Trumpet player Mahesh Devlekar, 35, doesn't keep a diary. None of the 30 members of the Swaranjali band, not even founder Sahadev Yashwant Gurav, 75, has chronicled the five momentous decades of being part of Mumbai's oldest surviving music band, known for an abiding presence in the 11-day-long Ganesh festivities. Devlekar, the current band lead, and his colleagues rely on collective memory to recall their magical trajectory—the annual act of playing together during the Gokulashtami-Ganpati-Navratri-Diwali festive season, the experience of lugging around metallic instruments and drums amid mammoth crowds and pouring monsoons, and the seaward visarjan journeys ending at wee hours.

Interestingly, the only document the band relies on is an excel sheet of responsibilities, beginning with the elaborate jazzy aagaman (arrival) of Ganesh idols, which is nowadays almost a month before the festival. Most other correspondence with the Ganesh mandals, local police, and devotees is informal and verbal.