In the afternoon, while the ship was passing Messina, many passengers gathered on the upper deck, including Gandhi and the men of his party, and Baba, with Aga Ali, Chanji and Rustom. The Indian politician Shaukat Ali, who had boarded the ship at Aden, saluted Baba reverently and later spoke with him for half an hour.
Seeing Baba, Gandhi approached him with folded hands. While they were standing together, photographers started taking pictures.1 Within a few minutes, Gandhi remarked, "I now take your leave. The photographers won't allow us a moment's rest." The brief discussion they had concerned food, and Baba explained to Gandhi about Pleader's fast on only milk.
Then the topic turned to khadi , and Gandhi asked, "What crime have I committed? For the upliftment of the poor, I hit upon the idea of the charkha [spinning wheel]. I will meet with you tonight. At present, there is some work that needs my attention. I shall manage somehow to come at night."
Gandhi came to Baba's cabin at nine that night with the box containing Baba's book, which he had had opened with the help of the ship's crew. Baba gave him certain chapters of the "Creation Series" for him to read.
Referring to their afternoon conversation, Baba stated:
I wish to clarify the point about food and khadi. For years I have been a vegetarian. When I was attending college, I felt restless and distressed if I missed a meal even once. But since my meeting with Babajan and her kiss, about which I informed you last night, I have become totally indifferent to food. Once for eleven months [in 1914], I remained only on weak tea. The marvelous thing at the time was that I did not even have a thought that I was not eating. I had no idea [of what I was doing], yet I kept quite healthy.
Besides not eating for eleven months, I did not sleep at all. With open eyes I would lie there, gazing about me. My parents felt distressed for me. My mother first took me to be mad. Then a doctor named Bharucha was called to give me morphine injections, but to no avail.
Footnotes
- 1.No photograph has been located of Baba and Gandhi on board the Rajputana.