Proving how safe bike riding and travel can be in India for a lone young lady

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, Sep 04, 2014: Come September, now lone young lady Esha Gupta,  of Bangalore will start a solo golden quadrilateral nationwide ride, covering nearly 6,000km, along with Mike — her Bajaj Avenger 220DTsi carrying with her the desire and hunger and to prove a point.

"I want to send out a message globally that ’India is NOT an unsafe country’ for women or women travellers," says Esha. Another objective is to stir a revolution in India by involving female riders.  "My strength is my fearlessness. A solo ride across the Golden Quadrilateral, touching the four metropolitan cities to prove India is just as safe and good as anyother".

Having travelled alone extensively, " I had NOT very pleasant experiences, too few and far between to bother," she says. Esha adds: It doesn’t mean I am challenging bad elements. It just means that we are concentrating too much on negativity that we have forgotten that we are surrounded majorly by positive and good people. My solo ride is meant to shift people’s focus to the positivism and strength amongst countrymen," she notes.

Esha’s  golden quadrilateral ride will start at Chennai on September 10 and end in Bangalore on October 18. In between her rides, she will engage other riders to join the cause.

Hotel management graduate, Esha worked at Oberoi and Golden palms, shifted to a corporate job- which also she quit a few years back to pursue biking. "The expenses for this trip are coming out from my pocket and I’m looking for sponsors," said Esha who worked as a fitness instructor too.

With no sponsors, she will be assisted by members from nine chapters of Bajaj Avengers Club spread across the country during her solo stint.

**Some Milestones: July 4-6, 2014 -Completed 1,000 km "Ride to Valley", as the only woman rider with Bangalore Avenger’s Club covering 20 towns in Western Ghats section, in a three-day monsoon ride covering Horanadu, Kudremukh, Sringeri, Agumbe, Dharamsthala, Kukke Subrahmanya, Sakleshpur.

**May 23-June 2 2014: Completed her fifth solo trip covering 1,955 kms in 10days covering locations Mangalore, Udupi, Gokarna, Goa, Shimoga.

**April 21-April 30, 2014: Completed her fourth solo trip covering the 4,000 kms covering Masinagudi, Ooty, Coimbatore.

***Future Endeavours: Riding K2K and Leh in 2015; riding the peripheral roads of India, covering the entire country; planning to conduct biking tours for females, across states; guiding women to re-discover their travelling spirits by travelling solo or in groups, through India.

So, positive attitudes have no substitutes!