They reached Marseilles the same day and checked into the Hotel Terminus . O
On their way there in the taxi, Baba looked at Nonny, smiled and spelled on his alphabet board, "Angel".
The four-day stay in Marseilles proved to be hectic. Baba rushed about all day, going for walks in the zoo and parks, and out for drives. He took the group to the movies twice in the same day. Whenever Baba went to a movie, it was his usual habit, no matter how good the film, to watch part of it, then stand up and walk out. But this was not the case in Marseilles. The film they went to in the evening turned out to be hopelessly boring. All wanted to leave, but Baba insisted on sitting through it until the very end. The film was in French and Baba kept nudging Rano to translate and explain what was being said. This embarrassed her as the content was a bit risqué for the time. At one point, Delia naïvely asked, "Baba, darling, is your spiritual work not over yet?" The film was so poorly done that some fell asleep.
While out in the city one day, they passed the bird market. Baba indicated his wish to have some birds. A pair of brightly-colored parakeets was purchased and taken back to the hotel. Baba then said that he wanted four more: one each from Delia, Quentin, Nonny and Rano. These were brought, but the next morning Baba said that he needed three more: one each from Norina, Elizabeth and Ruano. Baba went with them to the shop and selected four himself, for a total of thirteen birds. Nonny purchased a beautiful pagoda-shaped cage in which to keep them.
But at the hotel, the birds began fighting amongst themselves and Baba wished them separated into different cages. Quentin had kept pet birds in London, so Baba sent for him to transfer one pair into a different cage. Quentin was preparing tea in the next room (he ws an absolute stickler for an afternoon cup of tea) and he called out to wait a minute, he was making tea. A After a couple of minutes, Baba again sent for him and Quentin gave the same reply. Baba was annoyed by this and directed Adi Jr. to move the birds.
Baba spelled out, referring to Quentin, "He thinks more of his tea than of obeying my orders."
When Adi Jr. put his hand inside the birds' cage, one of them pecked him sharply. He immediately drew back his hand, and as he did so, one bird flew out the cage door and away through an open window in the room. Quentin appeared on the scene to find Baba very displeased, his eyes glowering intensely.
Pointing to those present, Baba asked, "Is this obedience? Is this the way the West obeys me? I will send you all back and never see your faces again! My work is handicapped by the escape of that bird. So I repeat: Remember at all times to carry out immediately what I say!"
Baba then calmed down, embracing one and all. Rano was amazed by Baba's sudden change in mood, since an ordinary human being could never revert so quickly to contentment after displaying such an explosion of wrath.
To celebrate, Baba gave each a little wine and said, "It is of great spiritual significance to take birds from the West to the East. Each one represents a person. The bird that flew away is symbolic of one of my close disciples who will realize me but die before I break my silence. It was my will that the bird flew away. It will die in a matter of days. My circle has twelve members, so the thirteenth bird had to go. The same thing happened at the time of the Buddha, who was given 32 birds by his disciples."
Baba directed Delia and Quentin to take one of the birds back to the shop and exchange it for as many smaller birds as they could. They brought back five, for a total of sixteen. Kaka was put in charge of these birds, and they were taken back to India with Baba.