Pappa, Gaimai, Meheru, Manu, Meherwan and Eruch Jessawala arrived from Nagpur, and Baba issued instructions to Naja to look after this family particularly well, serving them good food and providing every comfort. The Jessawalas were about to be included in Baba's intimate mandali, and this was a prelude to it.
Baba's birthday was celebrated at two places separately — on Meherabad Hill by the women and in lower Meherabad by the men.1 Only a few of the Western women were allowed to come down the hill and observe the celebrations there.
Baba's feet were washed with milk and saffron on the early morning of his 44th birthday according to the Zoroastrian calendar, Sunday, 20 February 1938. Afterward, at eight o'clock, the darshan program at lower Meherabad started and went on continually until evening. Baba handed out prasad with both hands to the hordes of people who had come, amidst the singing of bhajans, praising God in all His mercy for allowing them to participate in this momentous day.
As Age described, "The atmosphere in Meherabad was redolent with the fragrance of Wine, and people looked intoxicated. The Wine of Meherabad is quite distinct; the deserving taste only a cupful after ages! The Tavern Keeper makes sure that its fragrance spreads throughout the world, bringing in its wake a transformation of consciousness, which makes the Avataric age quite unlike any other!"
Speeches were delivered by Angal Pleader and others, and a qawaal from Navsari entertained the men from 2:00 to 4:00 P.M., while a female singer from Poona sang for the women. Baba was intensely occupied from 3:00 A.M. to midnight. When he went to his cabin for rest late that night, a woman approached him, saying, "Baba, my child is crying; it is hungry, it needs milk." Baba, despite being exhausted, took the watchman Jamadar with him to lower Meherabad, found some milk, brought it back up the hill and gave it to the woman himself.
On Monday, 21 February, a free feast was given to 5,000 poor villagers from the surrounding areas. Baba personally distributed laddoos to the multitude. Afterward, the guests departed with longing in their hearts. But they carried the bliss of Meherabad back to their homes, where the joyous feeling of being in Baba's presence stayed with them for days to come.
During this occasion, Buasaheb and Sadashiv Patil had come from Poona to attend the birthday celebration, and Baba met with each privately.
Footnotes
- 1.Elizabeth took a short film on the hill.