Over 10,000 bike enthusiasts will be riding from across the country to Goa for the India Bike Week (IBW) on February 20 and 21. Among the die-hard bikers are many women bikers, who are smart, adventurous and passionate about motorcycles and travelling. Nimmi Suri and Sangeetha Jairam, from Bengaluru, speak of how they developed a passion for biking.
Nimmi has lived life on her own terms, with a sense of optimism and pride. At 62, she is the oldest rider of the Harley Owner’s Group. But she epitomises the saying ‘age is just a number’. Many people are shocked to hear she is in her sixties. “I don’t look my age!” she says. She points out that she learnt how to ride a bike last year. And not any ordinary bike, but the Harley Davidson Street 750. “One of my friends had challenged me that a woman my age cannot ride a bike.” She took up the challenge to prove this notion wrong, and off she went to the Harley Davidson showroom to buy a bike. “I went to the showroom in high heels!” she laughs and says, “From end April to July last year, I learnt how to ride and practiced hard.” In July, she received her license. “The people at the RTO initially refused to give me a license because of my age,” she laughs.
Nimmi is part of the Bengaluru-based biking group Tusker Hog which, she says, supported her throughout. “When I ride on the streets, the first thing that grabs attention is the Harley Davidson and the next thing that people gasp at is, ‘Oh my god! A woman is riding it.” Every time she rides her bike, it gives her a high. “It feels so majestic! The sound of the machine is so powerful. Bikes represent power, though I am not a power-hungry person,” she says. For the IBW she will be a part of the group of bikers there. “I am sure when I meet them, I will feel inspired.” She adds that she is grateful to Mr. Reddy of Tusker Harley Davidson for his support.
Nimmi came from the UK to Bengaluru as a single mom of two children. “I brought up my kids on my own. Today, I am a grandma of four. My sons feel awesome that I ride a bike. My friends and family, though, think I am going through a mid-life crisis!”
Nimmi says, when she looks back, she realises that she has always been the sort to take initiative. “Even now, I still have the little rebel in me,” she concludes.
Sangeetha, on the other hand, has travelled through varied landscapes on the bike, including Bhutan, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Central Asian regions of Kazakhstan, Kyrghystan and Tajikistan, the Indian Himalayas, and other regions. Her passion for biking developed as a child. “My father used to ride a motorcycle. He was studying in the United States and when he graduated in 1965 and returned to India, he was backpacking through Europe. He bought a motorcycle in Germany and rode back to India on it. The motorcycle is now 60 years old. I grew up on that bike. After my class 10 board exams—I was 15 then—my dad taught me how to ride.” Sangeetha has been riding bikes for 30 years now.
She recounts her trips through the Pamir Highway in Central Asia. “It was part of the old silk route used by travellers before to discover India. I had the same urge to experience what they had. Central Asia is beautiful. Just as I was fascinated by the people, they too were petrified of seeing an Indian woman on a bike!” Even though the Russians she met and rode with in Central Asia didn’t know English, Sangeetha developed abiding bonds with them. “They came to India in December last year. I organised a ride for them in Rajasthan and I used Google translator to organise it.”
She adds that travel opens your mind. “Every place one goes to, whether by flight, by car or any other way, it is always a unique experience,” says Sangeetha, who was a visitor in the 2013 IBW.
She owns three motorcycles- a Yamaha RD350, KTM 200 and her father’s 1954 R/25 BMW, on which she will be riding to Goa. “I will be displaying it there. And I will also be giving a presentation.”
Sangeetha is a yoga instructor and stresses that fitness is essential for bikers. “You need to be physically fit for situations like when you have to change a tyre during heavy rain. You need stamina for distances, changes in food and weather.” Another of Sangeetha’s identities that she is proud of, is the fact that she is a mother.
“Being a mother is a full time job! There is no salary, no weekly leave and no retirement plan, either. Yet, Motherhood is the best experience.”
As for the term ‘women bikers’, Sangeetha says she is quite uncomfortable with it. “I don’t make a big deal of a woman on a motorcycle. A motorcyclist is a motorcyclist, whether man or woman. The love of the motorcycle is what matters. ”
