"Not even you and Sheela?" Baba asked.
"No one," she replied.
Baba asked Mehernath again, "Then who resides in your center?"
"You, Baba, and myself!" the boy answered.
Baba was much amused and asked, "Who will sing arti now?"
Mehernath and Sheela sang it together, and after embracing them and giving them prasad, Baba went to Vinod and Raj Khilnani's center and embraced them. When he was seated in the car, each of his Ahmednagar lovers came forward and kissed his hand before he departed.
On the road outside Akbar Press, the entire Satha family was gathered waiting to see Baba. Dhun and Shirinmai Satha were seated in wheelchairs. Dhun had been crippled since childhood, and Shirinmai too was now unable to walk due to severe arthritis. Baba stopped to accept their love and to bless them with his smile, and they each kissed his hand.
After Baba's car had passed the Ahmednagar railway station, 20 Arangaon villagers were seen assembled by the road. Once again the car was halted amidst clamorous shouts of his Jai! After each villager had kissed his hand, Baba and the mandali's cars proceeded to Poona. After a short distance, Baba sat in Meherjee's car with the women, and Adi drove that car while Shaikh drove Adi's car.
Before Baba's arrival at Guruprasad each year, Meherwan, Gaimai and Manu Jessawala, and Jehangu and Gulnar Sukhadwalla would have the palace cleaned and everything prepared. However, no one was allowed to be present to receive Baba when he arrived, except for Meherjee, Meherwan and Jehangu.
Baba arrived at 11:30 A.M. Since he had walked and climbed more steps than usual that morning, his hip joint was giving him pain at the end of the tiring drive, so the men carried him up the steps of Guruprasad in a lift-chair. As always during Baba's stay in Poona, Kaka was left behind in charge of Meherazad, and Kaikobad was taken to Meherabad Hill to stay with his family.1 Due to Baidul's stroke in 1963, Baba had sent Baidul to stay at his daughter Sarwar Taraporewala's home in Bombay. (Baba sent Baidul to his daughter's every year thereafter, in addition to permitting him to spend some weeks in Poona with his other daughter Dowla and his wife Soltoon.) The five men mandali who remained with Baba at Guruprasad were Eruch, Pendu, Aloba, Bhau and Francis. The six women mandali who accompanied Baba were Mehera, Mani, Goher, Meheru, Rano and Naja. As usual, Naja stayed at Bindra House to prepare the meals.
Footnotes
- 1.Padri stayed at Meherazad to help Kaka and to oversee repairs to the property in Baba's absence. Noshir Irani was instructed to go to Hardwar on pilgrimage.