Baba selected a spot for the cave on the southeastern side of Meherabad Hill, and the five men did the work in earnest.
Chhagan was also ordered to cook Baba's food. However, Chhagan's hands were cut and badly blistered by the cave digging, and he had a standing order that before cooking Baba's food he was to wash his hands ten times with soap. He therefore told Baba, "My hands are cut. How can I wash them before cooking your food?"
"There is no need to wash them," replied Baba. "Bandage them and then begin."
"But look at my hands; they are filthy."
"Forget about the dirt. It is my order which washes out all dirt."
So Chhagan cooked each day, and Baba often remarked how tasty the food was.
By Friday, 7 November 1930, Baba was in a hurry to have the cave completed and he instructed the workers to make certain that it was finished soon. He then left with a few of the mandali for Lonavla, where Ghani had arranged their stay at his house. Here too there was a continuous stream of people for darshan and Baba explained much about the spiritual path.
While darshan in Lonavla was very joyful, the scene was quite different in Meherabad. The mandali were working like mules, doing all the labor themselves and barely finding time for meals. Whenever they would take a break, they would sit and chew tobacco. One day some people from Poona arrived and noticed the mandali chewing the last of their tobacco. When the people returned to Poona, they sent some tobacco to the men with someone traveling on the train that passed by Meherabad.
Occasionally, the Poona devotees would send other packages to the mandali with someone traveling on the train. As the train neared Meherabad, the person would toss the package out and the men would pick it up near the tracks. In this way, baskets of sweets also began to be sent, and the "laborers" were enjoying them.
One day while Sadashiv Patil was passing Meherabad on the train, he threw out four large parcels of laddoos, which the four working on the cave retrieved. Being more than enough for them, they distributed a large portion of the sweets to the rest of the Meherabad community. This upset Buasaheb, because he was the manager of Meherabad and eating such "contraband goods" was not allowed without Baba's prior permission.