Baba at once saw in the mast's eyes and expression a resemblance to one of the old members of the mandali, Karim, and for that reason named him Karim Baba . Karim Baba was kept in a room near Chatti Baba, where Baba would visit him a number of times during the day, and also before retiring for the night.
Karim Baba's eyes shone as bright as a tiger's. He would swallow copper coins and then carefully remove them from his stools, clean them with his clothes and then swallow them again! He was extremely dirty, stinking beyond description, but would not allow any of the mandali to remove his clothes or give him a bath. Once, when Baidul tried to remove his stool before he could extract the coins, Karim Baba, who was usually silent, let out such a roar as if he would tear Baidul apart! The mast was therefore left alone, undisturbed.
The mast's fingernails were extremely long and sharp and Baba warned everyone to take care as Karim Baba might scratch one on the face, if he were out of mood.
Baba even hinted, "He might even go for me when I am alone working with him."
The day the mast arrived, Baba informed the women in the evening:
"Today I am very happy. There are two very advanced souls who control the whole of Calcutta: one woman, very old, who looks like Babajan, and one man, whom the Fatty [Kaka] has brought here today.1
"I saw both during my last trip to Calcutta. The man who has been brought was sitting in one place for ten years. People bring him food, as many believe in him, and he eats it all. He does not bathe. He ties wire and rags around himself. Nothing would make him move. Then I sent for him here through Kaka. How Kaka managed, he alone knows, but when the mast was put in a tonga, at least 500 people followed him to the train.
"Tomorrow, I will show him to you all. When we were in Calcutta and saw him, it was raining so very hard, but he was just lying there oblivious to it. He doesn't speak a word."
After four days of Baba's contact in Ranchi, however, suddenly Karim Baba began singing, which was unheard of, as none in Calcutta had ever found him in a happy mood.
Footnotes
- 1."Fatty" was Baba's nickname for Kaka Baria when in the presence of the Eastern women, since no man's name was to be mentioned in front of Mehera. Likewise, Baba would refer to Baidul as his wife "Soltoon's sister."