At one point, Baba picked up a pan and placed it on top of Deshmukh's head, remarking, "One day the Chinese will walk into India. This pan will protect you from the bombs!"
(Those who heard this took Baba's remark lightly, but when the Chinese did invade India in 1962, they realized that Baba may have in some way been working to protect India seven years before the event.)
December 2 was the final day of sahavas, and Baba bid the kitchen workers farewell, embraced each one and had his photograph taken with them. Chhagan also had labored hard. He would go to sleep at 8:00 P.M. and be up by midnight to begin preparing the congregation's breakfast, which would be ready by 5:00 A.M. He would remain occupied cooking the entire day, and thus he hardly rested for more than four hours a day for a month.
At 12:30 P.M., the Marathi group assembled in the hall, and Baba inquired of Gadekar, "How much did you eat?"
"Very little," Gadekar replied.
Baba said, "But I saw you take eight puris, one plate of dal and rice, two bowls of shrikhand and a plate of bhujias!"
Everyone had a good laugh, and Limkar interposed, "Gadekar ate sixteen puris, Baba. I counted them!"
Thus, for some time fun and good humor filled the atmosphere. Bhajans were then sung, and after more than an hour of music, several men were seen dozing.
So at 1:50 P.M., Baba instructed the group, "Go and rest for fifteen minutes. Afterwards, come back again and sit in the same places where you are sitting now."
The group dispersed, and Baba conversed with the mandali on the west verandah. Exactly fifteen minutes later, he entered the hall, as did most of the sahavas group; but it was difficult for them to locate their original positions. Deshmukh did not remember where he had been sitting. The confusion provided a fine source of amusement, and Baba enjoyed it very much.
But soon his mood changed, because B. L. Sherlekar of Nagpur, without Baba's permission, had told his wife to bring the mast Kuttawala, and they had arrived that morning. Baba did not at all appreciate this disturbance during his sahavas activity. The mast was taken to Arangaon, where he collected all the village dogs around him. Then, to fulfill his wish, food and milk were sent from Meherabad for the dogs, and after feeding them, the mast, on his own, came to Meherabad. Kuttawala said he wished to proceed to Ahmednagar to feed the stray dogs and cows there, and this put Baba in an even worse temper.