Blind Singer Vaikom Vijayalakshmi Becomes An Inspiration To Millions

Vaikom in Kerala is famous for its esoteric culture and temples. Now Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, the born blind singer has given her hometown a new and motivational identity. Her parents named her Vijayalakshmi as she was born on Vijayadashami in 1981, little realising that this girl child would never see the world. Her father, Muraleedharan  made an unusual one string Veena for her and she started her melodious journey. Violin maestro the late Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, impressed by her skill, gave the title of Gayatri Veena. There was no stopping her from then onwards …crooning her way through both film songs and devotional songs. Starting with Malayalam films, she is now popular in Tamil films too, her Tamil diction and renderings near perfect. She has won several state awards. Her film songs are many and popular, launched in the film Celluloid, but her Murugan devotionals (remixes too) are celebrated, especially “Paal manakkuthu pazham manakkuthu Palani malaiyile” .One of the most significant festivals , Thai Poosam  celebrated with amazing devotion and dedication in Sri Lanka , Malaysia and South India reverberates with Vijayalakshmi’ s devotionals, the crowds sway, mesmerised by her. Her aspiration is to render songs under the direction of Ilayaraja and A R Rahman. But her personal life is not fulfilling…her family is frustrated by two attempts to get her married. She filed for divorce from a misogynist husband Santosh who wanted her to stop singing and coming out in public. Her blindness put him off. Vijayalakshmi is not daunted by lack of sight …her rustic voice tinged with haunting melody (a trained masters in music) has made her own name. John Milton’s poem “On His Blindness” is appropriate…They also serve who only stand and wait.”