Here’s the story of the Ladies of Harley, who are riding across the Golden Quadrilateral

One just quit her job. The other is away on loss of pay. “We didn’t get leave,” says Krupa Reddy. “This is all for the love of riding,” adds Praveshika Kathiyar. These ladies in their early 30s are part of a seven-member all women squad that’s riding across the country. The other team members are Sunita Kunjeer, Sunita Mande, Urvashi Desai, Shirley George, Anushriya Gulati, all part of Ladies of Harley and are from different parts of the country.

As part of this journey they are covering the Golden Quadrilateral that connects Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. The ride started in Daman on April 8 and is scheduled to end there on April 21. They rode through through Udaipur, Delhi, Kanpur, Aurangabad, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, and Vijaywada before reaching Chennai. From here, they are off to Bengaluru, Kolhapur, and Mumbai before returning to the starting point.

The women cover 6,000 kilometres over 14 days, with a message in mind, which, according to 43-year-old Sunita Kunjeer is: “India’s Golden Quadrilateral highway is safe for women to ride,” She adds that they want more people to bike. “There are 1,600 registered Ladies of Harley members in India,” she says.

Forty-eight-year-old Shirley George, the oldest in the group, says, “This ride is a good way to show our country in a positive light. We are traversing through different cities and weather conditions. Our highways are getting better and it’s not like the India of yore.” She adds, “We also discovered that some of the bathrooms at petrol bunks in the remotest places are really clean. Often, the ladies toilet is locked and the key is with the manager of the bunk. You just have to ask for it and use the facility,” she says.

The group has been covering 500 to 600 kilometres every day and is on the road for 10 hours. “We take a break after every 120 kilometres to cool our mind, body and machines,” says George. They ride at a speed of 90-110 kmph. But within city limits it is around 40 kmph. “And if it’s Bengaluru, it’s 20 kmph,” jokes Reddy. “I once told a cop there that I’ll have to push my bike if I go any slower,” she laughs.

Twenty-three-year-old Anushriya Gulati is the youngest and has covered one lakh ten thousand kilometres. “I have been riding from the time I was 19,” she says. Some members started biking just a year ago, while some have been at it for 33 years.

When these ladies whizz across the roads on their roaring machines there is bound to be a lot of attention. People take pictures or stop by for selfies. “Once, a man came up to me and put his arms around my shoulder and asked ‘How much did you get this bike for?’ I removed my helmet and he was shocked when he realised that I was a woman. He quickly took his hands off my shoulder,” laughs George.

Apart from the camaraderie, what they also enjoy is the food. Smaller towns have a lot of speciality food: Litti chokha, poshto and paturi baked roshogolla are some of the dishes that the group can’t stop raving about. “I now understand why bikers take up culinary journeys,” says George.