"Turn your limitations and weaknesses into your strengths" | Usha Uthup | TEDxIMIKolkataWomen

Hello everyone Namaskar nom Skyrim satirical Salaam Aleichem I would like to say that today I am here in front of all of you after 50 years of singing 50 years about something yes, really amazing and that too to be able to say that I started singing as a nightclub singer, which was never thought of, I mean, no one imagined that a lady in a sari would be in a nightclub singing the kind of songs that I did. I don't know if you mentioned that I got the Padma Shri, give me a hand for that. Now, as my theme says, I

turn

ed all my

limitations

into my

strengths

.

My first limitation, which people would think was a limitation, is my greatest strength, the greatest in the whole world, being born Indian and being born women in India, and why would anyone think that was the limitation when you did a quick review or should I say playback, you would probably say it was a limitation because my type of voice never matched any of the beautiful singers who have such beautiful actresses that they have to have that type of pretty voice. and so pure and so white and so beautiful, but my voice was like a man's and I could sing for you or for you or for you or for anyone, so that was my limitation, my first limitation being born in an Orthodox family traditional South Indian, but hey, that's been My biggest limitation

turn

ed into a complete strength.

Why do I say strength? I will tell you this because being born in India, you are already born with an incredible advantage of more than seventeen basic languages. I say seventeen basic languages ​​and there are so many thousands. dialects, I sing in 17 languages ​​and for me that is my greatest strength and my greatest USB because I have never learned a musical note, so when you say that a singer has never learned to know music, then that is a limitation, it is a huge limitation , but I've never seen it that way. I've always thought of it as a strength because if I had to, I mean, when I see all this stuff, I want everyone to know that I come from a very, very middle class background.

My father was in the police in Bombay. I come from a family of six. I am number five in the family and they say five is lucky. I'm very lucky to be with all of you here today, yes, now when you look down on me. all the way down actually or you can look at me from side to side it's almost the same almost the same measurement yes, but who cares eh, that's a limitation, right? But then it worked for me, it worked for me because most people would think that. If you're a nightclub singer, then you have to have that kind of friend who says like that and you have to wear a black dress and have a lovely neckline, which I have nothing to talk about, well, that was a limitation, but of course .

I turned it into a force ladies and gentlemen thank God for the sari it covers so much and is so beautiful the most dignified and elegant dress in the world ladies and gentlemen the sari many people when I go abroad when they announce me First of all, why in abroad, even here, when I go abroad and someone insists that I should sing, it would be an Indian or maybe two Indians, or maybe the organizer says we have a singer who comes from India and we wanted to sing and you find that the Most people when they smoke there's a kind of buzz and then in the first line when I go on stage I say I'm not as bad as I look I'm a compulsive compulsive optimist I'm just here to look I'm talking about myself I'm just here to see the things wonderful things in life because, if you like, there are so many horrible things happening every second in our country, in this world, in our own lives, so why go look? for the horrible things that are there and look for the wonderful things look for the great things that if you had a voice like mine and if they kicked you out of class because my teacher couldn't fit me anywhere, said Sami, you have such a bass voice.

I can put you on bass. I company with control. I compete there as a soprano, not with all of you. Loud, but she knew she had music in me, so she gave me the percussion to play ding-ding-ding. but like many things, she was very, very happy with all of that, so she, what did she do for me? She never made me feel bad or frustrated. I was so happy being who she was she and what I got, how to really talk about what I got coming from a middle class family, I keep saying that all the time in all my, what's

your

name? inspiring speeches, yes, yes, I keep saying that we were so happy in our times, yes, we had two pairs of uniforms, one to wash and one to wash. we wore and we were very happy, but I wore my own clothes and I always did well in school and we had two pairs of shoes, one black, one white and one white that was called tennis shoes and you polished them with something called White.

I don't know, I don't know if you all are very rich and made a lot of shoes, but we don't, we've had two pairs of shoes, yeah, yeah, I mean, oh, you know what you see? Boss face. like you say it in Tamil but I don't know if there are any South Indians around here, yeah you put some water and put it in

your

shoe and it turns white and you're happy but kids today are exposed to so many things. different types of clothes and so many different types of shoes and everything else, so it's good for them.

I'm not saying it's bad for them because like my daughter says I don't talk like a history book so I'm not talking like a history book I'm very happy from my skin very comfortable in my skin and I'm happy from the place to the that I have come really gives you values ​​that you should be happy with what you have and I am very happy with what I have when you say out of the ordinary, what does that mean? Like I said, my childhood was what it was. I went to a nun's school. The medium of instruction was English, my second language, third language Sindhi, Marathi.

I was from Bombay. and the fourth language was French and at home we spoke a little bit of Tamil, so we were already exposed as Indians to five languages, not that surprising, whereas in different countries we only have seventeen, so why not? take advantage of that, in fact, I keep telling people like Nikita and everyone you know expand expand learn all the languages ​​you will get more shows I mean, without any formal training I have so many shows, all from north to southeast, from east to west just because of my languages ​​not because I'm a fantastic singer, I've never said that, but well, music, no my business communication is for all of you who feel like you have a limitation somewhere, forget it, everyone has a limitation, turn it into your

strengths

somehow or another will work so what do I do with a face like mine?

Am I going to change it? I'm going to do no. I was very happy with my appearance because yes, I am happy with my appearance. I don't know why, but at some point I looked in the mirror and started saying, "You know, hey God, did you really do this?" and then I found out that I had a sense of humor, so that changed my whole perspective and I knew that you didn't call me to sing, I want to be a singer somewhere, at least you gave me a job as a comedian, so all my

weaknesses

keep turning into strengths.

Another big limitation I had was my voice, the kind of voice I had in nightclubs was acceptable, but nightclubs per se were not acceptable in India and only men were seen in nightclubs, but when I entered , all the wives became all the women, they became my best friends because they knew. with a face and a body like mine I was no danger to her husband so they became my friends and that limitation I had soon became a familiar place the discotheque and ladies and gentlemen how proud I am to say that I am the one changed That whole scene you would never have seen a lady otherwise yeah and then what happened to my bindi?

And now many people would say why do you wear a bindi, why is it like that? Why is it like this? Because I come from a middle class. family and how happy I am for the bindi because it has become part of that so-called packaging or whatever they call it, you know, the marketing strategy is nothing like that, it's just because in Miami it was reported that my grandmother used it, my sisters wore it and it's part of our Indian psyche to wear it and soon the size of the chair changed, the colors changed, so that's another limitation that you would say about the kind of dress you wear and the kind of images a singer would have. of a normal nightclub or a concert singer.

It's become so fantastic that people everywhere are now thinking about the bindi and you know they talk about it and what it means and why, so it became a strength for me and the flowers in my hair, I mean , flowers in hair. It's so beautiful and people would have thought that this is a limitation because you can't use flowers if you go to Rajasthan in the middle of nowhere, where you will get flowers, so I turned that into one of my strengths and went with a lady who lives in b'hala and she made these beautiful flowers that are actually not even paper, they were made of fabric and now yes, she is fantastic, so I have given all these flowers to people.

I came a mile to Eirik, all the dancers, you know? who we are good flowers and I think it's great to be able to do something with what was so clean, so clean, just so you know, put your hair back and put it up and a lot of people would be like, "hey, can't you?" do something to look glamorous I didn't know what it was to be glamorous or sexy or this or that or the other, all I knew was being petite and then came the sari, when I started wearing sari, really people would do it.

I say this was a limitation to looking stunning in a sari and performing in a nightclub, but later it turned out to be a strength because although I couldn't afford to buy very expensive Sarris or something, I used what was at home and I was happy with that. , it would have turned out fine with that, but I did the math and you know, one-handed things like that and oh yeah, I hope you like all the rings, they're lovely, so I need all these things to happen so that it does now. People think it's a big fashion statement, but it's really not, it's not really, it's just my limitation, which I turned into a strength that has become so successful and I think for all the girls who think that this is not right. about yourself, that's not right, the main thing is to believe in yourself and dream big, dream big, really big, so what happened during the whole year, let's say, twenty-three years after I started singing, was I stood up every night and sang in the nightclub, sometimes three hours. sometimes and you take it on a high bar stool and you're singing, sitting on it and singing now, am I going to sit and cry about it and say that, look, it's hurting me, and when it takes its toll on you, you know in some time or another? so I decided to wear slippers and I was walking in the morning with slippers and my daughter said to me: why don't you wear kanji varam slippers?

Why don't you wear sneakers? So I had two pairs of slippers and I was wearing them with the saree. and now I have to check that there are many women at the airport. Now you will find many women who wear sneakers and I am not saying that all of them have followed me, but somewhere in their minds they feel that it is okay, somewhere you have to realize it. which is okay, okay, that's me, that's all I can do, so I started and then I said why can't I change it to make it look good and then I made the kanji verum sneaker now I'll show you little by little no can.

Look, because this ended here and there's no curve, so I said why not and then I said, let me sit back down and show you the beautiful slippers. Now these shoes, why would you say this is a limitation? Because for people who have to do whatever job you're doing, if you're a teacher or your lawyer or someone you know or in my profession, then you have to be on your feet for hours and hours and hours. I know Amitabh Bachchan uses six chairs because his legs are longer. but I use two VIP chairs, those plastic chairs, and I feel very good about that, but ladies and gentlemen, I have to tell you that when you have an optimistic mind, you know if you are really optimistic and you are really happy to say this is what God has given you and you believe in yourselves and exactly what you are doing, you really don't have to worry, don't feel bad about it because you can turn it into the greatest strengths you have ever had. gentlemen let me tell you because I had the limitation of a voice like mine I used to listen to all the bad girl songs in failure you can clap if you want I also feel that if you really think about it we are not the The people who are in the Box are actually It's the minds of people who are so closed and feel, and this has all been instilled in them for years, that a woman has to be so pure.

I can't think of the word pure, I mean. what is the definition of pure actually I know that I am very pure I know that I am terribly pure and sometimes I wonder why but I am pure but I am saying what is the definition so that you think that it is okay, it has to be like this having Lata's voice Mangeshkar, you know, that pure girl who has, you know, has all the problems in the world, her father has died, her husband has abandoned her, her babies are coughing and you know the lover is doing something, so all the sadness in the world It's about her being very sad, but as she walks through the forest and all those thorns prick her feet, Lata Mangeshkar's perfect voice, how is that possible?

It's impossible with so much pain and sadness, but you could sing like that. perfect tone but that's the job we've been up tofed for all these years for so many years we've been fed with this but then a voice like mine comes along and then what do they do with it? They only give it to the bad guys. Girls, all the bad girls, all the cabaret girls, you understand me, but so do I. Probably the only Indian artist who has sung for a man and I have also sung for myself in Chakrabarty, so I get a round of applause, so It has been quite exciting to know that a limitation can become your strength and so can it. become your USB now people expect all the time to hear a voice like mine, but today the exposure is so fantastic.

I come from a time when you thought most of you were probably only six singers in all of India, only six Mohammed Rafi. Kishore Kumar Asha Bhosle Lata Mangeshkar Manasa and Mukesh Bhatt, okay, but in such a big country, today you see that the platforms have opened the doors, the windows and you can receive beautiful singers, lovely voices like Nikita Gandhi, we have so many amazing young singers that they never got. an opportunity that I didn't have, I didn't have a chance, but I didn't feel frustrated, I was very happy doing what I was and I was able to start as a nightclub singer, a live singer, a concert singer and because I sang live, people like that. people.

The third unit of the Burmese captain or davon and flavor nuff came to listen to me and they asked me if I would sing in their project Hari Rama Hari Krishna so that you see when you are not ashamed or you are not shy or you are not embarrassed by the way because of your appearance or your way of being, then everything works for you, everything works for you and I have seen it happen to me, it has worked for me and I have stood up for everyone here, especially the girls, every woman's problem is actually a problem of men and, instead, to just fight all the time with the man, it is much easier, much easier, to walk with the man hand in hand and be able to say hello, then people ask me how your husband helped you and I say that by not helping, he never interfered. my life never and that was so incredible and I would never be able to do anything if I didn't have the support and the solid infrastructure of a fantastic family that supported me at all times, so I think you have a dream, you dream big.

You believe in yourself and your family and you know that no matter what happens, if your own people love you, the rest of the world will now let me show you my sneakers. Okay, they will do it. It's really cool and young people say it's cool. They say it's great, but ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you 50 years of singing. Everyone must be calculating how old I am. I'm 72 and I feel really good about it, so young, so this is just part of it. There are so many things you can do: Don't feel bad about who you are and why you are Just don't feel bad about who you are and what you look like When I was born God asked me if you want a good body or do you want a good voice I said I want a good body that's why I look like this so girls and boys on the way today remember what I said there have been many I'm not a sensational copy but There were many ups and downs in my life, like any other woman, like any other person, sometimes the ups and downs were more , sometimes the lows were very low, but the most important thing is to be able to smile along the way and keep going.

That's the only way, so remember to make your

weaknesses

and

limitations

your strengths and you will find that tomorrow will be absolutely beautiful, thank you.