As Baba wished, they reached Colombo at noon on the 13 th ahead of schedule. They had lunch at the Victoria Hotel, and then took a train up the coast at 8:15 P.M. "Baba's health is getting worse," Adi noted, "and he constantly queries about the appearance of his face and the dark shadows under his eyes ... He constantly complains about [the continuous flow of saliva] coming out of his mouth."
After crossing the straits between Ceylon and India in a ferry, they faced time-consuming and laborious scrutiny by the customs and passport officials. The passport officer was especially rude, and Adi Sr. got into an altercation with him over his manner.
Baba arrived in Madras by train at 7:00 A.M. on 15 February 1935, and was met at the station by Sampath Aiyangar, his family and other devotees. Two hours later, Baba left on the Bombay Express train, traveling in a second-class compartment with Kaka, while Adi Sr., Chanji and Jalbhai went by third-class. But Baba had little rest when that night at Wadi passengers and their luggage poured into his compartment, overfilling it. He arrived in Dhond on the early morning of the 16th.
Padri had come to Dhond with a bus. The Maharaja of Bhor happened to be present on the Dhond station platform. He recognized Baba and offered tea and breakfast to all, which Baba accepted. Baba sent Chanji and Kaka to Bombay on an errand and returned to Meherabad on the bus later in the morning of the same day. Beheram and Adi Jr. arrived from Poona and stayed for three days.
Baba still had severely aching teeth and felt very weak from the extremely tiresome journey. Padri gave him an injection to ease the pain and Dr. Pimpalkhare of Ahmednagar was called to extract two of his molars, which he did around five in the afternoon on the back verandah of the Mess Quarters. Because of Baba's suffering, his 41st birthday was remembered that day (16 February) without any special ceremonies.
After arriving in India, Baba kept the puppy Chummy with him for some days and then gave the dog to Adi Sr. to look after. Settled in at Meherabad, Baba continued the fast he had started during the voyage from Singapore — drinking only milk and water (which caused him to become constipated). It was only after a month that Baba began eating solid food again.
The women mandali were staying secluded on Meherabad Hill. Baba had brought three fledgling myna birds which Naja began taking care of. The birds were fed plenty of worms brought especially for them. Baba named the mynas after the Hindu Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (Creator, Preserver and Destroyer). When they learned to fly, they would land on Baba's shoulders. Baba treated them with affection and would personally feed them cream and chapatis.