The Essence of a Prayer

Barkley, street no. 14, Copenhagen: half sunken sun, appreciating the scenery of the morning light accompanied with the wind of the closely located bay. Fatima yelled from her room, went downstairs, quite angry at her maid who took her back to the world of reality from the overnight slumber mansion. 

“I am getting late, quickly go and fetch me breakfast.” She ordered; not with anger but with impatience. 

Then, by her own, she walked through the hallway and toasted the chicken that she loved the most. She wanted everything to be perfect that morning as it had the special aura of her success. A special morning for her and why not? She had always been dreaming of it.

Agatha Medical College, the top medical institute in town, welcomed her with its bowing maple bushes and the blue cerulean sky having the inn of archangels. The moment, to her, was overwhelming when she walked for the first time through the gateway of the college; sinking deep in the imagination of the upcoming doctrine in her life. After the orientation ceremony, the students were to move to lecture theater to take the first medical lecture of their lives.

The first lecture was given by a professor of Anatomy; a woman with dark complexion, half sunken eyes. She graciously created the impression of being the serious and laborious lady in her field. And, then after a minute or two, Fatima slipped easily into the fairy world with the lullabies of the professor. Suddenly, an impulsive sound, full of terror came ordering her to return from her nap. And in that head-down phase, she jolted with fear thinking of the archaic from the professor. Then, with some strength, she gently woke up, sneaking at the professor between the backs of students in front of her and felt a sigh of relief when she got to know that the girl next to her was being pointed.

Another two hours of that day seemed to her even more unpropitious as it was her first entry to dissection hall and she kept on moving her eyes with the minute hand of the pendulous clock on the lifeless wall of the dissection hall. And, the final two hours were even more unfavourable as it was the tutorial time; the interactive session between a couple of students and the professor. And the teacher kept on pointing at each student asking questions from the morning lecture.

On reaching back home, a half-dead person was entering through door. Without uttering a single word, she went to her room sobbing and staggering. A row of warm tears moistened her cheeks. With some strength, she drew up her lifeless body from floor, performed ablution and prostrated in front of the one who had remedies for all her queries. She was distressed. She never expected of this much awaited day to be so cumbersome. But, at the end, after the defeat of her beautiful imagination, she found Him as the real ray of hope and mercy.

And then, she felt happiness and peace even after such a day of macabre! 

Mehreen Khawaja  (Class of 2020)