Local flavour: Branson with the dabbawallahs. (Reuters)

Mumbai, April 1: Virgin does matter in India.

Virgin Atlantic boss Richard Branson was handed a ?refused to land? certificate when he arrived here yesterday. His aides burned the phone lines to Delhi and the problem of an expired visa was fixed, pronto.

Meera, the poor Pakistani actor, was in a situation far less serious, but had to spend the entire day at the airport because, instead of Mumbai, she had flown to Delhi.

Branson, whose visa was valid till February 2005, has been given a 72-hour Temporary Landing Permit.

In Delhi, both South Block and the British High Commission denied having a hand in the move, but sources in Mumbai said otherwise.

There were even unconfirmed reports of the Prime Minister?s Office coming to the British millionaire?s rescue and directing the Bureau of Immigration to issue the permit.

Deven Bharati, the deputy commissioner of police, special branch II, which deals with immigration, denied that Delhi intervened in the case, but confirmed the permit was issued.

The crisis, however, did not dent the Virgin Atlantic chairman?s enthusiasm.

Branson, who had posed on the wing of the aircraft carrying a saree-clad model in his arms on arrival, continued to bask in media attention.

He hopped on to a second-class compartment of a suburban train at Marine Line railway station this morning and travelled with dabbawallahs, who count Prince Charles among their friends.

The trip gave him a fascinating ?feel of the city?, said the high-flier, sporting a white Gandhi topi and holding a dabba. He gifted the dabbawallahs 20 red T-shirts.

?We were told that a Prince Charles-like big man who owns an airline wants to meet us. We said we don?t mind spending a few minutes with him if it doesn?t disturb our dabba delivery schedules,? said Raghunath Megde, one of the two dabbawallahs invited to Charles?s April 8 wedding.

When local flavour is in the air, can cricket and Bollywood be far behind?

Branson led a Virgin Atlantic XI team in a 20-over friendly match with Mumbai Press Club XI and hosted a Bollywood-themed dinner for a select group, which included celebrities and filmstars.