December Season in Chennai

This blog is about the Chennai December Season. The month of Margazhi, dedicated to the God, bears its own festive look. This festival is of course different in nature, as it is a celebration enjoyed with arts of various nature. Music, Dance, Dramatics in various sabhas, and the eat outs that are operated in the sabhas is a different type of life. All artists decked in silk attires and grand jewellery and the members and viewers trying to level with the artists is a sight to enjoy. Though all these are prevailing even today, the charm that existed earlier is lost now. There are too many sabhas and each sabha holding the same types of programs, and awarding titles to the same group of people, is way far from ethics. The divinity that was present in the music concerts presented by M.S. amma, M.L.V. ammd, D.K.P. amma, and veterans like Semmungudi sir, Balamurali sir, is absent now. Though I never had the opportunity to attend to the concerts of the legendry G.N.B sir, Madurai Mani Iyer anna and various jambavans, I do listen to their music in CDs and tapes. The music touches a chord in us and makes us crave for more. At the end of each recital we feel the nearness to something divine. Are we enjoying the same today? This field is also marching towards the rat race today. Eventually the art forms have lost their charm and only competition to surpass others prevail. Many artists with abundant talent do not get the right platform and some of them pay to perform during this season. Is it really necessary and are they doing justice to the art they have learnt? Some others with a view to attract the public perform something abstract, especially in the field of dance. Presenting negatives is considered to be creative. May be people may feel that I am prejudiced, well this is my opinion, and I strongly, a art attains it glory only when it reaches a common man. I do know, that many of these art forms are meant for the creamy layer of the public. However, there are some which are open to all public, and I know many sincere people who attend these programs, as they cannot make it for a paid concert. But all the sabhas, are not ready to present concerts by famous persons, for free and it is always ticketed. Talents who cannot afford contributing materially never get a platform and it ultimately remains in dark. Added to this is the shows presented in various private channels during the season. Again the TRB rating plays a great role in deciding the viewership of the programs and the channels travel miles to reach the top of rating. While viewing the programs at a later date in the channel, there will be so many advertisements in between and commercial breaks, which only brings down the charm of the concert. It is evident that arts have also attained a business status today and the competition prevailing is nothing less than what exists in I.T. industry. The charm is lost and even the reviews that appear in the papers are only to uplift the already existing talents and not inclined to promote new talents. The concerts which use to run for more than three hours earlier are shortened and the time limit is one and half or two hours. It is time framed and is like enjoying ready made food. Neither the artists are ready to present a breathtaking performance, nor is the viewer asking for same. Compromises are part of day to day life and it is taking place in this field also.