How good my mandali are! They are with me for years without any hope of reward. They try their best to carry out my orders and must undergo severe hardships.
Travels with me entail great privations. The harassment that I give is greater during my travels, and it is while traveling that my greatest work is done. At such times, those of the mandali who are with me in the journey are really lucky. It was also true of my journey to Kashmir. There was a lull afterward, and it has now been repeated in this journey. There is a secret purpose behind all this, which you cannot comprehend. But I am happy that you all were made to suffer for my sake.
Seeing tears in the eyes of Buasaheb, Patil, and Shroff [when I struck myself] has afforded me great pleasure and consolation; and at the same time, I feel like laughing at their strange behavior. Vishnu says, "I am leaving!" Buasaheb replies, "You're not the only one; I'm going too!" This amuses me very much.
Today all got injured — some physically and almost all mentally. Now I forgive every one of you.
The mandali were satisfied with Baba's explanation, and the group boarded the bus and proceeded toward Bijapur, reaching the Mallur dak bungalow at 10:00 P.M.
They reached Hubli on Sunday, 9 March 1930, having driven through Shimoga, Honnali, and Harihar. The next day, they received two telegrams, one from Minoo Pohowala and one from Kaka Baria. Kaka had wired that Aga Ali had not yet arrived in Bombay, and Minoo's telegram concerned financial matters, without acknowledging receipt of Baba's previous telegram about Baba's decision to visit Bijapur.
Baba asked, "Should we go to Bijapur or not?"
They discussed the alternative of visiting Panchgani, but due to Kalemama's difficulties with arranging matters at Panchgani, it was eventually decided to go on to Bijapur.
On the evening of the 10th, they reached Minoo's Meher Motor Works in Bijapur where Minoo received them warmly. A darshan was held and they had a fine moonlit drive after dinner to a lake.
They rested that night and left the next day by train. But even this journey was not without its troubles, as Baba was "out of mood" and disturbed by other passengers. They had to change trains in the middle of the night at Dhond, and arrived in Nasik at 3:00 P.M. on Wednesday, 12 March.