4:14 pm So far, my favorite chapter. I’m excited to dive into this one. Svasti returns to the forest to see Siddhartha, bringing some brown rice as an offering, and notices that he is already sharing rice with another child: Sujata. Several years older than Svasti, Sujata comes from a higher caste (her father is a local leader) and considerably more wealth than he does, so she has brought “fragrant white rice.” Siddhartha invites Svas