"Ella pughalum iraivanuke (All glory and fame is to God)" was how music maestro A R Rahman reacted to his double-Oscar feat. Besides God, the 'Mozart of Madras' also dedicated his Oscars to his "loving" mother Kareema Begum, who was seated among the audience at the Kodak Theatre.

Rahman has always dedicated his awards to them. "I always had a choice between love and hate in my life. And I chose love and I am here," a beaming Rahman said at the Awards Ceremony.

Having shouldered the responsibilities of his family at the tender age of 9, Rahman never had an opportunity to get proper education in his life. Begum had in an interview to a Tamil weekly had said she will feel bad forever for not giving her son an opportunity to enjoy his childhood days.

Here's the full text of his acceptance speech:

Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage. There's a dialogue from a Hindi film called "Mere paas ma hai," which means "I have nothing but I have a mother," so mother's here, her blessings are there with me. I am grateful for her to have come all the way. And I want to thank the Academy for being so kind, all the jury members. I want to thank Sam Schwartz, I/D PR, all the crew of Slumdog, Mr Gulzar [Images], Raqueeb Alam, Blaaze, my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai [Images]. And I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award which is... "God is great." Thank you.