Ardeshir Shapurji Baria, later known to everyone as Kaka, was born in Navsari on 23 February 1891. He studied mechanical engineering and worked for two years at the Greaves Cotton Mills in Bombay, five years at a similar firm in Nagpur and two years at the Tata Iron and Steel Company in Jamshedpur. He also worked in Iraq as an automotive mechanic, and by 1928 he was living in Bombay as the owner of several taxicabs.
From childhood Kaka liked to visit the tombs of saints. In Nagpur he met Tajuddin Baba, who assured him that all would be well with him; in Poona he regularly sat before Hazrat Babajan; he also met Narayan Maharaj; and finally Upasni Maharaj told him to go for Meher Baba's darshan. In 1928 he came to Baba at Toka and asked to stay in the ashram, but Baba tried on his chappals and told him that they did not fit: only when his chappals were Baba's size would Baba keep him. Kaka endured two years of testing before he was fit to join the Master.
Meanwhile his family in Bombay, his sister Banubai and her husband Manekji Confectioner, often hosted Baba and the mandali, and Kaka put his car at Baba's disposal. He became one of Baba's closest mandali. In 1932 he travelled with Baba to England, Switzerland and America, keeping night watch on the journey, and he went on later Western trips as well. On the road in India he often served as the cook, and in October 1949, at 58, he set out as a companion of the New Life, where he and Baidul were put in charge of the kitchen.
Kaka became the manager of Meherazad, and in 1952 Baba re-appointed him to that post. He lived there for long stretches on his own, keeping the property and rooms spotless as if Baba might arrive at any moment. He was strict and fastidious, so much so that the other mandali hardly dared speak with the servant boys under his charge, and the cook was terrified of him.
Kaka's heart troubles began in 1950 during the New Life; he had four heart attacks, a stroke in 1965 and a very severe fifth attack in 1967, when Baba gave him a cup of water and he recovered so fully that he never again needed medical attention. Baba had said that Kaka was to be the only mandali member buried at Meherazad. He died there on 27 February 1969, less than a month after Baba dropped his body, and was buried at Meherazad.
