“Who says India is unsafe for girls?” says Candida Louis, who spent her childhood in Hubballi and is now working with Infosys in Bengaluru.
Having gone on a solo journey across five States, covering over 7,000 km in one-and-a-half months, the spirited youngster is literally unstoppable.
Speaking to The Hindu on her return, Candida said: “I was welcomed with open arms wherever I went. During the last one-and-half months which I spent in remote places, I never had a bad experience.”
Born into an Anglo-Indian household settled in Hubballi, Candida always had the support of her father, Dalton Louis, a railway employee and her teacher-mother, Courene. For the girl who learnt how to drive a bike at the age of 16, exploring places and people has been a passion.
Her father gifted her a Royal Enfield on her birthday last November. She has already driven through 12 States covering 12,800 km, which includes the solo trip of 7,000 km across five southern States. What started off as an unplanned activity initially, led her to become part of a 10-member driving group that wanted to cover 30,000 km across 22 States.
That plan ended midway, leaving Candida to make her own plans. After coming back to Bengaluru, and still having over two months left of her three-month leave, Candida decided to go on a solo drive of south India.
Her journey began on the eve of Bakrid. From Bengaluru, she went to Munnar and on to Kochi, Alleppey, Thiruvananthapuram, Rameshwaram, Kodaikanal, Varkal, Bidar, Hyderabad, Pune, among others.
A chance meeting with another enthusiast, Sana Iqbal from Hyderabad, provided her new friends and took her to new places.
In her earlier trip to north India, she drove up the highest motorable road at the Khardung La Pass and Gurez on the India-Pakistan border.
Candida, who dreams of driving around the world, has documented her conquests on her Facebook page ‘India on a motorcycle’.
