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“How did you get the US Visa? Didn’t you get rejected twice.” I asked Mr. Naidu, who had come from India two weeks ago.

“Sir, I went to the Visa Balaji Temple in Hyderabad. I got the visa because of the blessing from Chilkoor Balaji Temple.” He replied.

I googled the Visa temple, and there it was, confirming what Naidu had said.

It reminded me of my own Honda Splendor with its magical powers.

Flashback to Twenty-Two years ago.

“Do you want to sell your new Splendor?” I asked Ramesh.

My stout young friend Ramesh had developed a back problem, and the doctor had advised him to stop riding the bike. He took delivery of a brand new Honda Splendor last week, after waiting six months. Such was the demand for the Splendor in the year 1998.

I loved the bike, so when the opportunity presented itself, I jumped.

Ramesh and I were school friends. We were now in our 20s, at the age where your parents are involved in all your decisions. Ramesh’s father liked me and thought it was a good idea for him to sell the bike to me. He hated the idea of his son riding a bike anyways. It was not safe, according to him. Rather I die in an accident than his son.

I needed the bike as I used to go to different locations to do Audits. Good news, in a couple of weeks after buying the Splendor, I got my CA Final results. I had passed Group 1. I was ecstatic.

Next, I enrolled for the CPA review course in Bombay, not knowing if I would get the visa to go to the USA and give my exams. The visa officer looked at me, then looked at my papers. I was a little uneasy in my borrowed tie and a suit, whose sleeves were hanging out.

The Visa Officer asked me two questions:

1. Where are you working right now?
2. How will CPA help you with your current job?

I had mock interviews with so many people before the visa interview that I had all the answers memorized. There was no audience there to clap at my answers, no oh’s no ahh’s, but when the visa officer said you could collect your passport in the evening, I knew what Sushmita Sen must have felt when she won the Miss Universe title. There was my lucky Honda Splendor waiting for me outside the consulate.

I passed my CPA exams came back to Bombay. Now I had only one group remaining to clear my CA Exams. Again, the one to take me to the examination center was my lucky Splendor. I passed my CA finals.

Around six months later, I got a job opportunity in New York and moved to NY. My father asked me if he should sell the Splendor.

“No, it is my lucky bike,” I said

“Nobody else is using it, and it is getting rusted in the rains.” my father reasoned.

“Give it to someone who will take care of it, but please don’t sell it. I want the bike back whenever I come to Bombay.” I said.

My father decided to give the bike to my cousin living in Mira Road. A couple of months later, he also applied for a US student visa, and to his surprise, he got it without proper financial support papers.

He left Bombay to come to the USA, he called me before leaving and asked me if he can give the bike to his best friend. I reminded him of my condition, he agreed His friend, Ayaz, used the bike for a year. Later he came to drop the bike at my apartment in Bandra. My father asked him why he was returning it. He said, “Uncle, my wife and I both got the US visa. We are going to the Bay area. I got an H-1. “

I have no idea what happened to the Splendor after that. I and my family lost track of precious family asset. I have heard of families in Gujarat and Punjab ready to pay twenty-five lakhs to get a US visa. We never monetized the unique powers of the bike. I hope its parts are not scattered in some junkyard in Chinckpokli, and it is still helping people fulfill their dreams.