Meanwhile, Baily was sent to Calcutta for a month to sell copies of the Urdu edition; Khak was dispatched to Lucknow, Lahore, and Punjab for the same purpose.
While in Calcutta, Baily happened to meet Baba's paternal uncle (Sheriar's younger brother) who had lost contact with his brother. Baily informed him about his nephew's exalted status, and told Baba about him when he returned to Meherabad.1
On 20 April 1924, Gulmai and Rustom arrived at four in the afternoon with special food for Baba. They brought a copy of the Iranian Association's journal Ahkbar , in which a critical review of Upasni Maharaj's Gujarati biography appeared. Sorabji Desai had written an article in the same newspaper stating that he had met Meher Baba and fully believed that he was "the coming of the Jagat Guru [Master of the universe; the Avatar]!"
Gulmai used to come every day to Meherabad, bringing Baba's food. Due to her financial help, as well as that of Adi and Rustom, the work in Meherabad was greatly facilitated. The stone flooring for the Jhopdi was expected to be completed within a week but was finished in two days. The month of April is the middle of summer in India and the heat was intense, but despite this, much work was accomplished.
The next morning, while the mandali were engaged in their duties, Baba came and said, "Today Naval [Talati] is coming and he will definitely bring fruit for all."
He repeated this, but when Naval arrived from Bombay, with his wife Dina and her mother Rupamai, he had not brought any fruit.
Baba scolded him for disappointing the mandali and said, "Just see how they are slaving away in the summer sun. They are working like mules! But there is no need for them to despair; some other treat will surely come."
After a short time, Gulmai and Rustom arrived from Ahmednagar with a bundle of sweets, along with the happy news that Rustom's wife Freiny had given birth to a son that day. Baba distributed sweets among the mandali in honor of the happy occasion, and he named the child Merwan — after himself.2
Jalbhai was now living with the mandali at Meherabad once more. On 22 April, he and Adi Sr. were given the duty of watering the jasmine saplings that had been planted on both sides of the Jhopdi from 7:30 to 10:00 A.M. and from 4:30 to 7:30 P.M., and they were therefore freed from other work.
Footnotes
- 1.The name of Baba's uncle is not known (it might have been Merwan), nor is it known whether Baba ever met his uncle, although Baba worked in Calcutta as a young man.
- 2.Merwan Rustom Irani was later known as Mehlu.