Throughout his life, Meher Baba always kept the women of his group separate from the men mandali. No one except Gustadji could attend to the women and he, too, was not permitted to visit them except for specific work. The women were also instructed to repeat the name of God — Yezdan — and were given household duties to perform. Pilamai would come often to see the ladies, and Baba once took the women to visit her house.
During the evening before leaving for Bombay, Baba gave every one of the men a bath by having them lean over a fountain and pouring water over their heads. The next morning, 21 July, he quickly departed with some of the mandali, leaving instructions that the rest should follow to Bombay with the luggage.
Arriving back in Bombay on Friday, 25 July 1924, they stayed at Kaikhushru Masa's apartment at Irani Mansion. Soonamasi and especially Khorshed were happy he had returned. Baba had been gone for a month and a half — not twelve years, as he had told them he would be. By the end of July, those mandali with families had departed for their respective homes, and only six men remained with the Master.
One day at Irani Mansion, Mehera and Khorshed decided to cook doodh pak with puris — a sweetened, thickened milk-based dessert with small, round, deep-fried wheat puris. The milk would not thicken, so Mehera added flour to it.
“”When it was served to Baba, he inquired, "What is this? Who has cooked it?"
Soonamasi replied that they were doodh-pak puris prepared by Mehera and Khorshed.
“”Baba sent for them and asked, "Have you ever seen doodh pak puri in your life? Has your father ever tasted it? Is this doodh pak or gruel for a sick man? Do I look ill to you?"
But the next day Baba told them to prepare potato patties and said that he would teach them how to make them. He cooked the potato dish in the kitchen, and also taught Mehera how to make patrel — a vegetable delicacy.
“”Then he pointed to the hot stove, explaining: "As the fire burns in the stove, so should the fire of love burn in your heart!"
During this period, Daulatmai contributed a large sum of money to the Master. Meher Baba instructed that a portion of it be kept aside for educational and social work in the names of Hazrat Babajan and Upasni Maharaj, and that part be kept for rendering technical training to the poorer Zoroastrians in Persia.
