Babaji’s blessings

Having failed to secure a job befitting his education, he had no choice but to accept a poorly-paid assignment as a boiler attendant in an Ambernath factory, far away from his home town in Madhya Pradesh. Unable to afford a room, he had decided that it might not be such a bad idea to keep company with the Hanuman idol installed at the foot of the tree.

Initially, he spent a few days in cleaning up the area. That done, he spent his evenings playing games with children, telling them stories and singing lustily some selected verses from Saint Tukaram’s ‘Abhangs’. He kept the area fastidiously clean but never worshipped the idol. Yet the village folk never had the slightest inkling that their respected Baba was actually an atheist!

One day, Babaji thought it was time he visited his uncle at nearby Kalyan. Since he had little money, he decided to walk. A few kilometers short of his destination, he felt he was running temperature, so he signalled a passing car. The chauffeur recognised the ‘holy’ man and instantly stopped, but his master would have none of it and the driver had to move on. The old Ford had hardly covered two hundred metres when it ground to a halt. The driver opened the bonnet and pronounced, “Babaji’s curse, saab!” Now there was nothing to do but to wait for help. Help came within minutes — in the person of Babaji himself. The chauffeur with joined palms asked Babaji to bless the car. Babaji opened the bonnet, corrected the fault and asked the driver to start the engine. Lo! The car sprang back to life! The amazed family got out, touched Babaji’s feet, apologised for their discourtesy and requested him to let them take him to his destination. Babaji modestly declined.

Within a week, the whole of Ambernath had learnt about Babaji’s latest miracle and his devotees swelled in number. But he was destined to leave them soon for, in another continent, a fanatic called Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, creating many jobs in India. Bidding farewell to his followers, Babaji left Ambernath to become a foreman in a Pune ordnance factory. He rose to be a senior engineer by the time he retired at 55. My cousin Baba lived simply and contentedly at Pune. I felt very sad when he died some years ago.