Women bikers are gaining popularity in India. Women are breaking their social barriers, hopping on to their bikes and taking on the long roads!
Seeing a woman reviving up her bike, wearing a leather jacket, gloves and sunglasses before going off on a long ride to the hills might be a rare sight even today. But scorers of women in India are breaking gender stereotypes and taking on the open road.
And it’s not all about sitting pretty on a motorbike either. From changing tyres to fixing clutch wires, from stunting to racing-these women know it all and stand equal with their male counterparts. They are no longer limited to nimble scooters and prefer racing on superbikes, riding smooth sailing Bullets and saving their classic bikes for Sunday morning rides. Biking is a passion for this women-and also a source of empowerment and independence!
Roshni Sharma rode her first bike at the age of 16, but she didn’t stop at just riding around traffic jams. The love for biking was meant to become an example and inspiration for every female rider in the country who have been underestimated.
When a friend of hers told her about his trio from North India to South India, she was motivated to set on this challenging road herself. But no woman in India had ever embarked on such a journey herself, and instead of getting threatened by the record, she got excited to change it.
Roshni Sharma soon became the first Indian woman to ride a motorbike from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
In her interview with me, she discussed her background in Uttar Pradesh where her parents live and she herself stays in Bangalore.
The trip seems like a great idea but in actuality, decisions such as these often involve minute details and minute to minute planning.
Roshni says,
“I had to know about the routes and weather. I learnt from my friend that only after summers do Manali pass open. So I had to schedule my journey to after May. Also in June, many parts of Kerala get rain, so I had to push off Kerala from my itinerary completely. Basically in my entire journey, I never encountered rain! In fact, to know the routes, I just had to ask people around, talk to them for a better idea and they were all very helpful.”
When asked about people’s reaction on her solo trip, she said “As a woman in India, I am hounded around by society as to how it is unsafe to travel in India for a woman. And especially when she is all alone! Hemmed with uncertain weather in this country, I expected many people to raise their eyebrows at my adventure. My experiences through contradicted my expectations!”
She feels that every woman can travel alone and ride bikes, for as long as she is courageous, confident and believes in herself. Today, it is a myth that girls cannot ride bikes and cannot travel alone!
Sukanya Pal, a Mphil student of sociology at Jadavpur University, says “ I like mud for makeup and petrol for perfume!”
She hails from Kolkata and is part of a female biking group called ‘THE BIKERNI’. She said that she had to face a lot during the early days of biking. Her father himself was biker but would not her to ride bikes. It was her teacher who inspired her a lot and encouraged her.
She added, “Riding a bike as a woman is never a good experience. While travelling from Delhi to Chandigarh, I happened to take off my helmet when we stopped at a roadblock. There were male bikers around me and as soon they realised that I was a woman, thanks to my long hair, they started humiliating me!
Sometimes there is a silver lining too. Once when I stopped at a traffic signal, I saw this father-daughter on a bike stopped beside me. The man smiled and told his daughter, “when you grow up, even you should ride a bike like this didi!”
She also pointed out the gender discrimination around her. she said that cops in Calcutta would stop her bike, only to let her go without any checks once they realised she was a woman!
‘Girls need men to take them to places. A strong woman can get there on her own!’
