The glorious singer is simply sensational at 77 and we just love her!
It was a delightful evening.
The people milling around, buying samosas, sandwiches and coffee at the cafeteria at the Nehru Centre in central Mumbai knew fully well that what lay behind the auditorium doors would leave them on a song for the rest of the weekend, probably for the rest of the year.
The crowd was dominated by well-dressed elders with a mix of middle-and-lower aged, united in love for the Glorious Usha Uthup.
"I have been singing for 56 years," said the singer, sitting in front of the mike wearing her signature Kanjivaram sari, Kanjivaram sneakers, gajra, bangles and a big round bindi.
The soon-to-be 78-year-old rock star began by introducing her 4-man orchestra to loud cheers.
The fact that she thanked them before and not after the show was a revelation of her virtuosity and large-heartedness as a performer.
Then she acknowledged names in the audience -- a lady whose nephew was married to her daughter; the wife of a Malayalam movie star for whose blockbuster film she had sung -- and warmly thanked the rest of us for making it despite a somewhat rainy Mumbai evening.
"Mi Mumbaikar," said the Tamilian born and raised in Bombay, the daughter of one of the city's senior police officers in the 1950s and 1960s, who sang at Marine Drive's Talk Of The Town restaurant before moving to Calcutta and making it her own.
And then she sang...
Oh what songs! She had the audience singing along loud, many dancing in the aisles, drinking in every musical tone that flowed out of her lips.
In between they would hold out their phones to record bits of Dum Maro Dum, Ramba Ho, Main Nachi, Senorita, Darling...
The lights in the auditorium were bright; she wanted to see the audience as much as they wanted to see her.
And woe betide anyone who stepped out; she wanted to know why and when they would be back.
She spoke to the audience in between songs like a friend, weaving them into stories, anecdotes and life experiences with warmth and humour.
Like, how she sang for Mithun Chakraborty because of her deep voice which was considered manly.
How she would have given all her gold to Bappi Lahiri, the composer who gave her some smashing hits.
How she was the "original item girl" because she got to sing songs for the "bad girls" on screen.
How she is the "original Didi" for having lived in Kolkata since the late 1960s.
How we must cry out and not back hold the tears in moments of grief.
How we must be kind because everyone has problems that may be much bigger than ours.
A singer who has sung in 16 Indian and eight foreign languages, she regaled us with songs in Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bangla, also Russian.
"This Russian song got huge applause both in Russia and Kyiv, Ukraine. A reminder of how music binds people," she said even as Russia and Ukraine rain drones and bombs on each other in what has been a protracted, senseless war.
She spoke of peace, love, paid tribute to our soldiers interspersed with some of Hindi cinema's rousing songs.
She moved you with songs that have helped many get through life's dark moments like Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaaye, Jab Koi Mushkil Pad Jaaye and made you dance with unbridled abandonment to Senorita.
The final song of the evening was an ode to India. The auditorium lights were dimmed and cell phone torches lit as we sang Sare Jahan Se Accha with her.
In those two hours, Usha Uthup took us soaring. She made us feel good. Her songs and voice stayed with us long after she left the stage.
She was sensational. Rocking hard as she has been through the decades and making us love her again and again and again.
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