Shirdi Sai Baba Statue in Samadhi Mandir In 1952, a piece of a White Italian Marble had arrived from Italy at the Bombay Docks but for whom or why, nobody seemed to know Thus, in the absence of a claimant, the dockyard authorities auctioned it off and the purchaser later offered it to the Shirdi Sai Sansthan. Impressed by the quality of the Italian Marble, the Shirdi Sansthan planned to use it for an Idol of Sai Baba. So they gave Shri.Balaji Vasantrao Talim - a sculptor from Bombay, the humongous task of sculpting Baba's Idol. Meticulously, Shri.Balaji Talim got his tools 'made to order' from iron-smiths and carpenters started off by first making a Model of Baba using Mud Clay. But it was difficult for Shri.Balaji Talim to make the statue in its exact likeness without the intricate details of the physical characteristic's of Baba's face, to profile which he only had Baba's one black & white photograph. Therefore, he prayed saying &q