At any time of the day, there is a traffic jam on the road to Pali from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, near Chotila village. For here is Om Bana sthan, a shrine where everybody—cabbies, bus and truck drivers and those riding two-wheelers, in particular—stops and pays obeisance, usually with liquor. The deity here, known as motorcycle devta or Bullet baba, is a Royal Enfield 350, on which villager Om Bana met with a fatal accident two decades ago at this very spot. Following a series of supposedly paranormal events after Bana’s death, the locals planted the motorcycle at the scene of the accident and deified Bana.

Bagga Ram, one of the deity’s first followers, has played the harmonium at the shrine ever since it was built. “Om Banaji was the son of a village leader. Twenty years ago, he was riding down this road when his vehicle slammed into a tree and fell into a ditch. Banaji was killed on the spot,” Ram recalls in between singing paeans to Om Bana, now also available on CDs in shops surrounding the shrine. The series of events after the accident secured Bana’s ascension to the realm of gods.

Following the death of Bana, formerly known as Om Singh Rathore, the police registered a case and hauled the ravaged motorcycle to a police station nearby.

Om Singh, a police constable in Jodhpur, remembers what happened in the days following Rathore’s death. “The motorcycle was taken to the station that night, but the next morning, it was found at the accident spot. The police thought it was some kind of prank and after emptying the fuel tank secured the bike with chains, but the next day, the chains were broken and the motorcycle was again at the spot of the accident,” says Singh, who uses a key chain with Om Bana’s picture on it.

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