Boldly ride, Esha Gupta!

Set on her trusted Avenger, Esha Gupta quit her job years ago to ride and hasn’t looked back since. Now, she is all set to ride solo across the country to make a bold statement—India is safe for single women

Motorcycles and the culture around it seem to have been conducive to the empowerment of women. Consequently, a generation of female bikers are finding and inspiring each other. A quick glance at the traffic on the city roads will tell you that women riding motorcycles is not extraordinary.

One such biker is Esha Gupta who has already completed many long journeys on her trusted Avenger motorcycle. Her biggest strength, she says, is courage. Esha was one of the first female solo riders to ride 7,000 km across 10 cities in 40 days for the cause, ‘India is not as unsafe as made out to be in 2014’.

Esha, who is a certified fitness instructor, is now planning to take up biking as full time career. She realised her passion for bikes when she saw a group of bikers in Leh during her solo backpacking trip in 2013.

Speaking to The Hans India, Esha talks of her family’s reaction on her new career plan. “My family has always encouraged me to pursue my dreams. When I was 14 years old I lost my mother. My father raised us (three sisters). But, I lost him, too when I was 24 years old. My sisters encourage me as they also connect to my dreams strongly,” she shares.

Esha plans to cover 38,000 km at an average of 400 km a day; intending to complete the tour in May. She will pass through cities and towns of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab.

Speaking about her job she says, “I quit my job at an MNC as I was interested in biking and I am confident that by following the right guidelines one can remain safe on long rides.” An online motorcycling platform, Throttle Club is promoting her for encouraging biking as a culture, particularly among women.

Sharing details about her ride she says that the ride is planned for 110+ days covering 17 states. “Initially, I planned to start the ride on January 10, but as the ride was something close to ‘Beautiful India’ and January 26 being the Republic Day, Throttle Club sponsored my ride and launched it on the same day,” she says.

Talking about the roads she expresses that the highways haven’t spoilt her back as yet. In case of an emergency she manages by herself as she carries a bike tool kit; Esha has managed to handle a couple of breakdowns on her own.

Having travelled alone a lot she says, “We are concentrating so much on the negativity that we have forgotten that we are surrounded by positive and good people, too. Let’s together fight this fear and step ahead, all the time, in our own strengths.”