The Rainbow

There was a huge rainbow streaked across the sky. It looked striking although there was no distinction of the colours. It was a gradual blur of light hues against the clear blue sky. Almost like David's life which had been merged with the rest of the world. His life was pretty much confined to home and work. Not that he could really distinguish between the two. Sometimes he slept at his workplace and other times he worked from his small one room apartment. Again like 2 adjoining shades of the rainbow. He has followed this routine until today.
Today suddenly the world seemed very different. He had a home alright, but no work. He had walked out of his office in a fit of anger and vowed never to be back. He hated being a software professional. So he was not inclined to look for another job. But he had to make a living. Life seemed a complete dead end for him.
He caught a glimpse of the rainbow from the small window adjoining his bed. It was slowly gaining strength and making its presence felt. The colours seemed more bright and distinct now. At this moment David hated the rainbow more than anything else in this world. A rainbow symbolized joy, hope and love but there was none of those in his life currently. He heard shrieks of excitement from his neighbour's children. They had spotted the rainbow and we trying to name the different colours. "Silly children", thought David. How did it matter if the rainbow had 7 different colours or one? It was transient after all. Like everything else in this world, it was going to vanish soon leaving behind a blank blue canvas perhaps dotted with mundane clouds here and there. He could also smell the fresh mud and the droplets of rain after he had opened the window. It was a smell he loved to revel in. But he hated it today. Every single thing reminded him about his meaningless existence in this world and his bleak future.
The rainbow was slowly starting to fade away. When he could no longer bear to look at it, he got up from his bed and decided to go about cleaning his house. At least there would be something to keep him occupied and he had heard that cleaning was therapeutic. He started rummaging through his cupboard and chanced upon his camera. It was covered with a flimsy layer of dust. David had loved photography since his childhood and had spent most of his very first earnings on buying a camera of the latest model of that time. Now it lay long forgotten in his marathon for success in the corporate world. He tried to turn it on. There was no battery. He had spotted some batteries just a little while back. He loaded them into the camera and tried again. It worked perfectly. There was also some unused roll of film which he quickly loaded. He was ready to shoot. Slowly a smile was creeping across David's face. He was wondering what to capture when he suddenly remembered the rainbow. He ran to the window with excitement. He was clearly more thrilled than the kids whose excitement had been momentary. They had gone back into their home, the rainbow long forgotten.
As David looked out of the window, the rainbow was fast disappearing. Just like his foul mood. He tried to bring whatever was left of it to focus but it just faded away leaving behind some smudges of colour patched across the blue sky. He was really disappointed. It looked like a bad day after all. If only he had got out of bed a little earlier. He hated the rainbow again, for a different reason though.
As he sat on his bed staring at the sky, praying for a rainbow in a child like manner there was a miracle. A very bright and beautiful rainbow flashed. Not in the sky but in David's mind and heart.
David smiled contently. He would make a living again. More importantly, he would live again, not merely exist. He thought of his long forgotten hobby of photography. He was going to convert that into his profession. The rainbow had faded off but not before spreading its colours.