I tried to ignore them and kept working on Mehera, but they became more insistent. "Baba this and Baba that," they said. Dr. Irani also began urging me to come and see about Baba. Of course, I had no idea who Baba was, and barely heard her because of the concentration on what I was doing. I did not know what they were talking about, but finally decided to go and see what all the noise was about and entered the adjoining room where Baba had been brought.
But as soon as I came in the doorway, Baba started grinning at me and smiling, so I figured he cannot be too badly hurt — until I found out later the extent of his injuries.
When I finally got around to attending to Baba, I was surprised to see an individual who was injured as badly as he was still smiling. I was also astounded to find that he did not speak a word or make any sound denoting discomfort. I assumed that he could not, but was informed by Dr. Irani that he did not speak because of a willful act.
I knew we were going to have to give him a general anesthetic (pentothal) to set his fractures, and suspected that he would say something at that time, but he didn't.
The most attractive quality of his personality that first day was the way he would look at me with those big brown eyes, as if he were reading my mind. Later I determined that the most astounding quality was that something which made it possible for him to receive such profound devotion and loyalty from so many fine and educated people. That quality cannot be forced. Such devotion can only be possible because he deserved it or earned it.
Two bones of Baba's lower left leg, his left arm at the shoulder and the septum of his nose were broken. His upper gums were injured and bleeding from the lower dentures he was wearing at the time of the accident. Don and Eruch had persuaded him to have them made before his trip to the West, and after the accident he almost never wore them again.
Baba remained conscious throughout, giving instructions. For example, that it was all right for the doctor and male technicians to touch Mehera. Baba was accommodated in Burleson's office; Goher slept near him. Mehera and Elizabeth were in a separate room, and Kitty and Rano looked after them. Meheru was in the waiting room.