Science fiction. The storm!

Science fiction. The storm!

Thunder storm had died completely, and everything appeared to stretch itself to regain its normal shape. Because the force of the storm had altered the shape of everything. And it included my umbrella as well. Its spokes had been twisted and there was no way it could be withdrawn inwards.

No matter how hard I tried, it got stuck in the middle, and if I would have tried any harder, it would have broken the twisted spokes. So I carried it with me without being able to do much about its physical deformities. And nobody looked at either of us. I had thought the umbrella would draw a lot of unnecessary attention, but everyone was stretching or straightening his or her own possession, and most of them their own selves. With this preoccupation they hardly had any time for others, and on that, an umbrella. And a man carrying a twisted umbrella. Impossible!

However, there were reasons for all of us to be happy as well, because the storm had ultimately died after 2 days and an intervening night. So, we all had many reasons to feel good about.

Sometimes, saying is one thing and doing it is a different universe of reality, where there are so many conditionals ascribed to every act, and moreso, when you are about to undertake something after two days of storm that was vindictive about everything and everyone. Yes, that will be the right way to put it.

Because right now, my only possession was my twisted and now useless umbrella. I had lost everything and everyone to the storm. Yet, I tried to straighten it and seek some peace from the surroundings that looked... Ah, what shall I say! I am unable to find the exact words that would define this post storm view of the surroundings or the area where it left behind devastation of unprecedented proportions.

Let me still try if I can explain it. To me it is like a young girl who has taken a bath and now she is out in the winter sun drying her open hair, under a tree. That is how the surroundings appear to me after the storm has died.

Everything is wet, but tolerably wet, just like the girl's hair. And her face and neck has drops of water glistening here and there, and this can be compared to the sun that with a strange shyness reveals itself from behind the clouds, as if it were feeling guilty about the fact that its absence caused so much damage and upheaval. And when finally it is out, slowly inching itself towards the clear blue sky. As its first arriving rays fall on the drops of water still hanging on the branches, twigs, leaves, tinned roof tops, almost everything, it creates a view where everything appears to be strewn with miniature diamonds. And finally when the girl turns from one side to another to expose herself to the sunshine, similarly everything in the surroundings where the storm has just ended, everything appears to turn and move like this girl, because the sun is assuming its complete round shape very slowly, as it moves away from the cloud, casting a brightness on the surfaces that is moving from dark to bright, and it is so until the sun appears as a complete round object in the sky. Then everything is locked in a single frame of brightness that is now very still. Just like the girl who has basked herself enough in the sun, and is now looking toward the sky without any worries with a decent smile spreading all over her sun kissed body.

That is how it was right now, and I was trying to locate the girl in these once familiar surroundings. Finally I realised she was everywhere and perhaps she was the only one strangely looking at my twisted umbrella. The imaginary girl I mean.

But the reality soon settles in my mind that I am being too romantic and I should find a place to stay, if I had to survive the inclement weather. Relying on government aid was not an option, because in 2075 these are common calamities that people across the globe are dealing with. Mostly caused due to global warming. As such, the incumbent government has a lot of other priorities to deal with, instead of helping us rebuild our shelters just within weeks. That is not a fair expectation and I tried to keep myself away from this false temptation!