gained with the servant while the owner was engaged in worshipping Baba's picture, and finally got some oranges. As they left the stall the owner came running up and wanted more money. He said his servant didn't know what he was doing. He didn't even recognize his Master! Baba told him that the deal was made and deals that were made were not to be broken.

2) Baba seemed to like travelling in what could best be described as a "closed hot-box." Whenever they travelled he didn't like any draft on him and liked the temperature very warm. His mandali would be sweating but he would be just comfortable. The mandali thought they knew better than Baba how he liked to travel. Once when they had a long train ride ahead, without telling Baba, they purchased tickets for first class, air-conditioned coach. It turned out that Baba made them have the air-conditioning turned off, leaving them with no means of ventilation in the middle of summer, in south India! Imagine! The mandali were sopping wet but Baba was just fine.

3) Baba often did things so that his mandali could have something they wanted while he received "nothing." Often times, due to lack of sufficient funds, Baba would ask the mandali, what they wanted to do—for instance, whether they wanted to use what little funds they had to take a horse cart instead of a long walk; or whether they wanted to walk and have cold drinks later on. They usually ended up walking eight or nine miles (Baba, too!) and then having cold drinks while Baba would either have nothing or just a warm drink.

That evening we all had an exciting dinner. . .the men told their stories and we told ours. As I was about to retire I was informed by Allan that I would have to give up my room. "What?" was all I managed to get out. Most of the people in our hotel would have to be switched because the second gang was due in any time and they had to have rooms! Carol Leigh and I stayed up almost all night with the two hotel managers . . . we finally got the rooms arranged so that only two people had to switch. All the figuring took us hours because we didn't know that in India, when a man shakes his head from side to side it can mean yes as well as no!

Wednesday, April 9

With a thunderous roar, a group of the most incredibly tired people showed up after the bus ride to end bus rides. A sleepless crew of about 30 were deposited at the Amir! Again, it took endless maneuvering to find everyone a place . . . two youngsters slept in the bar . . .another's luggage had completely vanished. But the bus ride was the real "cross" of the charter group's trip. No one could stop talking about it. Allan Saviskas recounts it here:

The closer we came to India, the higher we felt. We landed in Bombay around 11:00 p.m. When I got off the plane the hot, humid, intense night, I was home . . . I was somewhere! It was great. When we said: 'Jai Baba " others returned the greeting or asked: "Meher Baba?"

Outside of customs Meherjee Karkaria and the Bombay lovers greeted us with warm Baba love. We were told we'd have to bus from Bombay to Poona, 119 miles. . . that was nothing, after all! We had just come half way around the world, what was just a little longer when the end was the Beloved? We were to leave within an hour and were told: "Go refresh yourselves with sodas!"

If you have in your mind, as we had in ours, the image of Greyhound Scenicruisers . . . STOP!!!  We rode in buses at least 10 or 20 years old. Buses whose top speed was 35 miles per hour, but only the last 20 miles did we ever really go that fast. Whatever the buses passed, filled the compartment with odor. It could be a flower merchant, a restaurant or a dung pile. Everything was so strongly odorous. Out of the streets of Bombay and into the country, the road became two lanes but, many times only one. Our bus was the most crowded and uncomfortable. The bus had only a second gear and it stalled when we went too slow. All of this was made up for, because Meherjee was riding along with us. When we drove up the Deccan Plateau, it was really slow. At a certain point we made one kilometer in one hour. There was a hairpin turn going up and our bus stalled. The driver started out in second gear and went backwards. He talked to some passing