Category Archives: Short Story

The Real You – A Short Story

26 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by in Mita Bhan Writings, Short Story, Spiritual Fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

 

Ranterella was in one of her moods again.

You’ll know what I mean when you hear her.

It begins with the bitter tone

And ends up in her shouting expletives.

Who left the door open?

Why did you go there?

What is wrong with people!

She stomped out with her headphones in the dark.

And  literally stumbled over a monk sitting on the grass.

“What are you doing here!!!” Ranterella screamed.

The monk smiled.

“Why are you blocking my way you stupid man. Get up!”

He listened to her intently, nodding away at her words.

Made Ranterella even more angry. She brought her face really close to his.

“Don’t you understand me?”

“Yes I do. Which is why I’m moving to the other end of the park.  Bye

angerquote.png

A little while later he heard footsteps and a softer voice ask him,

“What did you understand about me?”

The Monk knew the answer.

anger-is-emotion

She knew he understood.

And sat down next to him and  wept.

For everything she wanted from Life but did’nt get

For every single person who lied to her and betrayed her.

For the man who cheated her.

For the father who did not stand up for her.

For the Boss who played with her.

For the daughter who told her other people’s mommies don’t shout.

For the Knight in the Shining Armour who galloped away.

rescuequote

“I know I know all this Buddhist stuff. Everybody’s going on about self love. La la la. ” she mocked.

The monk got up, dusted his robes and went towards the Neroli bush.

See this flower. He pointed to tiny pointed luminous petals.

She rolled her eyes.  Maybe she should plug in the headphones. And walk away from this weird old man.

But her gaze fell on that flower.

And instead of petals, she saw her own reflection.

A tiny mirror stared back at her.

She was shocked.

“WTF!!!!”

The monk suppressed his laughter. People always look so comical when they’re shocked.

Her reflection showed a young teenaged girl lying on the grass with a book.

Except she wasn’t reading.

She was dreaming about her true love.

She blinked hard. And the flower just disappeared into the night.

“What kind of trick is that?”

The monk stifled a yawn. It had been a long day. “No trick, that’s the real you”

Mita Bhan

Originally published in penmancy.com

This spiritual story was originally published  by Penmancy.com https://penmancy.com/the-real-you/?fbclid=IwAR1_48Ay3pCyDidKA2zehR7CJNjcAHJIdFTVVmmlynP3gStVIWQxAEi5SWo

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we present to you the Magician”

14 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by in Short Story, Spiritual Fiction, Tarot, TarotInsights

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

The Magician strode past the crowd and climbed up on  stage. He gestured with his Selenite wand to the crowd to ask him any question.

One  man raised his hand. From his expression you could see the bitterness of age had begun to creep in and settle on the lines of his face, the remnants of frustration that linger after you give up on your dream. He spoke.

“Everybody’s doing well but me. People I trained have surpassed me. Even my younger cousins with start ups are getting successful. Why am I left behind?”

The crowd edged forward eagerly to listen to the Magician respond.

Instead the magnetic man on stage simply laughed and twirled his selenite wand like a baton. Bits of light radiated from the crystal.

With great flourish, the Magician leaned forward as if to whisper a secret.

“So what are you doing about things then?”

The man mumbled “I don’t know. Nothing I guess. All I know is I’m not getting paid enough by my company.”

The Magician smiled to himself.

“If you don’t do anything but complain, you’re not going to get anything are you?”

The man’s faced began to crumple like a baby before a meltdown. The Magician’s tone softened.

“Decide on what you want. Decide why you should get. And then go to your bosses for a raise. You will get it “

The crowd cheered. The Magician swished his wand around flamboyantly in the air and the shimmering lights descended on the people.He twirled in his cape and disappeared. A song began to play on stage while the sparkle dust danced for the audience.

“You can do magic

You can have anything that you desire” – America 1982

Is he an illusionist or a trickster? A glib showman or a wise old wizard?  In whatever form we choose to see the Magician card in the Tarot he comes to remind us that we have to manifest our own destiny. 

Copyright Mita Bhan. All Rights Reserved.


What Will People Say?

10 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in Short Story, Spiritual Fiction

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, ,

It was 7 pm. Her friend and her Dad had come to pick her up. She walked down the stairs in her new jeans and a touch of eyeshadow. She’d saved up for weeks to buy it and tonight’s party was the reason why. As she reached the door, her mother stopped her

“What’s that on your eyes?”

From the tone of her voice she knew her mother didn’t approve.

“What will people say?”

A dense grey fog of guilt descended on her.  Make up, short skirts, large necklines, smoking, laughing out loud were the marks of a “bad girl”. The kind of girl the neighbour’s would nudge and stare at. Who’d never find a good match to marry. Who’d bring her family shame. The voices in her head were suddenly silenced.

“I don’t know. I won’t be listening” she replied and waved out to the car that was at the gate.

Copyright Mita Bhan. All Rights Reserved



If you plant honesty – a short story

04 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Inspiration, LifeLearnings, Mita Bhan Writings, Short Story, Spiritual Fiction

≈ Leave a comment

what-is-a-seedA successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.

Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you..”

The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. “I am going to give each one of you a SEED today – one very special SEED… I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.

Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.

By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn’t have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by — still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn’t say anything to his colleagues, however.

He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil – He so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.

Jim told his wife that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful — in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.

Jim just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO. “Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!”

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!”

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed – Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, “Behold your next Chief Executive Officer!

His name is Jim!” Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his seed.

“How could he be the new CEO?” the others said.

Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead – it was not possible for them to grow.

All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!”

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust
* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment
* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective
* If you plant hard work, you will reap success
* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation
* If you plant faith in God, you will reap a harvest

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.

– Anonymous

 

 

The bowl of noodles

14 Wednesday Nov 2018

Posted by in Inspiration, LifeLearnings, Mita Bhan Writings, Short Story

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

 

98B0A861-3B64-4C6C-B322-E889B7A000A6.jpeg

 

President Xi Jing Peng of China said:
.
As a small child , I was very *selfish*, always grabbing the best for myself.🙄
Slowly, everyone left me and I had no friends. I *didn’t think* it was my fault and I criticize others.🤔
.
But my father gave me 3 sentences to *help* me in life.🤨
.
One day, my father cooked 2 bowls of noodles and put them. on the table.🤔
One had an egg on top while the other bowl had none on top.🙂
Then he asked me to choose a bowl of noodles 🍜 .

Because eggs were hard to come by those days…. I chose the bowl with egg! 🙂🙂🙂

I was congratulating myself on my wise choice/decision and decided to wallop the egg….to my surprise as my father’s bowl of noodles had *two* eggs at the bottom of his bowl beneath the noodles ! 😀 😀

With much regret, I scolded myself for being too hasty in my decision.🤔🤔

My father smiled and *taught* me to remember that *what your eyes see may not be true*😇 .

He added that *If you make a habit of *taking advantage of people, you will end up losing*😇
.
The next day, my father again cooked 2 bowls of noodles: one bowl with an egg on top and the other bowl with no egg on top.

Again, he asked to choose the bowl I wanted🤔

This time I felt smarter so I chose the bowl without any egg on top.🙂

Hmmmmmm to my surprise, there was not even a single egg at the bottom of the bowl!😱

Again, my father smiled and said to me, *My child, you must not always rely on experiences because sometimes, life can cheat you or play tricks on you*.

Never be too annoyed or sad, with situations, *just treat experience as learning a lesson experience that cannot be gotten from any textbooks.🤔🤔🙂
.
The third day, my father again cooked 2 bowls of noodles, one bowl with an egg on top and the other with no egg on top.🤔🤨

He asked me to choose the bowl I wanted 🤔.

But this time, I told my father, *Dad, you choose first, you are the head of the family and you contribute the most to the family*.

My father was happy to and choose for me🙌🏽🙌🏽t

He chose the bowl with one egg on top, but as I ate my bowl of noodles, to my surprise! There were *two* eggs at the bottom of the bowl.👍🏽🙂
.
My father smiled at me with love in his eyes, he said *my child, you must remember that when you think for the good of others, good things will always naturally happen to you*😇
.
I always remember these 3 sentences of my father
.
Xi Jing Peng

7 of Swords. Pants on Fire.

10 Saturday Nov 2018

Posted by in Mita Bhan Writings, Short Story, Spiritual Fiction, Tarot, TarotInsights

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

A1351931-A773-4672-B4D3-2355CA470E54.jpeg

Clang! One of the swords fell out just as the thief was about to slip out the door.

“What was that sound?”

“Nothing” he squeaked shrilly, avoiding her gaze.

She bent down and picked up the fallen sword. It looked familiar, too familiar in fact. She had heard the story a hundred times before from a hundred different faces with a hundred different masks of innocence.

He smiled nervously, shifting ever so slightly and proceeded to give her a chronological sequence of events as to how he got the sword, how he felt it needed a little polishing, and how he managed to get a discount at the polishing shop, so well he thought it would be a nice gift to return, you know a polished sword.

His words sounded rehearsed. Too perfect.

“I don’t believe you” she said calmly.

She caught a fleeting glimpse of anger on his face. The mask was dropping. He roared at her for never believing him. Called her names. Ranted and raged. Loudly proclaimed his inoccence. And ran for his life into the night.

(Although there are many meanings around the 7 of Swords I’ve always found the definition “the liar, the thief and the conman” to be the most appropriate description)

Copyright Mita Bhan. All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

 

 

The Gurus of Patience

13 Saturday Oct 2018

Posted by in Inspiration, LifeLearnings, Meditation, Mita Bhan Writings, Short Story

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

The Gurus of Patience

Christmas time at a busy airport.

The queue was endless.

And the passengers were getting impatient.

The officials at the immigration counter didn’t care.

They sipped their tea and chatted.

While a few voices cried out “We’re going to miss our flight!”

And babies yelled, sick of being carried, yearning to run free on their tiny feet.

One group of men in saffron robes stood apart.

in their demeanour.

Totally unaffected by the chaos, the crowds and the panic.

They held on to their passports and stood calmly, smiling inside.

They knew, their turn would come, in time.

It was pointless to shove and to shout.

Everybody goes where they are meant to go, when the time is right.

Copyright Mita Bhan. All Rights Reserved

 

 

The Goddess and the Girl

05 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Gods n Goddesses, Inspiration, Love, Mita Bhan Writings, Short Story, Spiritual Fiction, Strength

≈ Leave a comment

 

Sometimes mom sent her on errands.

Sometimes that man was there.

Sitting outside the shop with his legs on top of the plastic stool

cat calling, whistling out to any passing woman, beckoning her to sit on

his lap.

With her heart racing she’d avoid his lewd eyes and leave the shop as quickly as she could, that creepy, trickly feeling inside her would tell her to run.

Run run run to a place of safety.

Run run run to the Goddess of Mercy.

Who’d be standing and smiling from the other side of the road back home.

Making sure she reached okay.

Every single time.

Copyright Mita Bhan. All Rights Reserved.

 

Image from https://www.malaysiasite.nl/kuanyineng.htm

kuanyin

“She is called Kuan Yin because at any cry of misery she ‘hears the voice and removes the sorrow.’ Her appellation is ‘Taking-away-fear Buddha,’ If in the midst of the fire the name of Kuan Yin is called, the fire cannot burn; if tossed by mountain billows, call her name, and shallow waters will be reached. If merchants go across the sea seeking gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones, and a storm comes up and threatens to carry the crew to the evil devil’s kingdom, if one on board calls on the name of Kuan Yin, the ship will be saved. If one goes into a conflict and calls on the name of Kuan Yin, the sword and spear of the enemy fall harmless. If the three thousand great kingdoms are visited by demons, call on her name, and these demons cannot with an evil eye look on a man. If, within, you have evil thoughts, p. 253 only call on Kuan Yin, and your heart will be purified, Anger and wrath may be dispelled by calling on the name of Kuan Yin. A lunatic who prays to Kuan Yin will become sane. Kuan Yin gives sons to mothers, and if the mother asks for a daughter she will be beautiful. Two men—one chanting the names of the 6,200,000 Buddhas, in number like the sands of the Ganges, and the other simply calling on Kuan Yin—have equal merit. ” Myths and Legends of China, by Edward T.C. Werner, [1922]

Old Soul Gold Soul

10 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by in Inspiration, Mita Bhan Writings, Short Story, Spiritual Fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

IMG_7418

 

 

Old souls have seen many lifetimes.

And have lived on land and sea,

Old souls understand Life more

the sadness, the anger  the grief

Fancy cars, Designer Labels, Tech trends

And the Ladder

Isn’t of much importance

Old souls want just one thing

And that’s never to be reborn

Human existence just tires them

From being here too long

Their souls cry to mingle with a myriad of  lights

Sprinkling sparkling coloured beams

Somewhere beyond the night.

So how do you tell an old soul?

Just look into their eyes.

If you see the deep deep ocean

Or a teardrop that stays

You know you’ve met an old gold soul

Who’s waiting for a flight.

Copyright Mita Bhan. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clearing Karma Brings Peace

06 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by in Inspiration, LifeLearnings, Mita Bhan Writings, Short Story, Spiritual Fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Father parked the car, put his hand in his wallet and handed the young girl some coins.

“Go, give it to the shopkeeper and tell him it’s from me”

The young girl looked at him quizzically.

“I owed him the change from last week”, he explained.

As she took the coins she asked.

“But it’s only change Father, you don’t need to return it”

A solemn expression came over her father and for a second, he looked like someone from the black and white photographs she had seen in the family albums.

“Return whatever you owe others. Even if it’s a few coins or a few hundred thousand notes. If you can’t return all of it, start returning what you can, regularly, until the debt is cleared”

His voice sounded different, a hundred years old.

She shrugged her shoulders playfully, “What if I forget to return the money?”

“Then don’t ever be in a position where you need to borrow money.

The only person who can forget is the one who lends you the money, and that too, if he chooses”

The girl stepped out of the car and walked into the shop. There were sweets and stickers  hanging from shelves at the entrance, she knew this shop well, her parents bought a lot of their daily essentials from here.  The old shopkeeper smiled and she extended her hand carefully dropping the coins into his palm. He smiled and reached out for some strawberry candy, her favourite!

As she skipped back to the car, her father grabbed the candy and quickly popped some in his mouth. The shopkeeper heard their laughter and sighed happily.

Copyright Mita Bhan. All Rights Reserved