5 Indian Female Riders Who Are Breaking All The Stereotypes
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In a country like India, gender stereotypes are an extremely common affair. We really wonder how this mental conditioning came about the thought that only the men ride bikes and participate in sports and technology. On the other hand, the women are supposed to be associated with things like arts and cooking, etc. All this being said, just answer this one question of ours — how many of us have turned our heads in amusement when we’ve come across a woman riding a geared motorbike on the road? Most of us have looked at it as totally abnormal, right? When it comes to riding bikes, especially in countries like India which is essentially patriarchal, biking is considered to be just a man’s thing!
If someone asks if it is okay for women to pursue a hobby like motorbiking here, you’ll definitely find yourself in a conundrum! However, over the last decade, we’ve seen women break the wrong stereotypes like this one in the most right ways. Their extraordinary feats of resilience, strength, and dedication for their passion to be able to ride motorbikes is remarkable. Although we still cannot find many women riding a motorbike on the roads here, there’s certainly a rise in the percentage of Indian women motorbikers. Here’s a quick inspiring read about some of the Indian women motorbikers and how they managed to get to the top in their passion. Let’s smile and read, shall we?
Priyanka Kochhar
Her Instagram account @bikewithgirl reads “Just an Indian girl that loves motorcycles and fast cars.” And we think her Insta bio describes her best. Priyanka is a professional model and an avid biker. Her passion for motorcycling made her attend several track races and she’s also ridden on the uber famous Kari Motor Speedway as well. She is also an ambassador for AGV helmets, a very famous safety gear company for motorbikes. You’ll find several of her biking videos on YouTube and she also loves to write blogs about her biking experiences.
Esha Gupta
She’s definitely the first rider on this list who has some serious road time to her credit. Her passion for motorbiking took a serious turn when she set off riding across India to seek an answer to the question, “Is India a safe place for women? Especially for a solo female rider?” She started her riding journey on her trusted companion, ‘Mickey’ which is a Bajaj Avenger. She rode across 16 states of India covering a whopping 30,000 kilometers in a span of three and a half months in 2016. She believes and wants to spread awareness about the power and determination that women hold.
Alisha Abdullah
She is considered to be one of the fastest Indian women. R A Abdullah, her father, owns the record for being a seven-time national champion. Her racing career started off at a tender age of 10! Since then, she’s been on an unstoppable journey in this world of two wheels. She’s even represented India in the International Toyota Vios Cup. In an attempt to encourage girls and women to take up this bold profession, she even launched her own racing academy for women.
Urvashi Patole
She runs India’s first ever and also the largest women motorcycling association called “Bikerni.” This association aims at encouraging women to get on motorcycles and live their dreams. She says that she’s fulfilled her passion for bikes by creating a platform for other women who possess a similar passion like hers. She was even recognized and awarded by Castor Power Girl for being a path breaker for Women motorcyclists in India.
Anam Hashim
This entry to the list is very hatke from the other women on the list. She didn’t get into the riding motorcycles for setting off on long rides to explore the world. Anam took to riding motorbikes because the stunts performed on bikes lit the fire in her soul. She is just 22 and is already known as India’s first ever female stunt rider. Her first ever challenge was scaling the Khardungla Pass considered as the highest motorable road in India and she achieved this not on a bike but on a Scooty. She did this again with ten girls the second time. And she plans on doing it again with around 250 people to set a world record. We wish you all the luck in this world, dear Anam, go conquer!
Would you care to disagree when we say that a motorcycle in the present time stands for personified independence? It makes the rider imbibe its freedom. We believe that hopping onto a motorcycle and riding around will always have an empowering effect on the rider irrespective of the gender. With so many women riders striving hard to break the taboo revolving around women and motorbiking, we’re sure that soon Indian women will make a mark for themselves in the motorbiking world.
