Among the Padma awardees gathered at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday evening to receive one of the country’s highest civilian honours, was Bengaluru’s own musician Ricky Kej who attended the ceremony with his mother on his arm. In a brief chat on a flight en route the USA, the three-time Grammy award winner shared the surreal joy of receiving the Padma Shri, saying, “The award itself was announced on the eve of Republic Day this year and I was overjoyed, but it felt absolutely real only when I actually stepped into the Rashtrapati Bhavan.” Explaining the preparation that happens behind the scenes of what the nation sees on screen, he added, “In the morning, a rehearsal was organised and it helped all of us award winners to be less nervous – we practiced the entire event flow, and pathway to walk to the president. We also got to know a little bit about the history of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.” Despite this, Kej’s nerves had not completely dissipated. “When my name was called out, it was a complete blur,” he recalls.
Because of being ‘humbled by the entire event itself’, Kej chose to make the walk barefoot. “It is so amazing that the award goes to unsung heroes – people who are doing amazing work at the grassroots level, helping communities that have been historically left behind, and furthering the arts. It felt like I was in a temple and it was overwhelming as a spiritual moment. That is why I decided to walk barefoot and accept the award,” he explains, adding that despite his four Grammy nominations and three wins, the Padma Shri is the most special to him.
“I’ve won lots of awards all over the world but all of those have been for a project or a song. I feel the Padma award is for my entire career and it is a huge validation of all the decisions I’ve made, a lot of them against the grain, by the highest authority in my country. There is no greater feeling,” he says.
Recalling a memorable behind-the-scenes moment at the ceremony, Kej shares that he brought up a video of the Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar holding the umbrella for his wife in the rain. “I told the honourable Vice-President and his wife that I saw the video which went completely viral and that I found it very endearing. He laughed, brought his wife closer to him, and said that she was the commander in chief of my family,” he says with a chuckle.
What’s next for the musician? Two tours and an upcoming album continuing his activism-focussed work, he reveals, saying, “I’m working on a lot of things – one European tour and another Indian one, so there are a lot of concerts coming up this year. In addition to that, I’m wrapping up an album called ‘Gandhi: Mantras of Compassion’ which is a collaboration between me and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi. It is about the ideals of peace and non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi. It’s almost complete and we hope to release it soon.”