Padri quipped, "We are not the type. We would have been fit only to rub and tend his horses!"
"That is not true," Baba replied. "I know what you are. Every one of you would sacrifice your life for me. In this Avataric age, I have a mandali unlike any other in any previous advent. You are all so lucky."1
There was an addition to the mandali's ranks in June of 1949: a former student from the Meher Ashram school in 1927, Ali Akbar (later nicknamed Aloba ) from Bombay came to stay permanently with them.
The mast Ali Shah was brought to Meherazad on 7 June, and Baba worked with him for the next ten days. He was sent back to Meherabad on the 17th.
Minoo Kharas was permitted an interview on the 14th. Sarosh and Ramjoo also saw Baba that day and Sarosh described to Baba the recent refugee-related disturbances in Ahmednagar and subsequent curfew imposed.
Before going to Mount Abu, Baba had instructed Sarosh to send the body of the Blue Bus to Meherazad. Baba had traveled the length and breadth of India in this bus in 1939–40. During the war years, because of the shortage of gasoline and rationing, the bus had been given to Sarosh, who overhauled it, and for a number of years plied it in Ahmednagar as a public bus. The body of the bus was then kept in the yard of the Sarosh Motor Works garage in Ahmednagar (next to Khushru Quarters) and was lying unused.
Months previously, before leaving for Mount Abu, Baba had suggested going into seclusion for 40 days in this bus, instead of at some remote place, for the sake of his love for his mandali, who would then be able to be near him during his seclusion. The bus was therefore brought to Meherazad by truck.
After the body of the bus was brought, Kaka had it repainted, raised and embedded in a foundation plinth of bricks and four empty oil drums. To protect it from sun and rain, a shed was built overhead, and near its rear door a small bathroom and commode was kept. On one side was Don's small room where Baba would sometimes sit with Ali Shah; on the other side a garage (now mandali hall), and in front, a tall bamboo-matting fence which Baba had ordered to be built so that the makeshift cabin was completely secluded.
Footnotes
- 1.In Poona, during 1921, Baba had disclosed that certain men had fought with him and fought against him during his minor advent as Shivaji, the Maratha king and warrior.