Margazhi musings - 1

Margazhi, the chosen month, by none other than Krishna himself, definitely has the charm. Climate that makes even places like Chennai desirable and why beat around the bush, the ‘MUSIC SEASON’. This charm has definitely extended till Pondicherry and over the years I have always tried to squeeze in few December concerts into my schedule.

It was another music driven journey to Chennai and I ended up at one of the lovely places that belonged to the silk merchant. It was another busy morning with performers moving in and out, audiences flowing in a steady stream, the stalls and canteens being populated with visitors, I relished it all afresh after a year. Half an hour past the first programme, I had to come out to get tickets for the main performance that morning by the madisar clad woman and few others. I noticed one of the tickets had the seats numbered whereas this one in morning had entry on first come basis. A woman next to me earnestly asked”appo idhukkum number potu tharuvela” will you number the seats for this show too? After a long pause came a not so polite reply”oru oru programme um vera. Ticket vangitu pongo” each show is different. Just get your tickets and go. I would have only been surprised if it was anything else.

I had hardly few seconds to ponder over what happened as I already saw mamis queue up at the gates. Observing their creativity at queuing up, this time it was sitting in chairs close to the gates so that they can camouflage like rasikas attending the programme but when neared, they would unveil their identity with two words ”queue pinnala”. “This sabha charges the maximum for a ticket but waiting like this in spite of that is quite annoying” a lady said and almost everyone felt the same. Another guy told how tickets at the TTK road auditorium have to be procured as early as six in the mornings for which the queue math would suggest you to reach there by five!

 This civilized conduct transformed into stark barbarianism when the gates opened. After a hassle I entered the theatre and I was quite surprised to see the hall not even half full when the programme was about to start. A refute at one of the gates gave me the answer. There was loud blasphemy exactly at curtain raise. I saw some of the irate being pushed, gates were shut.

I have witnessed a very similar incident even last year and unfortunately I have got really immune to all this! When a group of people are so eager to attend the discourse (which also had a free entry the previous year and that was the confusion) what do you call that which prevented them from letting these people in?

The proportion of youngsters attending the festival season has dramatically increased. It is high time these organizations take steps to embrace the change. It is practically impossible for the working youth or outsiders to book the tickets in person one day prior and not to mention the early morning drill. Wouldn’t it be more welcoming if it was as easy as booking a ticket for a rock concert? All said and done, this is not going to deter me from attending any more concerts but I am keenly  looking forward for the time when the monopoly of these sabhas end and some transparency is brought into the system!