Reverie

Rain clatters and splatters On the filled potholes Making ripples drawn like brushstrokes Across a painter's canvas Lips blushed with chai’s warm flush Sipping slowly reveling in a monsoon day   Thankamma chechi, the local barista Moving seamlessly at Velappan’s chai stall Balances with grace the platter Of parippuvada and crisp bonda Perfect mates for chai and kattan kappi   She places them down on worn desks That once had known better days Where usual culvert mongers as always Occupied the few benches With carefree banter and boastful sways   The evergreen melody of 60’s ‘Manasa maine varoo’ Hums out from the transistor Taking back to the shores of ‘Chemeen’ And the timeless gaze of ‘Kochu muthalali’ The epitome of romance even today   And then a flash! Not a lightning, but Mohini Thottinkara gramam’s heartthrob Ambling under her floral umbrella Drawing stares to her arresting charm   Backdrop fades...