Wisdom Weather

I am sitting alone, staring into a void when in reality I am looking at the ants making their way past each other. They are colliding, almost as if they are greeting each other and bidding farewell before moving into opposite directions. But all I see is nothing, because my mind is someplace else. It is funny how your brain can prevent your fully functional eyes from working all together.

I am thinking about this weather. I am sitting on a bench, underneath a tree. The tree’s shadow is soothing. The rays of light are finding the gaps between the bushy leaves of the tree, making the shadow look like a pattern of white polka dots on black surface. A little behind and adjacent to the tree is a building which is more horizontal than vertical. It too has its own dark shadow without the polka dots pattern. There are more benches in the building’s shadow adjacent to mine but somehow the tree’s shadow is more inviting and relaxing than the building’s shadow.

Every now and then a light breeze is hitting my face and making my hair move in it’s direction. The breeze is like a soft whisper to my ear. There are people around me, some adults and their kids playing in the park which I’m sitting in. The children are laughing, calling names and the parents are talking, shouting at their kids but all this is muffled like they are very far away from me. This is another funny brain trick. The only clear thing I can hear is the sound of the wind blowing against me in intervals. The wind whisperer. I am glad how the surrounding noise is not ruining this near perfect moment.

The light breeze carried with itself a fragrance. The nature’s aroma. It is a pleasant combination of different types of flowers, the names of which I do not know. It isn’t raining but the air has a hint of petrichor. This fragrance added up to the near perfect moment. All of this made me wait consciously for the next light breeze to carry the fragrance with it, although the smell was never really gone. It stayed long enough for me to enjoy it till my next dosage of fresh and strong fragrance arrives. The day is not humid and it has the perfect balance between warm and cold. This was the perfect weather.

It is like someone slapped me out of a beautiful dream and welcomed me back to the harsh reality. My whole left side of the face hurts. I began to realize where I am. I have been slammed and pinned to the road by the fierce and strong wind. My body is forming a mutated swastika on the road. The left side of my head is bleeding from where I hit the ground. I am completely numb. I try to pick myself up but I’m failing. After a few painful efforts, with the support of a metallic rod which I think was a road sign some moments ago, I am finally on my feet. I am dealing with a storm, a big storm. Why was I daydreaming in the middle of a storm? and that too of a perfect weather. Was this yet another funny brain trick? except this time it isn’t funny anymore. My brain needs to stop from phasing out like this. I remember that day. It wasn’t just a dream. It was real. I have experienced that day, that weather. But why am I remembering it now? Zoning out to a perfect day in the middle of chaos. Maybe it is my salvation.

I see some trees in the distance. It is a park. I remember the tree’s shadow from the perfect day and how it felt so relaxing. Not thinking much, I hurry towards it in search of shelter till the storm pass. The wind is pushing me backwards but I keep going on somehow. I am still very far away from the park when I see the trees are entirely uprooted and gone, taken by the wind, nowhere to be seen. I realize the wind is strong there, more strong than what it is here. The tree’s salvation is gone. I am near to a building which has entrances. I rush to the nearest entrance and I feel this could be safe for the time being. I’m completely exhausted. The entrance walls are taking the strong wind for me. I pull out my phone to see if I got any signal and as I feared, there is none.

I’m searching for people in sight but there is no sign of them. I felt so alone and afraid that I might be the only one stuck in this storm and nobody is looking for me. In the movies there are these group of people who go through such tragedies and then most of them die and only the main characters live. In my case, I don’t even have a group that can die before me and I’m sure as hell not the main character even if the group is just me. The wind is roaring. This is not the wind whisperer. The noise of it is so strong that even if people are there near me, I wouldn’t be able to hear them. I’m feeling sick now. My body is giving up on me. I’m losing my consciousness....

I smell something. What is it? maybe the fragrance from the perfect day. No... this is totally different. It stinks. The smell is so rotten that my senses are back now. The strong wind is carrying all kinds of bad smell with it. This smell is keeping me awake. I’m down on me knees almost throwing up when I hear something just behind me. I looking back and see the entrance exit is lit up with red and blue lights. I hear the ambulance siren. They are here to get me. It’s a miracle. I have to go to them before they leave, thinking maybe no one is here. As I’m approaching it, I realize it isn’t an ambulance. It is a military van looking like a batmobile. The ambulance would have been carried away by the winds but this here, is staying.

They help me get in the van, gave me the oxygen mask, water to drink which calmed me a bit. I am still exhausted and feel like sleeping. As I am about to doze off, I realize that the building provided me shelter today. If it wasn’t for the building I would have been taken away by the wind with the trees. The same tree which gave me a sense of salvation once would have been deadly today. I was so desperate to hear someone, to see someone today, yet I was happy to feel isolated in the middle of a lively park on what I say to myself is the perfect day. I erased their existence when it was all good and needed them in the middle of chaos. The fragrance which I craved so much would have killed me today by putting me to sleep. The pungent and bad smell kept me awake and I could hear the siren. The near perfect moment played in today’s situation would have killed me and yet I did almost all those things which I disliked that day. It is funny how quickly we can adapt to these turn of events. Another brain trick?