For Shyni Rajkumar there is nothing sweeter than the thud-thud of a Royal Enfield Bullet and the wind on her face. “I will ride as long as I am healthy enough to handle a bike,” she proclaims. The 35-year-old rider from Thiruvananthapuram has just returned home after a 42-day, 12000 km long Kanyakumari-Khardung-La-Kanyakumari ride named ‘Azadi’, a campaign ride for creating awareness about violence against women. On August 28, Sunday, she rode back to the city, from where she started her journey, to the loud cheers of city riders and women activists.
Shyni, a former Kerala state cricket team player, had been a rider since she was 20 and the Kanyakumari-Leh ride had been a long-standing wish. “For any rider, Khardung La is a dream come true. This time when I made the plan, I told my husband Rajkumar, also a rider, that I was going no matter what happened!” she says.
Pick me up
So on July 16, Shyni, along with her biker buddies Nash Rixin and Anup Payyanat, kick-started her expedition to Ladakh. Her ride was the Royal Enfield Himalayan tourer that she bought last year. This was the first big test that it was facing. Shyni was all pumped as she rode away towards Kanyakumari. But the joy of the spirited start was cut short when she met with an accident en route Tirunelveli, on the second day. She rode over a contusion at high speed, lost balance and crashed on the divider. “Fortunately I was not injured. But the bike took a lot of damage, so there was a delay before it was fixed. A big thanks to Royal Enfield for their help in servicing it quickly and getting me back on track,” she says.
In Chandigarh, Rajkumar joined Shyni for the last stretch to Khardung La. The couple shared the ride after that, with him riding up into the hills (she had wanted to, but had got sick). She drove down with him pillion and they parted ways with Nash and Anup at Leh, taking a different route on their return. Shyni dropped Rajkumar at Chandigarh and rode down the country, back on her own.
The response was extremely positive wherever she rode through. “I was welcomed and helped to navigate cities by bikers there. They even helped me book hotel rooms. I never had a bad experience on the road,” says Shyni, who had packed all that was required, including a knife, to protect herself from potential threats . There was a time, she recalls, when all she got was rude stares and curses from onlookers when riding on her Bullet. But things have changed over the years, she believes.
Inspiring others
Apart from being a rider, Shyni is the founder of Dauntless Royal Explorers, the first all-woman Royal Enfield bike club of Kerala, which boasts 25 active members. They organise monthly rides to different destinations in and around Kerala. She and her husband, also train women to ride, especially Bullets. “Riding this beast of a bike gives you a confidence unlike any other vehicle. But one needs to take it seriously and not just use it as your ego-booster,” Shyni adds. The ride to Ladakh was her own a way of asking girls to break free from the shell of restrictions that society imposes on them.
Although mentally and physically exhausted, she is already planning her next ride to Ladakh. And she’s going solo. Next up though are Rider Mania 2017 in Goa, the annual gathering of Royal Enfield riders in India. “It’s what I’m looking forward to now,” she says.