The 22-year old organisation has indeed come a long way since its inception. Roping in some of the greatest musical exponents, simplifying Indian culture into modules like films, yoga, theatre workshops and by conducting lecture demonstrations...Spic-Macay has made every possible effort to enable the youth to understand and appreciate Indian classical art forms.

But how far has this effort been rewarded? Does an average Indian youth find himself/herself closer to Indian culture and music? Is Spic-Macay a part of a student movement in general or just popular with a ``particular kind'' of students? Are the students who throng such concerts there merely to be seen or are they genuinely interested in classical music? ``I agree that there are some people who come for want of nothing better to do but I believe there are more genuine lot as well. For one finds them at almost all festivals or lecdems,'' averred Vivek Anand, a Spic-Macay volunteer from DAV College at SPA's fest featuring Pandit Birju Maharaj and vocalist Sanjeev Abhyankar. ``Classical music is not entertaining as such and hence requires lot of patience to actually sit down and hear,'' he added. Ram Babu of Dayal Singh mused a rock show or a street show by Indi-pop artists would fetch more crowd.

``It's difficult to understand classical music and so people tend to get bored, particularly the school students,'' explained Misuni Mankodi, cultural secretary of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya hosting the Kathakali maestro Raman Kutty Nair's show. The audience here comprised teachers and students of only classes VII, VIII and IX along with some from the neighbouring Delhi Kannada School. Misuni felt the student participation in school was far less than in colleges. In schools, the teachers appeared to be more involved than the students, she commented.

According to Spic-Macay's publicity manager and LIC lecturer Malabika, inspite of the invasion by the MTV-culture, Spic-Macay had succeeded in creating awareness towards Indian classical music. ``Although it's a difficult journey, we've definitely succeeded to a certain extent,'' she pointed out.

Talking about awareness there was this group of three Spanish girls who were spotted at almost all the festivals. Any amount of delays did not dissipate their enthusiasm as they would reappear at rescheduled timings. ``Some of my Indian friends first brought me to one of these concerts. Now I don't miss any. This time I've got my sisters as well,'' said Sylvia, one of the trio. ``It's interesting to note that Indian dance is linked to traditional Indian sculpture, architecture and painting. And I am particularly fond of Kathak for I find some kind of similarity between our Flemingo and Kathak. I never miss Birju Maharaj's performance,'' she added.

Significantly, there are some very popular artists who turn out to be greater crowd-pullers than others. This often explains the overwhelming or scanty attendance at concerts. One could say the immense turnout at PG Women's Hostel's concert was due to renowned tabla maestro Pt Kishan Maharaj. `` Girls' colleges/hostels invariably tend to be hot spots,'' Vivek offered a new angle.

What about the increasing fad value of the concerts? ``See the fad part comes in to play only at concerts at Kamani, Habitat Center or the like. Here we do it exclusively in the Indian `baithak' style where the audience is supposed to remove the shoes and sit on the floor,'' argued Malabika.

Interestingly, removing one's footwear and squatting on the ground was cited by one of the students as deterrents for attending such concerts. ``Stringent rules about shoes, sitting arrangement, maintenance of pin-drop silence, not being able to get up or leave in the middle of the programme discourage many of us to go for these concerts,'' confided one pleading anonymity. However, the major nagging problem of these festivals is the inability to maintain a time schedule. All kinds of delays, more often than not by the artists, puts off the audience. The few concerts that this reporter attended began good 60-90 minutes behind schedule.

The delay at Hindu College's concert was explained thus by a piqued volunteer, ``what to do we couldn't trace the artist, Aarti Anklekar, till very late!'' This incidentally also gives an idea of the `behind the scene' tensions and running around done by Spic-Macay representatives who happen to be only students after all!