ALWAYS FOUND TIME FOR US

 
Mani, Baba's sister, was another favorite, delightful and pretty, with an infectious smile and a tremendous sense of humor. She was multitalented, a wonderful mimic and actress, a choreographer of dances and director of plays. She made puppets and put on extraordinary puppet shows for Baba.

She could also perform shadow plays, sing beautifully, and play the sitar and the flute. Many times we heard her play the flute while sitting on the branch of a tree. Mani so enjoyed making everyone happy that she often played the role of the jester.

Everyone loved her, especially the children, whom she loved in return. She was enchanting and adorable and always found time for us, even though she was very busy doing work for Baba. When we wanted to find Mani, we always went first to the tin shed, where she spent much of her time typing Baba's Western correspondence. Her English was fluent and she could type with great speed.

If Mani wasn't there, she was often with Mehera, planning some skit for which Mehera would design the costumes. The little plays they put on were to please Beloved Baba when He was exhausted from His spiritual work and wanted to relax and be entertained, but we children also enjoyed them immensely.

The other women in the ashram that Hilloo was particularly fond of were Meheru and Katie. She followed them around like a puppy until Katie started referring to Hilloo as her tail, but Katie always found time to talk to her, and Hilloo loved to listen to her singing. Katie's two younger sisters, Shehera and Roshan, were in school with us in the early years. They were older than we, and Baba knew they would keep an eye on us. We saw very little of their oldest sister, Goher, as she was busy studying medicine at that time.