He could not believe his eyes when he saw Duzdab, as according to his calculations, they were still days away.
They reached Duzdab at 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 5 November. Everyone was exhausted from the strenuous journey. To return to India, Baba could have journeyed via the sea route, which would have been much more convenient, but for his own reasons he chose to go overland which very few foreigners who visit Persia ever did. The mandali could only silently wonder why Baba had chosen to travel through the desert and mountains, suffering severe privations during the entire journey. Three of them became seriously ill.
Quite weary from the journey, Chhagan awakened late the next morning and was severely taken to task by Baba.
"Whatever I ask you to do, you do not do!" Baba scolded. Turning to the others, he fumed, "No one does what I ask! All of you have no care for me! I try to wake you up at five and you go on sleeping."
Baba also taunted Buasaheb; consequently, when it came time to eat, both he and Chhagan were in irritable moods.
Baba later tried to cajole Chhagan out of his depression by inquiring, "Are you here to serve me or am I supposed to serve you?"
Chhagan refused to cheer up and stopped eating. Baba personally served him a cup of tea, which soothed him.
Dhansak , a tasty Parsi dish of rice and dal, was prepared by Masaji, and Baba personally served it to the mandali.
He then explained, "Today, I am serving you dhansak for two reasons: to help cure your stomachs; and for certain important work of mine to purify and redeem the people of Persia. Never before in the history of any saint or Perfect Master was such a 'practical' procedure resorted to as I am doing here. But what I am doing is only here and now. I will never do it afterward or elsewhere."
Duzdab was then a frontier station on the border of Persia and British India. At that time things were very strict, on both sides of the border. Hard and fast rules were to be followed by both sides. Before anyone was permitted to cross the border a thorough investigation was made as to the references of the party concerned.
Baba explained to Raosaheb and Chanji, "It will take a long time to obtain visas, so go to the government office today and start the paperwork. If we get stranded here, we will not be able to catch the Sunday train and will have to spend a month or more here, experiencing much trouble in obtaining visas."