Thanks to the KB Team. Belated but well-deserved wishes.

As editor of KutcheriBuzz I slipped badly as we bade goodbye to Season 2013.
I overlooked my duty to say thank you to my team.

Apologies.

R Revathi not only filed reports and profiled some young talents who may well make a mark in the years to come but also contributed ideas and shared inputs as she did her own rounds of the sabhas this season. Thanks to her.

To photographer R Saravanan who criss crossed the sabhas, though limited by resources and hurried by demanding deadlines.
Thanks.

Thanks also to desk-based techperson Parameshwaran; he kept posting the pictures, videos and stories that heaped on his desk across December.

To designer Prema who doubled at her desk at Mylapore Times to prepare the KB Season's Daily. Thanks.

To our printers, Copyaid and Ratna Offset our thanks for keeping to deadlines.

To Circulation Exec Kathiravan and his team; they made sure the Guides and Daily got to the sabhas on time. Thanks. And to other colleagues at our offices here.

Thanks to our clients as advertisers in print and online. Their support was crucial to the ideas.

To all our readers, a great community deserves our thanks too.

Sampurna Book Release Function

Sun sets on Season 2013. Hard rethink must for the next. . .

The Music Academy decorated Bharatanatyam guru Chitra Visweswaran with its annual award on Friday evening. The occasion was also the launch of the Dance Fest of the Academy; some great artistes across the day for a few days.

Back to back shows in the evening. Costs Rs.250 a ticket and this created some heartburn among rasikas and artistes who expect their fans to troop in.

Elsewhere, dance recitals too root in the sabha halls, some drawing 50 to 100 rasikas, some just a handful. It helped if the host used smart and ingenuous methods to draw well wishers.

The music ebbed a bit and flowed at sabhas on the city's fringe - Madipakkam and Velachery and the like. These rasikas may be lucky if the voices of the best who will perform for them aren't sore or tired. It has been a sever winter by Madras standards....temps in the 22degrees region, lots of dew and the odd sprinkle.

NRIs fly back home, tired and happy and with mixed feelings. One well-wisher said he and his dancer wife who had her last show at a hall on the banks of the Adyar river would catch up sleep on the 18-hour flight.

NRIs are feeling the pinch too; if they lead a hectic performance and travel schedule at season time. They say prices have been rising at about 20%. The sting hurts even as expenses rise.

The Season has to get real in many ways. And as the sun sets on Season 2013, sabha heads, artistes and rasikas will have to rethink ways in which they can host shows, perform and enjoy smart even as times change, technology sways and tastes change.

The Music Academy -Dance Festival

Sadas at The Music Academy

Brahma Gana Sabha Dance Festival inauguration