Chennai's December music season: After flood fury, to play or not to play, that is the question

How does it actually feel to lose everything - family members, your home and household articles, savings, clothes, everything that you were attached to for years and years?

How does it feel to see one's house and belongings drowning in water— almost like flash floods shown in cinema?

How does it feel to witness people allowing the bodies of their kith and kin float away, not being able to give them a decent burial?

Could you listen to the wailing of a mother who may have lost her child or children?

Like they say in Telugu, every moment is unbearable. Ne taalaleni oyamma nenorva lene oyamma!

While the community is battling issues of life, a small segment is discussing whether the December music season must go on or not! Having also witnessed the Mumbai rains wreak havoc in 2005, the Chennai floods gave me sense of déjà vu. Living in Delhi, I had transferred a small sum to a community account. But the feeling that it's going to need all of India to lend support was evident. Sanitary napkins, Odomos that often gathers dust in our medicine cupboard, Anasin, Saridon, Dart, Dettol, Vicks and other essentials left for Chennai this time from my city Bengaluru, along with the donations I collected from friends across India. But it did not seem enough.

The rains will stop, sickness will knock on doors, rehabilitation will be a gigantic task, careers will have to be rebuilt, equipment for livelihoods will have to be distributed, the city will have to be cleaned, garbage and rodent issues will need to be dealt with, homes to be rebuilt and temporary camps for the homeless— so much to be done. 

Would India sing or dance during 26/11? Every time there is a calamity, it's the time to think and introspect. The girl who allowed her father’s body to float away, will always remember not being able to cremate him. How would I feel if the strains of kutcheris and ghungroos reached my ears at a time when I had no home to live?

Is the music season something that should never ever take a break? So far, this high and elevated music SEASON has never taken a break! Even in 1947, even during the China war, ayyo never! So go ahead, sing and dance if you must, while some hearts bleed, some souls RIP and others seek sustenance and implore for livelihood options.

Sure, nothing is right or wrong. Dancers and musicians who want to perform, can. Those who cancel, may do so. But isn't it also time to stop and ponder?

The writer is an arts consultant and critic.