Armed with her phone, riding gear and one backpack of essentials like clothes, toiletries, first-aid, Indrani Dahal wants to travel across India on her motorcycle.?
She began her journey alone in November, reported Hindustan Times.?
The 27-year-old works as an F&B operator aboard a cruise ship and during the pandemic, she was sick and tired of being indoors at her home in Kharagpur, West Bengal, where she lives with her parents and younger brother.?
What started as a journey to explore the country, has now become a mission to empower women to follow their dreams.?
Dahal said that her lone road trip has given her a sense of community.?
She spoke about how strangers have offered her shelter along her route and fellow bikers she had met in Chennai added her to various WhatsApp groups so she would have other riders to help her find out route and accommodation should she needed any help.
Narrating about one of her best experiences so far, she said that while she was in a village near the Rann of Kutch, she stayed with a family that?pampered her like a queen. "One night, I said I¡¯d like to hear some traditional Kutchi songs, and within an hour, villagers had gathered to sing for me,¡± she said.
Dahal started riding at the age of 15 and this is her first ride outside her hometown. She wants to prove to the world that a woman can make it around the country alone and unharmed. However, she has to take some precautions and travels with safety equipment, including a full-face helmet and sticks to the national highways as much as possible. She is usually off the roads by dusk.?
She added, ¡°But people are actually more helpful when I take off my helmet."