The saga of Usha Uthup’s 47-year long association with Mother Teresa, crowned

Mangalore Today News Network

Aug 22, 2016: Many music lovers know Usha Iyer-Uthup as the senior  singer with the powerful voice who revolutionised pop music by performing in ethnic Indian attire — Kanjivaram silk saris, flower garlands and big bindi.

Her hometown of Kolkata is conversant with the other side of the artist’s personality. Usha Iyer  is truly an avid supporter of Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity. Now officially she has been invited to the Vatican to attend the canonization of Mother Teresa and also sing two songs in her honour, one in Bangla the other in English, on September 3.

The canonization rituals are scheduled September 4, a day before Mother’s birthday September 5.   Usha said, “I have a 47-year long association with Mother Teresa. I first met her during a visit to a homeopath named Sr Amy.

I went overboard by her personality. She may have had a diminutive frame but the strength, force, passion and dignity within her was immense. And what a great sense of humor.”   Uthup later discovered a similarity between the nun and Mahatma Gandhi. “She would walk so fast I had a hard time keeping pace with her,” she laughs.

The singer soon began to visit Mother House which was on her way to the recording studio. “She would invite me to sing at her three ashrams, Prem Daan, Shishu Mandir and Mother House. She enjoyed listening to ‘Beautiful Sunday’ in particular. I also performed several charity concerts for the Missionaries, mainly in Kolkata.”

When Mother passed away,Usha Uthup was the first person outside the order to arrive at Mother House. “The nuns whom I had always seen as alert and in charge, looked lost as if their shepherd had been taken from them. It was I who placed the rosary in her palms and joined her hands. For the next four or five days as her body lay in state, I visited every day to sing, like other groups including schoolchildren.”  Usha had attended the beatification ceremony for Mother in Rome in 2003 where she met Pope John Paul II.

She smiles and says how excited she was to receive two invitations to attend the canonization, first from the Missionaries of Charity then from the Vatican. “It was only an invitation to attend but I requested if I could sing in her honour. They were pleased at the suggestion and gave me a nine-minute slot to perform on September 3, the eve of the canonization. September 4 will include only religious ceremonies,” Uthup says.

She will perform ‘Lakh lakh hazaar hazaar’, a Bangla song by lyricist Sunil Barun which Mother loved as well, and ‘Poorest of the Poor’. Both were selected by the Vatican from among a range of options she offered. Usha Uthup is reworking the tracks as she prepares to leave for Rome August 31.

She has designed three new saris in off white and blue for the ceremonies. And her famous ‘Kanjivaram keds’ in blue go with her too. “Please tell all that I need their prayers and blessings,” she smiles her trade mark smile.