Who was Balabuva Satarkar and what brought him to Shirdi for the Ram Navami festival?

Balabuva Satarkar was a famous Haridas, known as the 'Modern Tukaram' for his Bhajans. As detailed in Chapter 6, he was originally scheduled to perform the Ram Navami Kirtan at Siddha-Kavthe, a service for which he had an annual grant. However, a plague struck the village of Kavthe, leading to the cancellation of the festival. This unforeseen event provided him with the opportunity to visit Shirdi. He expressed his desire to have Sai Baba's Darshan and perform Kirtan there to Bhausaheb Dixit, which set in motion his eventual visit and performance in Shirdi.