Baba's words had a great impact on Don and totally changed his attitude toward his profession. "Now instead of approaching my job as drudgery — a way to earn money so I could do other things," he said, "it became an exciting adventure. I looked forward to discovering what situations Baba might place my way for me to best work through."
Since returning to Meherazad, Bhau's nightwatch duties were to begin each day from 2:30 or 3:00 P.M. But Baba would not call him then, since the women would be with him. Instead, Bhau was made to sit a short distance away on Rano's verandah (because Baba might call him at any time), and Baba would send for him when the women left, usually at 5:00 P.M. Bhau could not see any justification for his being on call at 3:00 P.M. and made to wait on the verandah for two hours every day. He had the Hindi correspondence to reply to and had no other time in which to write the letters.
Some days Baba would come to mandali hall as early as 7:00 A.M., and Bhau had to be present until Baba went for his lunch at 11:00 A.M. Then, when Baba returned, Bhau likewise had to sit in the hall. When Baba retired to his room at 3:00 P.M., Bhau had to go with him and be on duty until midnight. Thus, he had only two hours at his disposal — from 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. — during which time he had to bathe, have lunch, attend to the Hindi correspondence, and so forth. At times, there was so much correspondence that there was not sufficient time to reply to all of the letters, and consequently Bhau was irritated at being made to sit idle for two hours each day. Many days passed like this, with Bhau ordered to sit on the verandah from 3 until 5:00 P.M., doing what he thought was nothing.
One morning in the hall, Baba instructed Bhau, "Send replies to all the letters received today," and he indicated one in particular was urgent.
But, despite his best efforts, Bhau could not complete the task before he went to wait on Rano's verandah.
At 5:00 P.M., Baba called him into his room and asked, "Did you finish that letter?"