Women's Day 2023: Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, The Born Blind Singer Who Made It To The Top

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Although born in a remote village Vaikom, she had seen the vagaries of life much before she learnt the word 'Why" as a child. Taking things in her stride, was something she had learnt by birth and since birth. Accepting her situation stoically, and determined to go ahead in the path she had chalked for herself, she entered the world of music with a bang and has stayed there since then. She could not see the loving hands of her mother that nurtured her during her most difficult moments. She did not have an idea how her parents looked like.

Vaikom Vijayalakshmi is a playback singer and an expert at a rare musical instrument called Gayatri Veena. She was born blind in Vaikom on October 7, 1981 and later on moved to Chennai when every attempt made to restore her vision failed at Vaikom. She was born on the Vijayadashami day to achieve something big.

Although born visually impaired, and her door to a normal life was closed, destiny had opened another door of opportunity for her in the world of music. She was gifted with a beautiful melodious voice.

Her Formative Years

She was blessed with the gift of voice but deprived of the pleasures of vision. She was born on October 7, 1981, on Vijaydashmi day, as the only daughter of Muralidharan and Vimala. For her parents it was hard to come to terms with her incurable stage of blindness which was the reason why they decided to leave their hometown and start a new life in Chennai. Vijayalakshmi's grew up with Ilayaraja and MS vishwanathan's songs as her staple diet. Sometime later she was able to sing a tune as it is at the first time of hearing it and nuances just appeared to be perfect.

Her Talents Bloomed phenomenally

Recognising her budding talent, her parents gifted her with music CDs of Jesudas whose music appealed to Vijayalakshmi tremendously. In less than a year she had picked up more than 100 ragas, and composed her own songs. It was an incredible feat given that she was not formally trained in music by any Guru. Actually great Vidwans opine that major part of learning music is through listening and then training from Guru and personal sadhana take a secondary role. Her alapana and swara delineation got better on their own day by day without the guidance of a teacher. She considered Jesudas as her guru and performed in his presence at Chathamkudi temple in Vaikhom. Jesudas was impressed.

Her Achievements

Being visionless did not stop her from fulfilling her ambitions and she was in constant pursuit of her dreams which she also finally realized. The song Katte Katte featured in the movie Celluloid, brought her to the limelight and shaped her career suitably. The song earned a special mention from the jury. By the next ten years, she had performed over 400 shows in Chennai, Madurai, Tanjore, Coimbatore and other metropolitan cities of the country. Temple festivals also were great opportunities for her to showcase her talent. She also started her career in movies by singing for over 20 movies and grabbed award by award.

Her Fervent Wish

She also had an acting stint in a movie called Ezhu Deshangalkkum Akale. She made her presence felt in the Tamil movies as well. She sang not just for Malayalam, but even sang in some Tamil movies as well. When you ask her about her one fervent wish she loves to see fulfilled, her answer simply wrenches your guts. She wants to see the world, which she sings for, and her audience who appreciate her. At least once she would love to see the world. She is right now on the lookout for a method through which she can get Bionic eyes installed into her sockets after which, she hopes to live a sane and normal life, which she deserves every bit.

Awards:

Though she has received several awards, some prominent awards that were given to her were the Kerala State Film Award (Special Jury Mention) in 2001, for the song Katte Katte from Celluloid, and the Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer (2013) for song Ottakku Padunna from Nadan.
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