Baba contacted Moti Baba in Madras at the home of a rich Muslim merchant. In previous years Moti used to fidget with beedies, but his habits had changed and he now enjoyed shuffling decks of cards. He was playing cards when Baba went to him, and the contact was satisfactory.
Baba communed with ten more masts before leaving Madras on the 12th. Going further south, Baba arrived in Trichinopoly on Friday, 13 August, and worked with a good mast named Hazrat-e-Khan Pathan.
Baba next traveled to Tiruvallur, on the 14th, to contact his dear Chatti Baba for the last time. They found Chatti Baba out in the open on the outskirts of the village, and the great sixth-plane mast appeared to be in a bad state. Looking emaciated, the old mast-saint was found lying with his head on a bundle of cloth by the road. At the heartbreaking sight of this great saint, Age was full of melancholy. Chatti Baba appeared depressed, perhaps because this would be the last time he would see Meher Baba.
Baba sat with him and gave him some bananas. Baba was deeply moved by Chatti Baba's condition, and he explained at length Chatti Baba's great love for God and of how sorry he was to see that he was not being well cared for.
Before he left Tiruvallur, Baba instructed some of the mast's devotees: "Chatti Baba will soon pass away; see that you raise a proper tombstone over his mortal remains."
Baba gave them a sufficient sum of money for that purpose and instructed them to begin preparing a suitable memorial.
On Sunday, 15 August 1948, Baba proceeded by train and bus to the village of Avanashi, where he contacted one of the most forbidding characters ever recorded, a great yogi known as Ilai Swami. Although reported to be at least 80 years old, the yogi appeared physically to be untouched by time. Despite appearing young and radiant, Ilai Swami's nature was unpredictable and disturbing, and so intense that people often felt more upset than comforted after encountering him.
The yogi was naked, except for a small loincloth around his ebony body. His toe and fingernails were two to three inches long. When he slept, he simply lay on the barren earth, without a blanket — in all weather conditions. He was never seen drinking water or even touching it for that matter. After eating, he would simply wipe his hands on his thick black hair.