DR. ASTHANA'S DECEIT

 
Another incident at Guruprasad in 1960 involved my former college principal, Dr. Asthana. One evening I was with Baba in his room when a taxi entered our driveway. Baba asked me to go and see who had arrived. A man got out of the taxi whose face seemed familiar, but I found it difficult to recognize him after so many years.

I went up to him and asked, "Are you Dr. Asthana?"

He said, "Yes, but who are you?"

"I am Bhau Kalchuri," I replied.

He remembered me and asked, "What are you doing here?"

I answered, "I am a night watchman."

"A night watchman?" he exclaimed with a puzzled look on his face.

I asked him to be seated and went to inform Baba. Dr. Asthana paid the taxi and sat down on the verandah. I told Baba that my former principal, Dr. Asthana, had come to see him, and Baba gestured, "Tell him to come tomorrow at eight o'clock for darshan." Then he added, "Ask him where he is staying, and send him back in our car. He is your principal and he will feel pleased that his former student takes such good care of him."

I went back and told him, "Doctor, Baba wants you to come tomorrow at eight. He has retired and cannot see you now." The doctor said that he would come the next day and I asked him, "Where are you staying in Poona?"

"At the Agha Khan Palace," he answered, and I was impressed as it was a very expensive hotel. I told him that Baba wanted to send him back in his car, but Dr. Asthana said he would walk the distance.

I went and told Baba who insisted that he go in the car. I told the principal, but he left immediately on foot saying, "I would rather walk."

Baba was not pleased and he taunted, "What sort of student are you? Your principal came and you sent him back walking. He will have to walk three miles!" And for some time, Baba kept repeating, "What type of student are you? What will your poor principal think of you?"

The next day Dr. Asthana came back, along with many of his colleagues who had come to Poona to attend a conference. From them I found out that contrary to what the principal had told me, he was actually staying in a cheap hotel, and not in the Agha Khan Palace. This was why Baba had insisted that he go in the car, and why he had left in such a hurry. Baba wished to expose his deception, and Dr. Asthana realized it. When he met Baba, he said, "Baba, you know everything!"