When I came to know that T.M.Krishna’s concert at Music Academy was on the same day as Aruna Sairam’s, the first thought that came to my mind was, ‘Will I even get a ticket for TMK’s concert?’ Having heard many say that people queue up outside Music Academy as early as 5:30 in the morning (!!), I knew it was going to be difficult to get a ticket. When I asked the person at the ticket counter a few days before the concert, he too confirmed the same. So, on the day of the concert, at 5 am sharp, my dad and sister went to Music Academy to find there were already 3 of them waiting. Seems a lady came as early as 4:30 itself! By the time I went there at 6:30 or so, the place was already full. How popular Aruna Sairam is!

Music Academy has to really be commended for making excellent arrangements for those who had come to buy the tickets. Neatly-arranged chairs for those coming in and ensuring that people are seated in the order in which they came, serving coffees at around 6 o’ clock for those waiting, issuing tokens at around 7 am with the number of tickets (the no. of tickets were restricted to 3 per head on that day initially) and the price of the tickets written on it, opening the ticket counter at 8:20 and calling out the token nos. in order and issuing the tickets – the whole thing was very well-organized.

I guess my sister and I must have been the only ones who didn’t go for Aruna Sairam’s concert despite having tickets. We did go for the last 35 minutes of her concert to find that the auditorium was packed to the full-capacity and the only place where we could sit was the steps in between two bays!