Adi Sr. drove the bus up to Sholapur with Kaka sitting beside him in the front seat. Vishnu, Baidul, Gustadji, a few of the other mandali and the women servants were sent by train to Mysore (on 13 August) with the luggage and some of the pets. Dr. Ghani went to Poona.
On the way, the bus became mired in a riverbed for hours and had to be towed out by a farmer's many bullocks. Baba and the women stayed at the dak bungalow at Sholapur for a day, and the mandali stayed in an adjoining bungalow. Due to swarms of mosquitoes, they shifted to the dak bungalow at Hippergaon, near Ekruk Tank on the 4th. Don and Nilu joined the group here. Chhagan had been sent ahead to Sholapur by train to arrange for their meals. Gadekar and his wife Gunatai were living in Sholapur at the time, where Gadekar was a District Education Officer. They arranged for the group's food, and thus had the opportunity of the Master's company.
Baba's plan was to wait in Sholapur for Chanji's telegram from Mysore. Chanji inspected several bungalows there, but could not rent any without Baba's permission. He was informed about Baba's arrival in Sholapur. With difficulty Chanji arranged for the group to stay in hotels in Bangalore, so that Baba could personally inspect the bungalows in Mysore before they were selected.
When the driver Tukaram arrived in Sholapur, Baba sent Adi Sr. back to Meherabad. The group left the dak bungalow on 9 August 1939 at 9:30 A.M. and reached Bangalore four days later on 12 August at 3:30 P.M. via Satara, Kolhapur and Harihar. Don shared the driving of the bus. The Eastern women were lodged in a Parsi hotel and the Westerners in a different one a few blocks away.
The next day, Sir Mirza Ismail suggested that Baba establish his ashram in Bangalore. If Baba chose to do so, he said, Sir Mirza would help arrange a piece of land for the ashram. He immediately took Baba to a parcel of land at Byramangala, 22 miles from Bangalore, and Baba, after seeing the place, which he liked very much, accepted his offer. The Links bungalow, owned by Ismail's brother on Sankey Road, Highground, in Bangalore was rented and Baba and the women moved into it on the 14th.1 Once the decision to stay in Bangalore was definite, the mandali from Meherabad were called.
