Rain, Chai and Mohini

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

And heartbeats raced

Then stilled, with senses numbed

Even the constant hum from transistor

Could not stir the awestruck crowd

 

Then a splash…

The pothole water splashed

Crashing on the mob bringing sanity

Hot chai went cold, but hearts

Were warmer than ever before…

© Anjana Premkumar 2025