The moment she heard the word Aden, she was startled as if from sleep and straightened her back from her drooping posture. Lifting her left fist, she lightly tapped her chest twice, closed her eyes and repeated softly, "Aden! Aden!" Then in a loud voice quite different from her previous sweet one, she spoke with a hoarse whisper as if moved by some sorrow: "Aden is my land! ... It has come out of me, I created it! ... But today it wants to mock me!" She stopped, then stared intently at my face for one or two seconds, heaved a sigh and the sweet voice returned. "Well son, you may go," she said very softly. " Khuda Hafiz [May God protect you]." Then she asked, "When will we meet again?"
"When you wish, Babajan. When it pleases you," I said.
My reply sent her deep in thought. Then she rambled the words: "You will have to wait ... to wait for five years ... He tells me two years ... No! No, I won't allow two years! So come exactly after a year and a half."
She continued, but I could not follow the meaning of her words: "I have come here after staying there seven years ... Many used to stay with me ... And I will be with you. Also, I will keep my child with me ... I am with the world and God is with me!"
Saying this, she extended her left hand to me, which in veneration I held and submitting to some secret feeling, I kissed. I heaved a sigh of relief that the meeting had come to an end and quickly joining both hands bowed to her and returned. Merwan was waiting for me in a nearby café. I informed him everything in detail about my first ever meeting with Babajan. He heard me out without interruption.
Then Merwan remarked, "It is better that we don't understand the rigmarole of all these great saints. Whatever she has signified about you I believe refers to some coming calamity." With regret, Merwan continued, "And from what I think of it, I can say that the future does not hold well for you, Baily. You will have to face terrible difficulties and you will have to suffer much! May God protect you!
"What can be done, Baily?" Merwan asked rhetorically. "Whatever is written in your fate, you have to go through. But one thing you did well, you took my advice and met Babajan. Because of her blessings, you will return safely."
I asked Merwan the implication of Babajan's instruction to come after one and half years. Merwan did not respond and ended the conversation.
Still I really did not give much credence to either Babajan or Merwan's warning. Consequently, I did not pay much attention to what they said. I left the same night for Bombay, where I had to wait a full month to catch a ship — not knowing what lay in store for me ...