Champagne, Curry and Chicken

On April 18, 1952, Meher Baba and the women boarded a TWA (Trans World Atlantic) flight from Bombay heading for New York. After several postponements, the time had finally arrived for Baba to travel to His ‘home in the West’ and for the first and only time, the women Mandali accompanied Him to the Center. Not only was the trip full of profound adventures, but it was also full of humor—much of which revolved around food!

The women had not been abroad since 1937 when they went to Cannes with Baba. In 1952, they were just coming out of the New Life and it was the very first time that any of them had flown. On the plane, Baba sat on the aisle seat and Mehera sat next to Him by the window. Others sat near them to help and protect Mehera.

From the start, Meheru was queasy and could not bear the thought of food. On the other hand, Mani’s enthusiasm on the flight was unmatchable. Mani recalled, “Now for us the flight was a real adventure, because of the contrast with our life in any case … And the greatest thing about it was that Baba withdrew our diet restrictions while we were on the plane.” Mani jumped with joy each time the stewardess came with new and exciting food. In contrast, Meheru refused everything except hot water. “I couldn’t face anything to eat,” she said. Pointing at Mani the stewardess said, “She never says no!” and Mani thought, “Why should I say no? Elizabeth has paid for it. This is first class.” Mani then directed Meheru to pass the food on to her instead of refusing it.

More adventure followed when Baba said they could have whatever was served. And one can imagine Mani’s wonder at such an order. Lo and behold, with lunch arrived a bottle of champagne. “I’d read about it in so many books … champagne, which rich people gave at parties or when a son was born and which, in France, men drink out of the slippers of celebrated beauties.” But it was better imagined than tasted. Mani admitted how disappointed she was at the bitter taste of the champagne. But her short-lived alcoholic excursion did not disappoint in the end. After she refused beer (unlike Rano who enjoyed it on the flight), Mani wondered about something she could ask for that she could later boast about. “Then I realized that whenever I read these detective books to Baba, they were always having a Martini.” After asking for it, Mani waited at the edge of her seat wondering what it would look like and taste like. A beautiful clear glass with a tall, slim stem arrived but alas it looked like a green beetle had fallen into the center of the glass! “Oh, what’s that?” Mani asked a surprised stewardess. “That’s an olive,” the stewardess replied. In her nonchalant voice, Mani replied, “of course, an olive.” The martini was wonderful, and Mani thoroughly loved it.

When they finally arrived in New York on April 20, they were lovingly received by Elizabeth Patterson. On that first evening, Elizabeth wanted to take them to a Chinese restaurant so that Baba could eat some rice, but because it was Sunday, it happened to be closed. Instead, they went to an Indian restaurant which she found hurriedly because there, too, Baba could have rice.

This time more culinary misadventures followed. The over-decorated restaurant was like a museum. More Indian than they had seen in India with thick carpets that were hard to walk on and dark and dingy lighting. Goher was too sick to eat. Meheru was still recovering from her airsickness. “We came so far to eat curry and rice!” observed Mehera and Baba too was perturbed! “Just as the waitress came, she tripped over the carpet. She almost dropped the whole curry bowl over our heads. It just missed me!” remembered Mani.

At the Center, while the women fell in love with every nook of Baba’s home, things on the food front were “not so exciting.” Their diet restrictions were back in place and they were to have only vegetarian food. Beautiful smells wafted from the Original Kitchen where the cooks were cooking. What could it be? It smelled like chicken! But to their utter consternation, the cooks had arrived in posh cars, rolled their sleeves up and cooked fried chicken for themselves before cooking boiled vegetables for the women!

When the women recounted these funny incidents, it was not to demonstrate their discontent but rather the fluid nature of life with Baba. They always remembered the humor which kept them in readiness to obey and accept all that came their way. Memories of relief and awe were also in plenty. At the Center, to their great respite, the women could eat with their hands. This was something they could not do in public places in the West. Mani remembered feeling very hungry when they were in France. Somehow, eating with a fork and knife did not satiate their appetites. So, they were thrilled to be able to eat with their hands while at the Center.

While in America, a dream came true for Mani. At the Guest House, which was like a ‘fairy-doll house,’ Baba pointed to a bottle on the kitchen shelf. It was a bottle of prune juice. Bottled juices were not available in India at the time. Baba filled each one’s glass as a small treat and the women drank juice with Baba every morning, until all the bottles were consumed. “I love fruit juices. I found America was full of fruit juices. If I were to draw a map of America I would draw peaks of beautiful mountains, with waterfalls coming down each mountain, and one would be the prune juice waterfall, and one would be the orange juice waterfall, one would be an apple juice waterfall…”

References:
Mehera-Meher, by David Fenster, vol. 3, pp.15 – 25
The Joyous Path, by Heather Nadel, vol. 2, pp. 537 – 555