![marathi song mi dolkar dolkar raja marathi song mi dolkar dolkar raja](https://a10.gaanacdn.com/gn_img/albums/R7vKXr6Wmr/7vKXmkgz3m/size_l.jpg)
The beauty of our wada was its diversification -something unheard of in the 60’s. Bhimsen Joshi lived a couple of streets down and Sudhir Phadke was a regular visitor. (By the time I was six, Vasant Desai had left the wada but visited occasionally). Our wada also boasted celebrity figures like Comedian Master Chhotu and Music maestro Vasant Desai. One, which still gets me swaying is ‘ Mi dolkar, dolkar, dolkar dariyacha raja ’.
![marathi song mi dolkar dolkar raja marathi song mi dolkar dolkar raja](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/21/c6/15/21c615f822cb1e15ee541248f7b2411a.jpg)
A young adult resident Sushi would teach us dances to koli folk songs. Days before Ganpati utsav, we would go around collecting ‘chanda’ to pay for the decorations, lights, and sweet confectioneries for the eight-day celebration. To add to these lavish Creations, our wada had their own Ganpati in the courtyard. Major street corners around Pune would set up their own backdrops with lights and sounds and blaring music for the eight days. I grew up in a ‘wada’ (many large buildings of more than one story with groups of rooms around an open courtyard), to be specific – Vaidya wada in Sadashiv Peth in the heart of the city.
![marathi song mi dolkar dolkar raja marathi song mi dolkar dolkar raja](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71rsQjfX9qL._SS500_.jpg)
My nostalgia takes me back to how we Puneites took this festivity to a whole different level, so join me on a trip down memory lane and enjoy the pleasures of simpler times. Festivities for Ganesh Chaturthi abound all over India with cities and provinces welcoming Bappa and a few days later bidding him goodbye till the next year in their own spectacular way. About five decades ago, when I first migrated to the USA, I was very homesick especially during festival time and none more so than the celebrations for Ganaraja and the day of Visarjan.