ACCOMPANIED by Pendu, Elcha Mistry, Kishan Singh and with Hellan driving, Baba left for Roorkee at 7 A.M., on June 24th (1953). There, a poor program was held in the dargah of the Qutub Sabir. Baidul was sent in advance to make the arrangements. It was drizzling on the way and the car was also giving trouble. The petrol tank was leaking and much of the gas was lost. Elcha was telling Hellan to drive fast, but on account of the rain and the road being in a hazardous condition, Hellan could not do so. The car suddenly came to a halt on a flat plain, much to Hellan’s surprise because, according to him, there should have been nothing wrong with it. Meanwhile, Baba was often instigating Elcha to ask Hellan why he did not properly test the car in Dehra Dun. Finally, Hellan was able to fix the car and they proceeded.
In Roorkee, Baidul had arranged the program in the shrine of Sabir. A room for Baba to sit in was provided and a brick platform was raised for the poor to stand on to enable Baba to wash their feet and bow down on them. Baba had covered his head with a scarf and looked in a pleasing mood. The caretaker of the shrine brought a list of the fifty deserving poor who formed a queue at 9 A.M. Four rupees were to be given to each as prasad after the ritual bowing down. When Baba was to hand them the prasad, upon receiving it, each was to say: “May Allah help you! May Allah give you good health! May Allah bless you!” Kishan Singh wiped the feet of the first poor person after Baba had washed them. Looking gravely at Kishan, Baba again washed that man’s feet, and he himself wiped them again and placed his forehead on them. Thus he showed Kishan that he wanted to do this work himself without any assistance from anyone.
This program was specifically for fifty poor, but as three on the list had not showed up, three others from among those standing nearby were chosen. Baba washed, wiped, bowed his forehead on their feet and presented each his love gift of money. Several poor had come there in anticipation of receiving monetary help, and they also were given the prasad of rupees. The caretaker had helped much with the preparations for the success of the program, so Baba, after washing and bowing to his feet, gave him also a love gift of ten rupees. Another old man had also helped in the work and he too was accordingly given ten rupees. Meanwhile, the three persons absent from the original list appeared, and Baba offered them his love gift of money after the ceremony of washing and bowing to their feet. Those who received Baba’s prasad of money included women, old, young, blind and lame, and there were also some belonging to the middle-class. All were Muslims, as the Muslim caretaker had arranged matters.
After the poor work was over, Baba went inside the dargah and placed a silk carpet on the floor of the tomb, which signified his reverence for the departed Perfect Master Sabir. Lying face down on his stomach before the shrine, Baba paid his respects and offered his homage. The caretaker recited prayers and ended by uttering: “O God, may the spiritual work of the person who has washed the feet of the poor be done to his satisfaction.” To which the men chanted, “Amen.” In obeisance, Baba remained lying on his stomach stretched out full length, until all the prayers were recited. The same prayer was also offered on the veranda of the shrine and the crowd outside also joined in by saying, “Amen!” Baba thereafter offered the Muslim caretaker prasad and gave four annas to each of the poor collected outside. While heading back to Dehra Dun, Baba expressed how highly pleased he was with the work in Roorkee. . .
Lord Meher, Bhau Kalchuri, Original Publication, Vol. 12, pp. 4160 – 4161.