Previously on 16 July, Baba had sent the following cable to Meredith Starr in Devonshire, England:
"MAKE ALL PREPARATIONS FOR MY COMING. LOVE IS CALLING ME TO THE WEST."
Chanji had been in touch with a shipping office to book their passage to England on the Tivere , leaving Bombay on 25 August. But when they arrived in Karachi, they were informed that no second-class economy cabins were available. Chanji was agitated about this as he had been promised cabins on the ship, but Baba told him to book another vessel bound for Europe. Chanji was able to secure cabins on the SS Rajputana instead. It was difficult on such short notice for Chanji to obtain tickets, and he wondered why this last-minute trouble had arisen.
In Karachi, Pilamai had a long talk with Baba, expressing her desire to join the ashram. Baba assigned Jamshed Mehta the work of obtaining visas for himself, Chanji, and Aga Ali. Rustom was also to accompany Baba to England, but he had still not been informed about it.1
On Saturday, 22 August 1931, Mehta informed Baba that Mahatma Gandhi might also be traveling to England, but it was looking extremely doubtful at this stage.
Baba replied, "If I go to England, I will take Gandhi with me. You simply expedite the passport work."
The next day, Baba repeated the same thing about Gandhi.
In September, a Round Table Conference was scheduled to take place in London about India's independence, but it was uncertain whether Mahatma Gandhi would attend. At the last moment, he agreed and, when it was announced that he would be sailing to England on the SS Rajputana , Chanji and Mehta grasped the significance of Baba's earlier comments, and Chanji realized why they had not been able to travel on the earlier ship.
About his trip, Mahatma Gandhi told newspaper reporters, "I must go to London with God as my only guide."
The visa work continued. The British authorities had endorsed Baba's passport with a visa on 25 July, but Mehta was informed that Baba would be required to sign a "guarantee" (perhaps in relation to Ali, who was a minor). Even Mehta with all his influence as mayor of Karachi found it impossible to convince the British authorities to issue all the documents to Meher Baba without his signature.
At last, Baba consented to sign, but before doing so, he remarked ominously, "The British government is compelling me to sign its own death warrant! This will be the end of the British Empire in India."
Footnotes
- 1.Rustom already had a passport from his earlier trip to England.