Home - Geetha Ravichandran

Geetha Ravichandran is an IRS officer of the 1987 batch who retired as Principal Chief Commissioner, Mumbai. During her career of 36 years she has held responsibilities across various verticals, including assessment, international tax and investigation. She is a trustee with the NGO, Golden Butterflies which works for palliative care of children. She is also a columnist with The New Indian Express who writes on contemporary issues . As an Independent Director on corporate boards, she takes keen interest in corporate governance and sustainable
solutions.

Geetha Ravichandran has written middles for the Deccan Herald and contemplative articles for the Direct Path and The Mountain Path. She has published three books of poetry till date. Arjavam and The Spell of the Rain Tree have been published by Red River. Her book “The Spell of the Rain Tree” has been long listed for The Wise Owl literary awards. Her third book of
poetry “Footnotes in GSharp” is a collaboration on the subject of walking with Sivakami Velliangiri and Shikhandin and has been published by Penprints.

Geetha Ravichandran writes haiku, tanka and haibun. Some of these have been published in failed haiku, The Haiku Foundation blog, Cattails, haikuKATHA and The Wales Haiku Journal.

As light from the stars/ pulsates,/ the syllables/ of a timeless chant rises./ At the dance of destruction/ is the song of a new beginning.// Death’s hunt is foiled.

Poem after poem, the fragile wings of the golden butterfly flutter around the reader captivatingly throughout Arjavam, starting from the mystifying dedication itself. If there looms the intense awareness of death, there is also an acute awakening to the stories of the reborn and nirvana. In harmony with the soulful words, the illustrations in the book sit well with the quiet temper of the poems. To achieve the grandeur of Raagam, there had to be to be a coming together of the right rhythm, precise notes and a suitable beat. The lingering haunt of Geetha’s poems vouch for such an experience. —Sukrita Paul Kumar

In Arjavam, Geetha Ravichandran takes us through the sensory power in the everydays. She explores uncomfortable worlds with empathy, restraint and deep sensitivity. She speaks from the point of having lived, witnessed and experienced these moments. Honesty shines through in the urgent call of the voice. Pause. Look. Listen. — Shobhana Kumar

There’s no falter but only a sense of startle as we begin to read. In her first book, Geetha Ravichandran weaves an illuminating narrative of the commonplace — moments and events bound by memory’s all-seeing motor. Without yielding to theatrics, her voice, the voice of the valiant, carries a self-effacing confidence rooted in resilience. The effulgence of her words is only a callsign of the once fragile and vulnerable, now awoken and expressive of everything that will no longer be hushed. — Soni Somarajan

Geetha Ravichandran’s The Spell of the Rain Tree is a gentle meditation on the passage of time as it continually re-calibrates our lives, our memories, our relationship with our surroundings. These poems elude the calendar’s relentless momentum and resist the pervasive forms of social media through which we filter our experience today. Ravichandran evokes the flute-seller’s melody, never to be reduced to an Instagram post; she traverses the urban labyrinth of Mylapore, which will never submit to Google Maps. She retrieves intimate heirlooms, visceral talismans: the koels’ songs that have melted into her grandmother’s mango pickles, the courage to cross a precarious rope-bridge, the consolations of a home that is a magic lantern composed from changing light, shifting shadow. These poems remind us to cherish the exquisite, replenishing details that arm our imagination against the numbing blandishments of speed and scale. The Spell of the Rain Tree is a tender education in attentiveness; in looking for the magical, redeeming intervals in time’s flux; in chronicling the ephemeral as the best guarantee of eternity: “The wave has tucked itself/ into the folds of the ocean.” — Ranjit Hoskote

Footnotes in G Sharp is a lyrical exploration of movement, memory, and meaning — three poets walking together yet along their own paths. Woven with rhythm, reflection, and resonance, this collection transforms the simple act of walking into a metaphor for life’s journeys — inward and outward. Through vivid imagery and deeply personal narratives, Sivakami Velliangiri recalls landscapes of childhood and tradition, where steps trace both ancestral memory and womanly strength. Geetha Ravichandran walks through cities, rituals, and silences, turning each observation into a meditation on time, loss, and resilience. Shikhandin brings to the trio a modern lyricism — a voice attuned to the pulse of streets, the ache of distances, and the wonder of discovery. Together, their poems form a symphony in motion — the sound of feet on earth, of heartbeats keeping time, of music echoing in G sharp. Each “footnote” marks a pause in the rhythm of walking — a reminder that poetry, like a journey, is found not at the destination but along the way. A collective act of creativity and friendship, Footnotes in G Sharp celebrates the poetry of being alive, moving forward, and finding music in every step.

Read the opinions of Geetha Ravichandran published in The New Indian Express. Click here