The sky was painted black! All traces of azure blue were wiped from the horizon. The streets were as vacant as a graveyard in the middle of the night. The deafening silence was quite a rarity in the streets of Peshawar. Just an hour prior to now the streets had been full of hustle and bustle as people went about performing the daily chores; there had been a lively feel to the atmosphere as nature’s light shone down upon us all. The sky was all but a mélange of vibrant colors such as ruby red and tangy orange; the clouds resembled cotton puffs floating in the otherwise crystal clear sky. Vendors yelled out their wares in order to reel in pedestrians and manipulate them into buying their overpriced goods. The doors of the nearby restaurants opened and closed resulting in a tantalizing aroma wafting through the air. However it turns out that all of this was quite literally simply the calm before the raging storm!

As if a switch had been turned the sky was enveloped by darkness! A roar of thunder caused everyone to scamper and scurry along their way as if they were fearful mice who had just seen a cat. In the blink of an eye I became the only person left in the deserted streets. Briefcase in hand and my coat slung over my shoulder, I started to take larger strides in order to avoid the inevitable rain. The once light and fluffy clouds now pregnant with rain had turned grey.
Pitter Patter! The first droplets had fallen right on to my flaxen hair. Suddenly -as if a barrier had been lifted- a downpour commenced.  I tightened my grasp on the case and started trudging through the quickly forming puddles. Tiny pellets of rain bombarded me as I tried to use my coat to shelter my saturated form. The unpaved road gave way under the pressure of the water and reduced to wet mud that clung to the soles of my shoes as I hurried onwards. The occasional bouts of thunder sent shivers and quivers down my spine. Bolts of lightning illuminated the otherwise stark black sky.

The vicious wind bellowed at me with such hostility simultaneously cutting into my cheeks and occasionally blinding me as well. It “wooshed” and whistled with such ferocity as if it were hell bent on sending me flying backwards. My teeth clattered as I wrapped my bony arms around my freezing figure in a fruitless attempt to keep out the cold. The antagonistic atmosphere was as bitter as it was cold. The aroma of mouthwatering delicacies had been replaced by the earthy scent of rain – petrichor- settling on dry land.

The gloomy, dank and melancholic surroundings dampened my mood and got me pondering over the happenings of the day. My life right now was as dark and mellow as the environment around me. I was being pelted with problems and issues just like I was being assaulted by the merciless rain. Financial constraints were holding me by the reins just as the frequent strikes of lightning were preventing me from taking a step forward. Both the physical and mental constraints had become too much for me! My shoulders slouched and legs gave out no longer able to hold up my frail figure.  So there I sat on the muddy ground with my head hung low and a dismal expression prominent on my sunken face. The harsh weather was as relentless as ever as it continued its endless onslaught. Reduced to nothing more than a heap of lifeless flesh littering the drenched ground, my eyes began to glisten with tears. The tear drops trickled from my blood shot eyes yet there was no difference between them and the rain droplets propelling my fatigued face. The skies roared above me, the rain kept up its violent ways, the icy cold wind cut into my skin as I sat there weeping and wallowing in self pity…