During this seclusion, Baba expressed a wish to hear qawaali singing and, on July 18th, (1942) Baidul brought a local qawaal with a group of musicians. The singing began, but within two minutes Baba left the room and beckoned
Adi to follow him. With the door shut to his room, he revealed to Adi, “To lessen the great universal burden, I wanted to take it easy and relax by hearing a qawaal. Where on earth did Baidul bring this man from? Is he singing or what?”
Baba sent for Baidul and asked him sharply, “Who have you brought here? That man can’t sing!”
But Baidul assured him, “He is a famous qawaal. Just come and listen. Give him a chance. He was only warming up.”
So Baba went back to listen again, but after ten minutes he motioned to Baidul to send the group away after paying them. When the singer and musicians had left, Baba asked Baidul, “What did you pay him?”
“Five rupees only. He agreed to sing the whole night for that amount.” “And his tonga fare?”
“It was included in the five rupees.”
“You brainless Irani idiot!” fumed Baba. “Can any real qawaal ever agree to sing for such a sum? You should have had some thought about me! That rogue knew he couldn’t sing, so he accepted five rupees.
“You are stupid enough to be happy thinking you had struck such a good bargain. Has your father ever heard qawaali music?” Baba then shook his head and chuckled over Baidul’s miserliness.
Lord Meher, Bhau Kalchuri, Original Publication, Vol. 8, p. 2808