Baba replied, "It is true that you had to keep quiet because of this second order, but you still could have reminded me through gestures!"
When some others conceded that he could have tried, Ghani acknowledged his mistake, although it was unintentional.
"Thumps and Bumps" was another game that was occasionally played in the Manzil. All would sit with their backs to the wall, keeping an open space in the middle. They would try to strike one another with a tennis ball, particularly aiming at the head. The one who caught the ball had the right to strike someone else, including Baba. They were free to throw the ball as hard as they could, but not with a feeling of malice or anger.
Baba and Ghani were the best throwers. Baba would look to one side and throw the ball in the other direction. Ghani's aim was usually accurate. But Behramji was the worst player of all; he would never catch the ball and went on receiving hit after hit on the head. This game was played vigorously, with a lot of ruckus and good-natured shouting. It refreshed the minds and spirits of all the men. While playing, their concentration would be entirely focused on the game and they would completely forget about their cares.
For the Master, such an activity was a medium of his work. Baba was always doing his inner spiritual work, whether by playing games, cards, conversing, discoursing, watching movies or cricket matches, rebuking someone, getting angry, or creating quarrels among the mandali — through every action he did his Universal work by utilizing any and every means for it.
During the afternoon of 11 October, Baba told Adi and Ghani to put the sitar in its case. This was a peculiar order as for the past four months the sitar had not been kept in its cover — even when unused for days.
Accordingly, when Adi opened the case, he smelled an awful stench and found a dead rat inside. Then he understood why Baba had asked them to cover the instrument. When Baba was told about it, he asked Ramjoo to clean the case with phenol (a disinfectant). While Ramjoo was doing this, Baba lent a hand washing it. Baba emphasized that infection would spread in the Manzil unless proper measures to ensure cleanliness were followed. Later, he told Ghani to write the following on the notice board: