Cheluvi

Pooja Ugrani, Bangalore, India

streaked with rivulets 

you run through me, 

fragmented islands 

submerge, resurface 

in eyes that hold 

azure tessellations.

I blush a bristly persistent pink,

tear away only to know 

I am consumed.

I let you in 

to become the raintree.

Note: Cheluvi is a Kannada film directed by Girish Karnad (1992), which tells the story of a girl who could turn herself to a tree.

Photograph credit: Raunak Sudhakar

“Cheluvi” is dedicated to the rain tree whose foliage covers my friend's terrace in Bangalore, and is a popular venue to have tea, play hopscotch, doze and listen to music.

Pooja Ugrani is an architect by education, a teacher by profession, a poet by whim and an artist by choice. She considers the cities of Mumbai and Bangalore, her twin homes and spends time jumping between them, writing about the small everyday things in life that intrigue and engage her.