The Gondola: Meher Baba’s Boat Part Three

When Bhau Kalchuri came to the Center, he wanted to go out in the gondola under a full moon. During Aloba’s visit, he was determined to see an alligator from the Venetian vessel. And the twins, Rustom and Sohrab Irani, they just wanted to go for a ride.

“They’d never been out in a boat before,” says Daniel Montague. “They were both scared to death at first.”

Meher Baba’s gondola has been woven into the Center’s history from early on. Elizabeth Patterson bought it in 1949 to remind Baba of the glorious times with His lovers in Venice during the 1930s. And from the start, she was very protective of the unusual boat, allowing only a few designated “gondoliers” to take it out, and then only with explicit permission from either herself or Kitty. After it was restored in 1979, Elizabeth also wanted to be sure the boat would be properly protected. So she asked Lee McBride, with Daniel’s help, to design a special shelter[1] for it. Lee then built it with the help of John Haynes[2].

For the next thirty-plus years, the Italian boat plied the waters of Long Lake, giving great joy and some unique experiences to many hundreds of people, including the mandali. And for those who were lucky enough to be chosen as gondoliers, it was far more than just a boat.

John Haynes volunteered to be one of the first gondoliers. He has loved the boat since his first visit to the Center in 1957. He was blessed to meet Baba in 1958 and again in 1962. But being private about his relationship with Baba, he rarely felt comfortable sharing his stories, except when he took people out on the lake.

“In the gondola, it was a perfect setting, very quiet, and people really seemed to enjoy those stories,” he says. “I have had so many letters and thank you notes over the years from people who, over and over again, told me [their gondola ride] was the highlight of their trip.”

John flew a rainbow-colored windsock when he took it out, a nautical nod to Baba. Some of his most enjoyable rides included the company of Kitty Davy, Margaret Craske, his mother Jane, Katie Irani and Meheru Irani. Meheru in particular loved seeing the Guest House from the water and sharing her memories of staying there during her 1952 visit with Baba.

“It’s not only a wonderful experience to glide in a gondola, but as I told you from the beginning, it was not just a boat as such,” says John. “It is because Baba was in Venice. That’s the connection.”

Others who were lucky enough to be chosen as gondoliers feel similarly. Gary Assadourian calls the gondola “interdimensional” because it spans centuries and continents – and from Gary’s perspective, something much more.

“You’re in a wooden Renaissance Italian craft floating on a lake with the sound of the ocean roaring behind you and the sky open before you with possibly a sunset or even the full moon – experientially it’s off the scales, it’s transformational,” he says. “Elizabeth knew, on some level, the vast spectrum of consciousness that can open only from the gondola. People would step off that boat in a different state.”

Will David was a gondolier who’d grown up boating on the choppy waters of the San Francisco Bay. That experience gave him a special appreciation for the gondola’s unique nautical attributes.

“It has centuries of design behind it – you could go full speed with just three pulls of the oars, which is quite remarkable in itself,” he says. “It glides easily. It stops easily. It turns easily. There’s a lot to say about the boat itself.”

Will also used to extract a payment of sorts, if people wanted him to take them out. He’d asked them to sing him a song.

“Of course, it was in jest,” he says. “But generally, people would always find some song, maybe go back to a childhood song or a baby song but some song. And if they flatly refused, then I’d sing them a song.”

For Anne Ross, the gondola played a central role in more down-to-earth ways, easing some concerns and helping heal a family situation. Her father Kenneth Ross was an early English Baba lover who welcomed Baba to East Challacombe in 1932 by serenading Him with bagpipes. Her mother was the poet Josephine Ross who first met Baba at Harmon-on-Hudson in 1931. Anne and her sisters were raised hearing all about Baba and they met him in 1952 and 1956.

When she grew up, Anne did not like snakes or alligators and so she was apprehensive about going out on the lake, concerned that an alligator might come up from under the boat and overturn it. Finally, her daughter and one of the gondoliers named Fred Purdy convinced her she would be safe in the gondola. So, they all went out. Anne saw what she thought was an old spare tire in the marsh grass. On closer inspection, she realized it was a “huge, long, sleeping alligator.” It didn’t move. Soon after, a great blue heron flew out of the reeds just over their heads. Anne’s fears disappeared.

“I just loved it,” she says.

The gondola also played a role in healing a family situation. Her daughter married a man who thought Baba lovers were part of a cult and he had forbidden his children – Anne’s grandchildren – from coming to the Center. It was very painful for her. Once when the family was visiting, her son-in-law was persuaded to go to the Center with the family to see Anne in a film of the 1956 dinner at Longchamps Restaurant in New York City[3]. Afterward, Arthur Kimball mentioned the gondola to the children and they got excited. They convinced their father to let them and the whole family go out in it.

“That ride was very, very special in my mind, because it gave the girls a chance to actually spend a little time on Center,” says Anne. “I’ve always been grateful to Baba for having that chance, and just the way Baba worked it out.”

The gondola also provided one of the many highlights of Happy Club, a group of children from the local Racepath community who came regularly to the Center to enjoy its nature, the lake, and play games. Akeem Hemingway was one of them back in the 1990’s. He loved swimming and the water, but he’d never been out in a boat until he got a ride in the gondola.

“So to us, we thought it was canoeing, and that’s what we always called it, ‘canoeing,’” says Akeem, who is now the director of the Phoenix Renaissance Racepath Learning Center, which grew out of Happy Club. “It was something special.”

When Bhau visited in the mid-1980s and announced his desire to go out in the moonlight, John Haynes had to get special permission from Kitty. It took skill and strength to maneuver the gondola out of its tight-fitting shelter during the day, it was more of a challenge at night. But John managed it.

“We didn’t go all the way to Baba’s house, but we did go out and it was full moonlight,” says John. “I don’t know if it was [actually] a full moon or not, but he loved it.”

When Aloba visited, he said that he wanted to go out in the gondola to see some alligators. Daniel was delighted to oblige but he warned that it was still cold and the alligators hadn’t come out yet. The chances of seeing one were slim to none. Aloba was undeterred.

“No, no, we’re going out,” he said.

So the next morning Daniel, with his wife Carol and some of their kids, loaded into the gondola with Aloba, who immediately took on the role of navigator. He pointed to a spot, “go right there, where the bushes are.” So Daniel took the boat there by the marsh grass and got up close as instructed.

“And there’s an eight foot alligator right there,” says Daniel. “And then Aloba says, ‘Jai Baba! All done. Let’s go back.’”

The twins, Rustom and Sohrab, had never been in a boat before but they still wanted to go out in the gondola. According to Daniel, “they thought for sure the boat was going to tip over and they’d be eaten by alligators.” Daniel assured them they’d be safe and, once again taking along his wife and kids, they got the twins out on the water.

“They started relaxing, seeing the boat was very stable,” says Daniel. “Then they started having a lot of fun and joking around. When we came back and offloaded, the two of them came up to me, and they had a picture of Baba in a piece of plastic, you know, a thick plastic paperweight. And they took that and pressed it up against my heart and said, ‘Here, this is yours for a great boat ride!’”

The historic and much loved gondola is currently stored on the Center and in need of some repair. Unfortunately, because of the build up of algae in the lake, the gondola had to be pulled out of the water around 2014 or 2015. Many people are hoping it will be restored a second time and, when the algae situation is resolved, the gondola will again ply the waters of Long Lake flying Baba’s colors.

“It was a labor of love to bring it back and it was a labor of love to maintain it,” says Lee McBride, who heads up maintenance for the Center. “We’ll be looking for that right kind of chemistry. When that happens, it’ll be Baba’s timing.”

[1] The primary supports for the gondola shelter were built with the original cypress utility poles that were first used on the Center, according to John Haynes.
[2] John Haynes is the eldest child of Jane Haynes’ three children.
[3] Lord Meher Online Edition, by Bhau Kalchuri, p. 4005