Several local children seemed to have come especially to receive the banana Baba was distributing as prasad. They had no idea — nor did they care — who Baba was. These innocent ones' love was for the banana! Seeing these poor street urchins, Baba would smile and sometimes hand them two bananas.
When Bhau's seven-year-old daughter Sheela Kalchuri approached the stage, she was carrying a garland. She wanted to embrace Baba and reasoned that if he allowed her to come up on to the platform to garland him he would embrace her also. Eruch motioned to her to hand him the garland, which he would place around Baba's neck, but Sheela refused. Baba instructed Eruch to pick her up and she got to garland Baba, who embraced her, thus fulfilling her wish.
Although Baba did not embrace all, he did impart his physical touch to each by gently placing his hand on their hands, shoulders or head, thus allowing them direct contact. Goher's sister, Roshan, brought 80 children from the Remand Home (an orphanage in Ahmednagar), where she was a teacher, each of whom received Baba's prasad. Some of the orphans were frightened and would step away hurriedly after receiving prasad, but Baba would not miss touching them gently.
The villagers of Padale and Bhalwani had come to know of the program and arrived in bullock carts with their numerous children and family members. From the number of children present, it seemed as if the adults were in the minority that day.
Almost 1,000 persons had gathered at Khushru Quarters for the occasion. Merchants, the staff of the post office, a civil judge, a deputy superintendent of police and other government officials were present. The police superintendent placed his head on Baba's feet, and Baba patted him on the back for a few moments. When his turn came, Navle (a longstanding Ahmednagar lover) got a chance to whisper a few words to Baba. Another old lover, Kaka Chinchorkar, was so overcome to see Baba and have his darshan, he absent-mindedly forgot his ever faithful walking stick, which Adi had to hand to him later.
The entire gathering received Baba's darshan, and some youngsters who came late had it after the arti was sung. The police superintendent requested Baba's permission to send his family to Meherazad, and Baba agreed, providing they reached there within half an hour of Baba's departure from Ahmednagar.