No matter what age, most people will remember the lilting high tones of an immensely popular national integration song that Doordarshan began playing a few years ago. 'Mile sur mera tumhara…' went the song and encompassed a whole gamut of India's who is who. But the tune most captivating came from a snippet sung by the country's most loved Hindustani singer Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Nodding his head and closing his eyes in his inimitable style, the little snippet made fans out of the few that had not heard him. The rest knew and loved him anyway.

For the 81-year old singer, the country's leading proponent of the Kirana gharana, it has been a long journey, literally too. Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi was born on 14 February 1922 as a conservative school master's son of Gadag, an idyllic village in Dharwad district of Karnataka. At a young age he was deeply moved by a recording of Abdul Karim Khan, a great master of the Kirana gharana, from where started his rigorous training under Pandit Rambhan Kundgolkar, also known as Sawai Gandharva at Kundgol, who himself was a pupil of Abdul Karim Khan for 10 to 12 years.

Interestingly, it is told that the Panditji's journey towards singing began with a dollop of ghee. Legend has it that as a young boy, Panditji loved music and ghee. But one particular day he got a mouthful from his mother when he asked for an extra dollop. Upset, he just left home and wandered around the country, especially North India, in search of a guru. His travails took him everywhere, where he picked up bits and pieces.

There are other experiences too that have added to his personality. Not many people know that his travels also made him an excellent connoisseur of automobiles. Whether Buick or a BMW, it is said that he can fix any engine with consummate ease. For all the hype surrounding the Panditji, it is well known that he is a very simple person. Even during concerts in America, he preferred the simple jhunkha-bakar (a simple bread and dal dish) meal, to all the fancy food available in such places.

However, Panditji's life is not without its downs. Close friends and associates recall how his life was almost wrecked by alcohol, and how it affected his singing. Only the timely and loving intervention of his wife Vatsalabai managed to wean him away from the debilitating habit. Apart from all the albums and performances, Kannadigas will always remember him for his lilting and different rendition of 'Bhagyada lakshmi baaramma' which was subsequently included in a Kannada film.

Pandit Joshi has added his own distinctive style, excelling in gamakar, meend and tanakriya and adapting characteristics from other gharanas to create a unique vocal idiom. His seemingly effortless performances are the result of relentless 'riyaz'. He earned his first platinum disc in 1986. He has been honoured with the Padma Shree in 1972, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1976 and the Padma Bhushan in 1985.For over four decades Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has led the renaissance of Indian classical music with the passion and power of a one-man chorus. It is an epic saga of struggle, of a single-pointed thirst for music. Perhaps that is why Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has been a daredevil, a risk-taker for most of his life.

Through his amazing absorption of the soul of various gayaki styles, he has created a unique blend, adding his own introspective aesthetic sense. His narrative and structure is never inaccurate and he presents his music where the listener finds the raga engulfing him from all sides. But the biggest disappointment to his fans came when the Panditji decided to announce his retirement after more than 50 years of sending music lovers into ecstasy.

However, the Panditji's humility will always stand out. His oft repeated statement: "I am always a shahgird (student). I have a long way to go." Indeed… Whether in or out of singing there is no way he will be forgotten in a hurry. And, he does indeed have a long way to go.