All of the mandali, including the women, eventually concurred, and Mehera and Mani requested that the body be kept at Meherazad until five o'clock that evening.
Dr. Ginde then suddenly asked, "Where is the crypt? What is the floor made of?" When he was told that the floor was of stone, he said that the flooring would have to be removed. Padri left for Meherabad to see that the stone slabs at the bottom of the crypt were excavated.
Chhagan was sent to Ahmednagar to have a wooden board made on which Baba's body would be placed inside the crypt. Don was to have a wooden coffin made, which would be placed over Baba.
Meanwhile at Meherazad, Baba's surgical bed was straightened to a horizontal position. Baba's sadra and chaddi (boxer shorts) were changed, and it was decided not to give Baba a bath, as he had been averse to bathing and had not taken a bath for almost two years. Despite that, his body was always fresh and fragrant. Baba's body was wrapped from his shoulders to his toes in the two sheets that were on his bed. On the carpet near Baba's bed a sheet of plastic was placed and over it a quilted bedspread. Baba was gently lifted by the men and placed on the quilt. He was again wrapped in the quilt, plastic and carpet. A checkered white and pink scarf was tied around his head and under his chin. The women brought a hot-water bag to place on Baba, thinking he would revive. They were still not able to believe that Baba was truly gone.
Meanwhile, Don left to bring an ambulance from Booth Hospital, and Adi went back to town to send the telegram to all parts of India and the world. While the record Begin the Beguine was being played several times, Don arrived with the ambulance. (It was unclean, so it was washed.) Eruch told Mani to get her movie camera and take a film.1 Baba's body was lifted onto the ambulance's stretcher, and Eruch, Bhau and Aloba brought it from his room to mandali hall, where it was placed on Baba's aluminum bed. There, all of the mandali and the servants took Baba's darshan. Baba was physically bidding farewell to Meherazad. Every leaf and blossom was full of gloom. Yet everything was being done in a courageous manner.
Footnotes
- 1.Later, Don Stevens continued filming the event at Meherabad and hired a local photographer, Vinod Shah, to shoot additional footage in 16mm. Vinod was the son of G. M. Shah, who had photographed Baba and the Prem Ashram boys in the late 1920s.