A SQUIRREL IN HER POCKET

 
Since Soonamasi had to sit most of the day by the gate [circa 1938] with nothing to do, Baba had Mani teach her English nursery rhymes and a few short poems that she was to learn by heart and repeat to Baba. Mani had her own work to do, but she dutifully sat in front of Soonamasi and said slowly, "Polly put the kettle on, kettle on, kettle on."

Masi, who did not speak English, repeated, "Polly put the kettlein, kettlein, kettlein."

"Not kettlein, it's kettle on!" Mani said.

Once, when Masi entered the east room to give a message, Baba asked the women this riddle in Gujarati: "One engine has two compartments. It is traveling to an unseen land. One compartment is empty, and in the other is God."

No one could guess the answer, which was: Soonamasi. Her coat had two pockets; one was empty, and in the other was her rosary, which she fingered while repeating Baba's name. "That pocket was always moving," said Mani. "There might have been a squirrel in there."

The women were delighted with the riddle. "Baba said it so spontaneously," Mani continued, "and in Gujarati, it rhymed so sparklingly."