For the fourth year in succession, master singer K.J.Yesudas who turned 84 on Wednesday is missing his date with the famed Kollur Mookambika temple in Mangalore in Karnataka.
Since the Covid pandemic stuck, Yesudas has been in Dallas, USA and hence, he has not been able to take part in the musical tribute at the temple, which has been a practice of him and his family for close to four decades, when they arrive at the temple on his birthday and sings hymns.
This temple is a very revered place among performers in the music and art.
In a music career extending to over six decades now, he has recorded over 80,000 songs in over 14 languages, including Arabic, Latin and Russian.
Yesudas, over the years, has won a record eight national awards, and a record 25 state awards.
The singer has also been conferred the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.
Apart from his songs, the singer is known for his characteristic attire: a white kurta and a white dhoti, and in the recent years, he has been sporting a flowing white beard too.
The nearly a dozen news TV channels in Kerala on Wednesday are airing special programmes of the veteran singer and so are the high profile personalities in the state from politicians to actors and those in the music industry are all excited and applauding Yesudas.