Before leaving Bombay, Baba obtained a new Persian passport on 16 January 1932. No signature or thumbprint was given for it.1 He then returned to Nasik, where the men and women mandali received him heartily with joy. The women members of the ashram, Mehera, Daulatmai, Freiny, Naja, Soonamasi, Small Khorshed, Gulmai, her daughter Dolly and Big Khorshed were finely dressed to greet the Beloved, and some of them even played musical instruments to welcome him. Dina Talati, Khatija Abdulla and Amina Jaffer also took part in Baba's homecoming celebration, along with Rustom and Freiny's children, Meheru, Naggu, their brothers, and Naval and Dina Talati's daughter Jeroo and son Curshed.
Meheru and her sister and brothers would play games with Baba. From her childhood, Meheru had loved Baba as her heart's treasure, and she was to join the women mandali after completing her education.
As instructed by Baba, the women mandali in Nasik had been dressing in long sleeve cotton blouses with traditional cloths tied around their heads. After his return from the West, Baba relaxed this order.
For his entertainment, women staged a play for Baba, the story of which Baba had given them before departing for England. Baba liked the play so much that he invited the men to see it and it was repeated the next day. After this, the men never saw Mehera again for many years.
Among the men mandali living in Meherabad during Baba's absence were Bala Tambat, Gustadji, Karim, Pleader, Raosaheb and Sidhu. Two boys, Kalingad and Bhiwa, who were formerly in the Meher Ashram, had stayed with Baba's men mandali in Nasik after the disbanding of the school.2
During Baba's visit to the West, Karim had left Meherabad, never to return. When Baba came to Meherabad from Nasik, he ordered Karim's trunk flung into the well. Soon after, Baba transferred all the mandali to Nasik.
The following men were then staying with Baba in Nasik: Adi Sr., 29; Buasaheb, 40; Chanji, 40; Chhagan, 26; Gustadji, 43; Jalbhai, 30; Masaji, 65; Padri, 29; Pendu, 29; Raosaheb, about 30; Rustom, 33; Sidhu, 30; and Vishnu, 29. Others, like Ghani, Ramjoo, and Sadashiv Patil, who were in Baba's close contact, would come and go. Ramjoo and Naval were residing in Nasik with their families at the Sarosh Motor Works, as was Kaka Baria. Baidul had been sent back to Persia and was conducting a school there.
Footnotes
- 1.On Baba's passport is written: "Profession: Spiritual Master."
- 2.Another boy, Shapur, was also in Nasik with the mandali, but he was sent to Ahmednagar at this time to work at Sarosh Motor Works.