HIS PHYSICAL SUFFERING HAS ENDED

 
After Baba dropped the body, [Dr.] William [Donkin] again shifted his primary residence, leaving Khushru Quarters in February to sleep and take his meals at mandali member Sarosh Irani's home, Viloo Villa. There were a main house and three smaller four-room cottages, and William moved into one of the cottages.

William's servant Motiram remembers that William had been bothered by the noise from the cinema located next door to Khushru Quarters and saw Viloo Villa as a quieter alternative. Motiram personally "felt lost" without Baba's physical presence. He said the effect on William was perhaps more noticeable.

"William was very disturbed. His fiery temper again was evident."*

Baba's nephew, Dara Irani, had spent a part of his early childhood at Viloo Villa before going to England to rejoin his father Adi Jr., who had moved there earlier. He believed William "was at an age where he wanted a little more comfort."

"He would take his meals with Sarosh and Viloo. He would arrive all dressed up for dinner and sit down for a glass of scotch with Sarosh before they ate."

Dara recalls that sometimes after dinner William and Viloo would go next door to a movie at the Military Officers' Club that was part of the Ahmednagar Army Camp complex.

William would still visit Sheela and the other Kalchuri family members each day at his former residence, about a mile and three-quarters away. Sheela recalls one of their conversations, in which William related an experience that influenced his feeling about Baba's physical departure:

"One afternoon when I was with him. we were speaking of Baba and I began crying. William told me not to feel sad, and then he narrated the incident which had taken place a few weeks before Baba dropped his body. Baba was in a critical condition and he told William that he was going to drop his body. William said, 'Baba, I will do my best to treat you and make you well.'

"Baba looked at him pitiably and gestured, 'You have no idea of my suffering.'

"William related, 'When I saw the expression on Baba's face as he said that, tears welled up in my eyes. I saw how much suffering Baba was enduring. That is the reason, when he dropped his body, I didn't cry. Baba is all around us now, ever-present. His physical suffering has ended.**