Don thought he should go quickly, as Baba was having to stand unsupported because the women would not come out until he had left. He began walking briskly back to the men's side, but as he did someone shouted from the hall that Baba was calling him. He looked around and saw that Baba had turned and was snapping his fingers, beckoning to him. He wanted to embrace him again. Stevens walked to him, and Baba embraced him several times more. Baba then motioned for him to leave. A quick thought rushed through Stevens' mind: "Goodness, Baba's acting almost as if this will be our last time together," but he dismissed the thought as soon as it came. This was his tenth trip to India to see Baba, and it was, in fact, his last.
Goher was in regular correspondence with Adele Wolkin (who was a nurse) about sending required medical and dietary items for Baba. Describing Baba's health in a letter to Adele on 12 August, Goher wrote:
Beloved Baba looks very tired these days. The hip joint pain is better and he walks a little; he does not use the wheelchair. The pain in the cervical region still persists. There is very little we can do to help him get rid of this pain. We doctors, too, sometimes feel so silly and helpless when we just stand in front of him and watch him suffer but are incapable of removing the pain. Baba has been telling us that the pain in his neck will continue to persist as long as he wants it to. It is but a reflection on the physical plane of his infinite suffering that he has taken upon himself to redeem mankind.
Nariman and Arnavaz came to Meherazad on Saturday, 13 August 1966 for a ten-day stay. Feram came with them for his annual 20-day stay. Manu Jessawala was also staying at Meherazad for a few weeks.
After meeting Baba, Don Stevens left for Cochin and then Bombay, where he met Rick Chapman, a friend of Robert Dreyfuss, Allan Cohen and Jim McGrew.
Frederick "Rick" Chapman, 23, had found out about Baba in Boston the previous year. He graduated from Harvard in June 1966 and had been granted a year's Fulbright teaching scholarship in India. He had specifically applied to go to India fully expecting not to meet Baba, as he knew Baba was in seclusion, but he hoped to be able to meet as many people as possible who had met Baba. He wrote to Adi, informing him of his plans and requesting the names and addresses of lovers he might contact while in India.
Rick arrived in India on 20 June 1966, and following a two-week orientation in Delhi and Srinagar, he was assigned to teach at the H. K. Arts College in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He had ten days of vacation in August, which he decided to spend in Bombay and Poona visiting Baba lovers. Rick wrote to Eruch: "Baba's orders to me have been not to come to him until he himself calls. I will, of course, obey his perfect will."
For the first six weeks that Rick Chapman was in India, Baba did not call him. But on the morning of 10 August, when he arrived in Bombay and was met at Victoria train station by Sorabji Siganporia and Kishinchand Gajwani, Rick was informed, "We understand that Baba has called you to see him on August 17th!" As shocked as he was elated, Rick could barely absorb such extraordinary and unexpected news.
