The pace of the activities at Meherabad noticeably quickened in the excitement of the upcoming event. Ajoba noted in his diary:
Although Baba has been taking food very scarcely and irregularly of late ... day-by-day, the steadily increasing inhabitants and the consequent arrangements in the colony, besides the large number of visitors that come daily, Baba's field of activity has increased beyond description. His inspections and inquiries are never for the sake of formality. Seldom an irregularity or change in any matter or person, however imperceptible it might be, misses his vigilance and watch.
Amidst all the hustle-bustle that is going on for the great day (his birthday), including the arrival of numerous guests from out-stations for the occasion, Baba did not miss going to the hospital, dharamshala, and the asylum for the blind, and inquiring of each and every inmate of these institutions about their health and requirement ... Similarly the mandali and the inmates of the ladies' quarters received Baba's due attention.
On 13 February, Baba gave instructions for a small box-like cabin (six feet by five feet by five-and-a-half feet) to be built on the stage of the Sai Darbar, indicating that it must be completed by the time of the birthday celebration. When it was still not finished by 17 February, Baba sat with Ajoba until midnight to make sure the work was completed.
With festoons, potted palms, flowers and garlands, all structures such as the Jhopdi, the Table Cabin, the dhuni, Upasni Serai, Sai Darbar and the Water Tank on Meherabad Hill were beautifully decorated for Baba's 32nd birthday. Hundreds had already come the day before from different places. Beginning early in the morning of Thursday, 18 February 1926, thousands more, traveling by bus, truck, car, tonga, and bullock cart, arrived forming a sea of humanity at Meherabad. Traffic on the Dhond road was continuous throughout the day, ferrying visitors back and forth to Ahmednagar. The arrangements concerning food and lodging for the guests, which Baba had insisted the mandali take care of several days before, were found to be inadequate.
At eight o'clock that morning, the women mandali gave a ceremonial bath to the Master in the Bathroom Building and the men did the same afterward. All were allowed to pour a small pot of warm water over him; thus thousands of liters of water were showered upon him, and a great number of people touched his delicate flower-like body.