Chapter 36: Interested In Remaining Disinterested
1962Page 4,794 of 5,444
That summer, despite the fact that no darshan functions were scheduled, Baba did allow the Poona and Bombay lovers to visit occasionally, usually on Sunday afternoons. On Sunday, 1 April 1962, the first of a series of meetings was held to discuss arrangements for the upcoming darshan program known as the East-West Gathering. Another meeting was held on 8 April, concerning the darshan.
During the weekends, most of the Bombay lovers would come to Poona and stay in nearby hotels. Nariman's brothers Rustom, Beheram and Hoshang and their wives Freny, Bapu and Havovi came close to Baba during this period. Freny Dadachanji's younger sister, Zarine Mavalwala, came from Karachi with her family. She was reluctant to meet Baba, thinking that she would fall victim to "some mind trap." When Freny brought them to Guruprasad, Zarine made sure she was the last to be introduced to Baba. But when Baba embraced her, she started weeping. Freny said, "Baba, she loves you very much."
Baba took Zarine's face in his hands and gestured, "She is mine."
One visitor in mid-April was Baba's maternal aunt Banu Masi, who came to Poona from Karachi with her son Merwan. She wept much as she greeted Baba and her nieces, Mani and Naja. She visited her nephew Pendu in the hospital, also. Mona and Manohar Sakhare of Delhi also saw Baba at Guruprasad in April. Sampath Aiyangar's daughter Lakshmi, his grandson Kasthuri and other members of the Aiyangar family were also visitors that summer.
"I am for all in Creation," Baba told them, "but I come for a few like Sampath Aiyangar."
One day Baba visited Mobo's Hotel not far from Guruprasad on the same road, where a number of the Bombay followers were staying.1 Roda Mistry served him sherbet. Baba gave a glass to each person present. Roda's son, Sarosh, was eight at the time. Baba asked for a cup and pretended to fill it with the sweetened water, but did not pour in a single drop. He handed it to Sarosh and asked him to drink it and, although Sarosh was just a boy, he obeyed and seriously tried to drink it. Baba was very happy and then gave him a full cup.
Roda sometimes prepared food for Baba on a small stove in her room at the Mobo's Hotel. One day when she was carrying the food to Guruprasad with the help of Khorshed Khan, Baba was seated on the verandah with the women and called her for an embrace.
Before he did so, he said, "Your hands smell like onions!"
Roda didn't say anything, but simply nodded. The other women were shocked, "You didn't wash your hands after cooking?" Baba again said Roda's hands definitely smelled of onions, and Roda again silently nodded.
Baba embraced her anyway, and on the way back to the hotel, Khorshed Khan said, "Roda, you didn't chop any onions today while cooking! Why didn't you say that?" Roda explained in one short sentence: "Never contradict your Master." Roda's life was a living testament to the oft-quoted Hafiz line, "About what you hear from the Master, never say it is wrong ..."
Rustom, Beheram and Hoshang Dadachanji, with Sadashiv Patil, Jalbhai and Beheram, Sheroo, Sohrab and Rustom, Jal Dastoor, Jal's brother-in-law Fili Engineer, and Meherjee came to Guruprasad every day to play cards. Jim Mistry and Nariman came on weekends and stayed at Guruprasad. Joseph and Kari Harb were also frequent visitors. In the mornings, Joseph would take Baba out for a drive in his car. In the evenings, Baba would sit on the verandah with the women, and Mani would read some book to him.2 Then at 8:00 P.M., he would retire to his room, followed by Bhau.
Footnotes
- 1.Mobo's Hotel (previously known as Pabani Mansion) was the former home of the original Mohammedan family who owned the Guruprasad property at the turn of the century.
- 2.Baba liked the Nero Wolfe detective mysteries by Rex Stout, and Mani would read those and other books, such as J. R. R. Tolkien's books, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.