The young man had stayed at Meherabad for a few days the previous year and was engaged to be married. At the time he was lean and slender, and one day he told Baba, "Make me big, Baba."
Baba replied, "Stay here and I will."
"But the food here will make me even thinner," said Jal.
So Baba arranged special meals for him and asked Eruch to dress himself like a waiter and serve him. Jal would take his food very pompously, sitting at a special table (not like the other men mandali, who would eat sitting on a thin carpet or mat on the floor), and Eruch would serve him.
But when Jal was eating, Baba would appear and remark, "Oh, you shouldn't eat that; it will make you thinner. Give it to Baidul and Gustadji."
So Jal would give the item away. Thus every day, just when Jal was about to eat his meal, Baba would appear and repeat the same thing. Jal was thinking himself something special to be treated with such deference by Baba and the others, but in reality he would go hungry.
For a week Jal kept quiet; then finally he told Baba, "You keep coming in when I am about to take my meals and make me give all the good dishes you've ordered for me to Baidul and Gustadji. Instead of growing bigger, I am losing weight."
"Don't you worry. You will surely start gaining," Baba promised.
Despite the facilities afforded him, Jal Rusi learned how difficult it was to remain with Baba.
Ghani also disliked the vegetarian food. One day he said to Baba, "Meat-eaters such as lions and tigers are very powerful and energetic creatures. Their stomachs are never bloated. But the grass-eating bullock has a big stomach without the strength, power and courage of the carnivores.
"So," Ghani reasoned, "if the mandali become non-vegetarians, we will be strong like lions!"
Baba, however, pointed out, "The elephant is also a vegetarian and just see how strong he is. Why don't you be like an elephant instead?"
"But the elephant carries a big stomach," Ghani argued.
"Then let your tummy also grow. Your stomach should be as big as your head," Baba teased, "then you will look fine. So, take plenty of vegetarian food while you are here!"
Newspaper reporters would regularly seek interviews with Meher Baba, and sometimes he would consent.