Baba decided it was better to let Pendu continue, and save money by giving him the two extra weeks he had originally requested.
The next morning, Baba called Pendu and said in a very serious tone, "I am giving you two more weeks to complete the work. It must be finished by August 25. I will have no place to stay. I am being evicted from the P.W.D.! So we have to come to Meherabad. I am coming on the 25th whether you have finished or not!"
Pendu looked somewhat worried and Baba urged him, "Be brave! Don't feel dejected or despondent with difficulties and inconveniences. Face it all — that's manliness, that's heroism.
"I don't like things to go smoothly or easily," Baba continued. "There is no credit in doing things easily. One must experience resistance, difficulties, and pass through awkward situations. These are real tests and bring out the best and worst in men. The more opposition you have from maya, the more you should resist and face it with fierce determination. Don't feel anxious. Do your best."
Pendu accepted Baba's terms and thought: "If I work wholeheartedly, Baba will surely help me." He agreed to do his best, but added, "Baba, I will finish everything by the date you wish, but you must also agree to one condition: Don't come here before that date! Each time you come you add to my work!" Baba smiled and extended his hand in promise, saying he would come at eight o'clock on the morning of the 25th.
The work on Meherabad Hill now had a definite deadline. Pendu arranged a day and a night shift, and had a tea stall opened to keep the workers (mostly from Arangaon Village) fortified. Pendu himself brought his clothes and bedding up the hill and never came down, even once, during the ensuing two weeks. He stopped taking baths and his meals were sent up to him. Everything was done at a breakneck pace.1
On 10 August, Kaka Baria and Naoroji Dadachanji arrived from Bombay, bringing doors, windows, timber and four concrete models: a Christian cross, a Hindu temple, a Mohammedan mosque and a Zoroastrian fire. They were fitted onto the corners on top of the Tomb. An iron gate for the main entrance had also been fabricated in Bombay and was brought by them.
Jal Kerawalla arrived the next day to see Baba.
Footnotes
- 1.One of the reasons that the steps to the second story of the Water Tank are so big is that there was not time to do the work well and build them smaller.