December Season makes Madras!

November 1 is All Saints Day in the Catholic Church calendar.
For us at the KutcheriBuzz web site, it is the day on which we informally launch our backend work for the famed December Season.
Letters to clients, meetings with printers, chats with volunteers, alerts to sabhas, e-mails to artistes and the like.
Besides going a tad hyper on our web site, we also publish two guides on the concerts that rasikas might find useful and, for 18 days in December, we bring out a daily free-sheeter that shares the buzz of the 'season'.
( For those who are new to the 'season', the city hosts hundreds of concerts in Carnatic music and classical dance featuring the best and the brightest at over two dozen venues and, with the best and the worst of all that it has come to be, the 'season' is still a unique event).
Working on the fringe has its rewards.
It took us years to convince sabhas to share with us their concerts schedule so that the info could be made public well in advance to allow visitors to plan their travel.
We also promoted the BB ( bed and breakfast) concept amongst local householders for the 'season' when we got queries from rasikas outside Madras.
Most visitors head to the Woodlands Hotel or to Hotel Karpagam since they are well located but there are rasikas who would love to have a cosy space of their own in the heart of Mylapore!
Over the years, a few fringe events are also taking place during the 'season'. Film screenings, seminars, tours and the like. And these are bound to enrich the package that Madras has to offer in December which is possibly the best time of the year to be here!
For some reason, the state has not made the best of the Dccember Season though M. Karunanidhi did make a grand statement once, when he was in power, that the 'season' would be promoted well.
Staging a dance fest in Mamallapuram, a concept that was launched by some senior, international dancers many years ago is alright.
But doing simple things like launching promos, organising guided tours and offering tips at tourist destinations should draw more people to this city for the 'season'.
After all, the December Season also makes Madras.