Tanpuras hum on a January stage as the Balgandharva Sangeet Mahotsav fills three evenings with Hindustani classical music. The songs here are older than any concert. Bahinabai Chaudhari, who married into a Jalgaon family, composed farm songs in Ahirani that her son wrote down, and her poems now sit in Marathi school textbooks.
Away from the stage, the city works as a market town for banana country, with gold showrooms in the old lanes and smoky bharit served at busy counters. The climate is hot and semi-arid, with a fierce dry summer, a green monsoon and mild winters. A Local Friend can turn Gandhi Teerth, a bharit lunch and a trip to Ajanta into one day that makes sense.
