The story of a reluctant devotee, a remarkable transformation, a cherished friendship, and a hotel in Nainital that connects his world with ours.
While reading The Near and the Dear by Sudhir Mukerjee, affectionately known as Dada, I came across the fascinating story of Tularam Sah.
Unlike devotees who felt immediately drawn to Neem Karoli Baba, or Maharaj-ji, Tularam initially wanted little to do with him.
Two details made me especially curious. His wife was Sri Siddhi Ma, who would become one of Maharaj-ji’s most revered devotees. And he owned India Hotel in Nainital, an establishment that continues to welcome guests today.
Suddenly, a story preserved in a book had a living connection to the present.
But what held my attention was Tularam’s transformation: a man comfortable in his worldly life who found himself embracing a way of living he could scarcely have imagined.
A Successful Lawyer Who Remained Reluctant
Dada describes Tularam as a successful lawyer from Nainital who enjoyed a comfortable income and later established a business. Once the business provided sufficient security, he gave up legal practice. His son eventually took responsibility for its management, leaving Tularam with considerable freedom.
By ordinary standards, he had achieved much of what we spend our lives pursuing: professional success, financial security and time to live as he pleased.
Yet he remained reluctant to associate with Maharaj-ji.
Relatives and acquaintances encouraged him to meet Baba, but their efforts initially came to little.
What interests me most is Tularam’s own explanation for this hesitation. As Dada recounts it, he believed that he had not come earlier because the right time had not yet arrived.
That thought stayed with me.
Two people can encounter the same teacher, hear the same words and respond quite differently. Even within a family, an inward connection cannot simply be inherited or persuaded into existence.
For Tularam, something eventually changed.
The Transformation That Changed Everything
By the winter of 1959, Tularam had become deeply attached to Maharaj-ji. That December, he arrived with Siddhi Ma and other devotees at Dada’s home in Allahabad (Prayagraj), where Baba was staying.
He began travelling extensively with Maharaj-ji, visiting pilgrimage centres, temples and saints across India.
These journeys brought uncertain arrangements, simple resting places, rough paths and meals taken whenever food was available. Dada recalls Tularam’s amazement that someone accustomed to fine food and comfort could now tolerate such conditions—even, on occasion, making do by chewing betel.
Tularam regarded the change in himself as a miracle.
What had once seemed difficult or unacceptable had become bearable in Maharaj-ji’s company.
Perhaps the miracle was not merely that his circumstances had changed, but that his relationship with those circumstances had changed.
The discomfort had not disappeared. It simply no longer mattered in quite the same way.
He had found something more precious to him than the comforts he once considered essential.
“Ram Ram” on the Leaves at Chitrakoot
One particularly delightful incident in The Near and the Dear concerns Tularam’s first visit to Chitrakoot in 1961.
Dada recounts that, while walking around the sacred Kamadgiri hill with Maharaj-ji, Tularam saw the words “Ram Ram” on the leaves of the trees.
Astonished, he asked Baba how this could be possible.
Maharaj-ji’s response was characteristically simple. Chitrakoot was Lord Ram’s land, he explained. People displayed their names outside their homes, so why should Ram’s name appearing in his own land cause surprise?
Later, sitting with Dada in Allahabad, Tularam recalled how perfectly reasonable Baba’s explanation had seemed to him. He had almost felt embarrassed for asking.
The two laughed about it together.
As a devotional recollection, the story contains an extraordinary experience. But what I find equally memorable is its humour: Tularam’s astonishment meeting Maharaj-ji’s complete ease.
In Dada’s telling, something mysterious becomes the occasion for an affectionate conversation between friends.
The Friendship Between Tularam and Dada
Tularam’s friendship with Sudhir Mukerjee is one of the most touching parts of the chapter.
During Maharaj-ji’s winter stays in Allahabad, devotees gathered after the day’s activities to exchange stories and experiences. Tea, cigarettes and long conversations formed part of this shared life.
Tularam developed a particularly close bond with Dada. He affectionately called him Udhav, a reference to Uddhava, the companion and devotee of Lord Krishna.
He also wanted Dada to share the joy he had found in Maharaj-ji’s company.
Dada acknowledges the role Tularam’s conversations and encouragement played in deepening his understanding of Baba.
There is something beautiful about that generosity.
A man who had once resisted meeting Maharaj-ji became someone who helped another person draw closer to him. What he had discovered was too precious to keep to himself.
These recollections also remind me how much a spiritual life can unfold through ordinary friendship: listening, laughing, asking questions and sharing what has moved us.
Tularam, Siddhi Ma and the Early Days of Kainchi
Tularam’s story also intersects with the beginnings of Kainchi Dham.
Accounts of Kainchi’s early history place Tularam Sah and Siddhi Ma with Maharaj-ji during a journey through the Kumaon region in May 1962. Their stop at Kainchi became part of the story of the site’s development into the ashram known today.
That detail gives his brief years with Baba a wider historical significance.
He was present during a formative period, before Kainchi became the destination familiar to so many devotees.
Siddhi Ma would later play a central role in sustaining Maharaj-ji’s spiritual legacy. Knowing that she and Tularam were husband and wife adds a human dimension to these accounts: alongside their devotion were a household, children and family responsibilities.
Their lives remind us that the history of an ashram is also the history of the people whose relationships and everyday lives became woven into it.
His Final Days
Tularam’s years of close companionship with Maharaj-ji were painfully brief.
In 1962, he became seriously ill and was admitted to hospital in Nainital. The Divine Reality of Shri Baba Neeb Karori Ji Maharaj records his death on 16 November 1962.
One of the most poignant details in Dada’s recollections concerns their correspondence.
Towards the end of his life, Tularam was still waiting for a letter from his friend. Dada had written, but his final reply did not reach Tularam in time.
It is a small detail, yet it brings the loss close.
Beyond the pilgrimages and extraordinary experiences, there was a friendship between two men who valued one another’s company.
One was waiting to hear from the other.
And a conversation remained unfinished.
Perhaps that is why Dada’s account feels so personal. He remembers Tularam as a friend whose presence enriched his life and whose absence left something behind.
India Hotel: A Living Connection to the Past
Dada’s reference to India Hotel in Nainital sent me looking beyond the book.
He identifies Tularam as both a lawyer and the hotel’s owner. Curious, I discovered that India Hotel still operates on Mall Road beside Naini Lake.
According to its official website, the hotel was built in 1947, the year India gained independence. It describes itself as a family-run establishment with a combination of traditional character and modern comforts.
The website does not establish the precise continuity of ownership from Tularam’s time. What connects the hotel to this story is Dada’s account of its former owner.
And that connection is fascinating.
A visitor might enjoy a cup of tea overlooking Naini Lake without knowing that a man associated with the hotel once travelled across India with Maharaj-ji and became a cherished friend of Dada Mukerjee.
Having read his story, I would find it difficult to look at the place in quite the same way.
A hotel still welcoming guests. A man remembered in a friend’s book. A connection that makes the past feel unexpectedly close.
You can explore the property through the India Hotel official website.
Perhaps We Arrive When We Are Ready
What stays with me most is the contrast between the two phases of Tularam’s life.
For years, he resisted meeting Maharaj-ji. Then, during the final years of his life, Baba’s company became profoundly important to him.
It makes me wonder whether an inward change can ever be hurried.
Encouragement may open a door, but it cannot guarantee that someone will walk through it. Proximity alone does not create devotion.
Tularam believed his time had simply not come earlier.
I cannot explain his transformation for him. But I recognise something familiar in the idea: we may encounter a person, a thought or a teaching repeatedly without being moved. Then, at another moment in our lives, the same encounter takes on an entirely different meaning.
Perhaps what matters is not how early we begin, but how deeply something touches us when we finally encounter it.
Tularam died in 1962, yet something of him remains in Dada’s affectionate recollections, in accounts of Maharaj-ji’s travels and in the early history of Kainchi.
Beside Naini Lake, India Hotel offers another connection to the worldly life he once knew.
I began reading about a reluctant devotee. I finished thinking about friendship, comfort and our capacity to change.
Tularam came to Maharaj-ji later than some. But perhaps, in matters of the heart, there is no such thing as arriving late.
-Ash
Sources and Acknowledgements
This article draws primarily on The Near and the Dear: Stories of Neem Karoli Baba and His Devotees by Sudhir Mukerjee (Dada), particularly Chapter 5, “Tularam”, including the recollections of his transformation, friendship with Dada and the Chitrakoot incident.
Additional references:
The Divine Reality of Shri Baba Neeb Karori Ji Maharaj — for the account recording Tularam Sah’s death on 16 November 1962.
Neem Karoli Baba Ashram, Taos: Kainchi Dham — for the ashram’s early history.
NKB Meditation: Kainchi Dham’s Early History — for the account involving Tularam Sah and Siddhi Ma in May 1962.
India Hotel, Nainital: About the Hotel — for its stated 1947 origins, location and current description.
Shree Sankat Mochan Trust — for biographical information about Sri Siddhi Ma.
The spiritual incidents are presented as recollections preserved in devotional literature. The interpretations and reflections are my own.
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