Tuesday, 13 November 1945:
As arranged, 50 coolies came up the mountain at noon, to carry all the luggage down. Baba, the mandali and all began the descent at four that afternoon. Jal Kerawalla met them on the way and took a few photographs.1
Baba reached Ghatula in the evening, and immediately left by car for Dhamtari. He was to rest in Ghatula for a week, but as usual, Baba's "rest" consisted of constant and arduous activity.
The Mahanadi River was flooded, and it took them hours to cross it. All three cars got stuck in the mud and had to be towed out by bullocks. At midnight, one of the cars broke down in the middle of a dense jungle. With difficulty, they reached the dak bungalow at 2:00 A.M. and rested for a few hours.
On the 14th, after lunch at Dhamtari, Baba left for Raipur. Arriving there in the evening, Baba left for Jhansi by train, accompanied by Adi Sr., Baidul, Gustadji and Kaka. Pendu was sent to Meherabad, where he resumed his duties of overseeing affairs there.
Baba arrived in Jhansi at midnight on 15 November. He rested for a while on the station platform, and contacted two masts in the morning. One was called Loba Mast, who sat naked except for a loincloth under a tree in all seasons. He had gathered around him an odd collection of old tins, pots and pans. The other mast was Chun Shah , whom Baba found in an isolated room where he sat alone.
At noon on 16 November, Baba departed for Mathura (the birthplace of Lord Krishna), where he contacted a few masts in nearby Vrindavan (where Krishna spent his childhood).
In Mathura, Baba recontacted Inayatulla, the sixth-plane mast-saint and chargeman of the city. Later, Baba contacted two masts named Chowliwala and Vishwamitra .
Baba arrived in Lalitpur on the night of Monday, 19 November 1945 and remained on the station platform. The next morning, leaving all their luggage in Lalitpur, they set off for Tikamgarh. There Baba contacted a very old mast called Allahi Shah Baba , who was believed to be 125 years old, and supposedly had grown a new set of teeth at such an age. Allahi did not show his advanced years, however. He had lovely bright eyes, and Baba sat with him for a considerable while.
Footnotes
- 1.The photographs that Jal Kerawalla took of Meher Baba after the Angiras Hill seclusion either did not come out or have been lost.