Thud thud thud,” Bhiklya Dhinda mimics his recent endless travels on Palghar’s bare rocky roads. The tarpa maestro’s recent rise to mainstream fame after his Padma Shri win has inadvertently left his timetable packed, and legs sore. Our conversation on the sidelines of a local festival in Kasa Village comes after eight long hours of tracking the 92-year-old’s movements through local help. Earlier that day, Dhinda made a round trip to Nashik for a felicitation. The morning after our meeting, he plans to head to Pune for another stage appearance.

Life with tarpa

“I had barely one foot inside my doorstep when someone reminded me I need to be here,” he chuckles, sitting next to his hand-painted tarpa that is almost as tall as him. The tarpa never leaves his side; his great-grandfather Navsya, grandfather Dhaklya, and father Ladkya before him, all wielded the wind instrument. “I was 10 when I dropped out of school. My father handed me the tarpa to carry the 400-year-old legacy forward,” he recalls.\