ERNAKULAM-KASARAGOD-ANGAR-SHOLAPUR 409
provided by the hosts everywhere in these parts consisted
of sweet cakes and ladoos. When all the friends assembled,
sometime before dinner Ramdas asked a boy to fetch a
few bunches of neem leaves—neem is a tree common in
that place, the leaves of which are bitter to the taste,
but they have medicinal properties. The boy brought the
leaves. Now Ramdas proposed to the friends to join him
in eating them. At this the expression on their faces
underwent a change from one of cheerfulness to its reverse.
One by one they slipped away offering some lame excuse,
and so Eamdas alone had to eat his share of the leaves.
When the dinner time arrived, all the friends turned up
without an exception!
Ramdas went round over thirty villages. It was a time
of unprecedented enthusiasm, bustle and joy, both for
Ramdas and the villagers. Amongst those who felt a great
attraction for Ramdas and sought his constant company
was the young lad Maruti, who has been mentioned in
the early part of this narrative.
In Angar, Ramdas had to stay for eight days before
his departure to Kame, a railway station. The eight days
were characterized by incessant activities on the part of
the villagers in kirtans, bhajan and feasts. On the last
day, Ramdas was taken round all the lanes and streets of
the village in a procession consisting of thousands of
people with music and the country band. The flags and
other emblems of the temple were also carried in front of
him. The crowds followed up to the outskirts of the
village where Ramdas, taking his final leave, raced on
towards the railway station which lay at a distance of
nearly four miles from Angar. About fifty villagers
followed him.
Word was sent in advance to the station master, a
devout brahman, who was anxious to entertain Ramdas
for an hour before the arrival of the train. Ramdas and
the party reached the station in the evening. They