On 15 May, the rice was found to be a bit undercooked, so Baba scolded Dolly: "If the children had eaten this improperly cooked rice, they would have fallen ill and their studies would have suffered.
Do you have any love for these children? Are you trying to make them sick?"
Dolly protested that the rice was not undercooked. At this, Baba gave her a hard slap and then slapped himself just as hard. Dolly did not feel disturbed about being slapped, but was shocked by Baba striking himself. Tears welled up in her eyes, but Baba embraced her and told her not to think about it.
The Master continued to goad the mandali. Each day he inquired of the men as to how they liked the food, and daily they expressed some grievance.
He was satisfied with their frankness and would call Naja and ask her, "Why was there more salt in the vegetable at lunch? The men were complaining to me about this."
Naja sharply answered that they were mistaken, that there was the same amount as usual. In this way, dissension was created between Naja and the men mandali. Even Pendu, her own brother, did not refrain from criticizing his sister's cooking. Only Gustadji took her side during such an argument.
Baba would purposely create such discord to find out if there were any undisclosed feelings about how different people felt about each other. He wanted all to be honest and to tell the truth openly in front of each other, without partiality. After several arguments, Baba separated the kitchens of the men and women mandali and established a separate kitchen for the schoolchildren.
When Baba and the mandali first moved to Meherabad, they ate rice and dal twice a day. After a while, lunch consisted of rice and dal and for dinner bread and a vegetable dish. After the separation of kitchens, the meals for the men were rice and dal in the afternoons, and milkless tea and bhakri in the evenings.
Mehera always took extra care when preparing Baba's meals and tea, and her thoughtfulness when serving the Master was admirable. For example, aluminum glasses were ordinarily used by the mandali for their tea, and Baba used an aluminum mug (which he also used for bathing). When it was filled with tea, the mug would get so hot that Mehera would keep it in a pail of cold water before serving, so it would not burn Baba's lips.