Chanji's condition grew noticeably worse and was finally diagnosed as typhoid. On 20 August, Baba had him admitted to the Kashmir Nursing Home, where Daulat Singh looked after him, along with the European staff doctor, an Englishman named Dr. Rollins. Baba had stopped giving darshan after the Raipur program, so Kain and Ganjoo had to wait; but they, along with Dhar, would visit Chanji in the hospital every day, and they left nothing undone in nursing him.
It is a curious story how Chanji contracted typhoid. He was very fond of boiled potatoes, but Baba had casually given him the order not to eat them.
"They will eat you !" Baba had warned.
Chanji, however, took the order lightly. When Baba arrived in Srinagar, he happened to enter Chanji's room and found him eating potatoes. Soon after this, Chanji came down with fever.
Settled in Srinagar, Baba began searching for masts. On the 20th, a mast named Subhan Mattu was brought to him. When the mast saw Baba, he was overcome with ecstasy and began rolling on the ground, exclaiming with sheer joy, "You are Allah!" He placed his turban on Baba's head and covered himself with Baba's shawl. This mast was reputed to have been seen in towns far from one another, at very short intervals.
Baba went with Kaka and Baidul to Mirak Shah Wali in Shalimar, where they encountered a local Kashmiri named Habibullah Baig seated by the saint. With Baba staying behind at a distance, Kaka and Baidul went ahead and politely requested that Habibullah leave for a while, but the man countered, "Why should I go?"
"A big [important] man from Bombay is coming to see Mirak Shah," Baidul said, "and he does not wish to see him in the presence of anyone else." Habibullah would not listen, but when the wali himself told him to go, he walked away. Baba's name was not to be disclosed, and only Daulat Singh knew of his presence in the area. That is why Baidul would refer to Baba as "a big man from Bombay."
After Habibullah departed, Baidul called Baba over, and he contacted the wali. Mirak Shah was a Muslim saint renowned throughout Kashmir, and had an ashram near the famous Shalimar Garden. He was salik-like, handsome, fair skinned, middle-aged, and wore very fine clothes. Mirak Shah used to gather money from those who paid their respects to see him and, in turn, used it to provide feasts of free food to the poor.