In May 1913, Merwan Sheriar Irani, then nineteen years old, was riding his bicycle on the way to class at Deccan College, when he looked up and saw an old woman sitting under a neem tree surrounded by a crowd. He had cycled past on previous occasions but had never paid much attention to her, though he was aware that she was regarded by some as a Muslim saint; yet others thought her "a mad woman or a witch or sorceress."[20] His father, Sheriar Irani, held Babajan in high regard.[21] Born into a Zoroastrian family, Sheriar Irani had been an itinerant dervish for a number of years[22] before finally settling in Pune and marrying.