Early Sunday morning, 2 March 1941, Baba sent Memo and Jalbhai back to Poona by train with Chanji, and the rest of the group started for Jullundur, 215 miles ahead. Before arriving at Ambala at noon, the bus had another flat tire, and Baba had to wait for it to catch up.
At Ambala, Baba sent Eruch to bring masts. Despite searching for an hour, not one was found. Baba was displeased and left for Jullundur at two that afternoon.
Baba instructed Eruch to drive at 45 m.p.h., which Eruch tried to do, despite the heavy load and consignment of passengers. But the tires kept getting punctured, causing irksome delays. Baba became more and more upset. Twenty miles from Ambala the Blue Bus had another flat, and Baba went ahead in Elizabeth's car to contact a mast 80 miles from the Sirhind railway station. Because of all the delays, the mast was not there when Baba arrived; he had left just minutes before. Baba expressed his disappointment.
Slowly, the bus lumbered into Ludhiana at four that afternoon. Baba took Eruch out to look for masts in a tonga, and Baba was pleased to be able to contact and feed one. They managed to repair one of the tires on the bus before departing at 7:30 that evening, and drove 50 miles to Jullundur, arriving at midnight.
On the morning of the 3rd, they left at 5:30 for Lahore, 87 miles away. Again, punctures and delays were the order of the day. Nilu and Eruch pleaded for new tires and tubes, but, for his own reasons, Baba would not permit it; they were forced to make do. Besides the poor condition of the tires and tubes, the bus had two wheels on one side at the rear and only one on the other, causing it to be very awkward to maneuver.
They had to stop at Amritsar for two hours because of punctures.1 While Nilu oversaw the repairs, Baba and Eruch went out in search of masts. Afterwards, all left for Lahore. Baba's car arrived at 11:30 A.M. and the bus three and a half hours later. They stayed at the Braganza Hotel.
Eruch located two masts in Lahore, whom he brought to Baba. One was an old mastani. Baba had his contact with them as well as with three other masts.
Footnotes
- 1.Amritsar is the sacred city of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), a Hindu Perfect Master who founded the Sikhs. The Golden Temple is located there.