Seeing Baba from a distance, Dadi entered an exhibition building located at the garden because, according to orders, no one was to meet Baba. Baba, however, also entered the building. With his face turned away, Dadi stood to one side. Baba left shortly without speaking to him.
Baba and the women then went to see the bungalows that had been arranged. Though they didn't like the Wanowri house much, Baba agreed to stay there for two days, before moving to the other bungalow. Their meals were to be sent from Bindra House. Gadekar had meanwhile managed to procure the Maharani Shantadevi of Baroda's palatial bungalow, Guruprasad , at 24 Bund Garden Road, with the help of Sardar M. A. Raste.1 Gadekar received this information in a telegram on 27 March, and immediately delivered the cable to Bindra House. Meherwan sent the telegram to Baba along with his lunch that day, because he himself was also forbidden to meet him. At this time, Baba was not seeing anyone, including the Jessawala family at Bindra House or his brother Beheram's family. All were eager to meet him, but no one would disobey his wish.
On receiving the news about the availability of the Guruprasad bungalow, Baba went to see it, liked it immensely and, with the women, moved there the same day at 3:00 P.M. Eruch, Baidul and Adi Sr. stayed in quarters at the back, where Pendu also joined them.
Meherwan was in college at the time, studying for his Bachelor of Science degree. The day of his final examination was approaching, and while searching for bungalows he had no time to study. As a reward for their success in finding a suitable residence, Baba made an exception to his ban on visitors and sent for Pappa, Meherwan and Gadekar.
Meherwan had not seen Baba for more than a year. He was shocked by Baba's condition: "I had never seen Baba so physically depleted. He was in a terrible state, so thin and frail that his neck was like a chicken's, and he had to be supported to walk. Because of piles trouble he could not even sit, and for the duration of our visit, Baba stood.2 He was totally emaciated. Yet the smile he gave to greet us was his usual one and he embraced us."3
Baba expressed his pleasure at the procurement of Guruprasad, and then asked Meherwan, "When is your exam?"
Footnotes
- 1.Guruprasad was previously called Habib Hall. It had been built in the early 1900s, by a wealthy Mohammedan, Husain Ahmed Ibrahim (grandson of Sir Karim Ibrahim). In 1929 it was sold to Lilavati Patwardhan, the Rani of Jamkhandi (who may have acquired the property as part of her dowry). The Rani kept a special wooden charpoy in one of the bedrooms for her guru, who stayed there apparently. Thus, the palace was rechristened as Guruprasad. The property was sold to the Maharani of Baroda in 1950. Sardar Raste was related to the wealthy and influential Peshwa ruling family of Poona. (Rasta Peth, a neighborhood in Poona, is named after Sardar Raste.)
- 2.From his childhood, Baba suffered digestion problems. The hemorrhoids were not only due to his delicate digestive system, but also due to the prolonged fasts during his seclusions and his irregular diet during the numerous mast tours.
- 3.Bill Le Page, The Divine Humanity of Meher Baba (Meher Baba Foundation, Australia, 2002), Vol. I, p. 30.