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CROSSING BOUNDARIES Society looks at women bikers as having crossed a feminine way of being

Every morning when I slip on the helmet, kick start my Yamaha RX 135, rev up the engine and hit the roads, eyeballs dance, stare, gape, jeer and ogle, heads turn, cameras are taken out, families grin, men discuss. They look at me – a salwar-clad woman – kick-starting, manoeuvring in bumper-to-bumper traffic, changing gears and speeding on a ‘man’s machine’.

If I don’t let a bike cut lanes, it could turn out to be violent. The biker caught up with me, tried to edge me off, and in the process I acquired few minor scratches and bruises. If my bike stalls in the middle of traffic, mechanics on a bike have told me that I’ve run out of petrol. Meghna Khanna who started on her father’s Bajaj scooter, learned how to ride a Bullet 350 cc when she was 15 years old. She says there is slightly more respect because of the size of the bike. “I guess a lot of men haven’t ridden the bullet, but you get the usual hassling once in a while – mainly overtaking and racing.”

She, like many other women motorcyclists, including Deepa Akhoury feel: “The best way to deal with them is to let them pass – I try not to deal with male egos as it is not worth it. Handling a bullet by a woman is as challenging as it is for a man.”

When they were in college, Deepa and Preethi Jayapati felt they were missing out on long rides and started riding by taking equal turns.

Coming to good Samaritans, Meghna recalls: “Once an auto-driver turned out to be an ex-Enfield mechanic and fixed my broken clutch cable when I was stranded.” Both Deepa and Meghna insist that one has to believe in the general goodness of people. Meghna states: “Some women ride bikes because they love them and some learn to do it out of necessity – so whether women are walking, are on a cycle, scooter or motorcycle – it’s them travelling alone that has to be made safer in the city.” Preethi who rode a Scooty for seven years, started riding the Bajaj Discover 125 cc two years ago because she wanted the freedom and speed to travel long distances on a sturdy, fuel-efficient vehicle. Her father who had banned her from buying a bike, told her bikes are not meant for girls.

She says: “In the city, many do a double take. But on the highway, everyone’s equal. Most travellers and bikers are fun, comfortable with women and are glad about sharing a common interest in automobiles.” She asserts: “Riding is not to gain approval of people, but that it makes me happy.”

Feminist Nivedita Menon says: “Since driving a vehicle is an index of control and of power, everyday driving is in general a competitive display of power among men – marked by a complex interplay of class relations. The bus driver triumphantly edges out the fancy car, while a sahib driving his own car stops the chauffeur-driven car that overtakes him, and so on.”

She feels that women driving any sort of vehicle are a common target of misogynist contempt, frustration and rage. “When they drive geared motorcycles, which are successfully sold as ‘male’ and ‘macho’, it will not be surprising that this reaction would be intensified.”

Says bulleteer Yasmin Claire, “My choice of bikes is not because they come with a tag that says ‘macho stop, right here!’ – that is incidental.” What appeals is the engine, the handling, the specs, the general quality of everything, the stability and the durability.

On whether women need to drive a particular type of vehicle to prove they are capable, Menon says: “Of course not, and I greatly doubt that any woman who does drive a geared motorbike or a four-wheel drive car does so to ‘prove’ anything. That assumption is itself sexist.”

But she feels that this is precisely the problem. “When women casually assume they have the same rights to public spaces as men do, that assumption is a very real threat to social order. It is the recognition of this threat that is manifested in the aggression towards female drivers.”

For Gitanjali Sukumar who has been riding for seven years, it was natural to ride a geared bike as “I’ve always been a tomboy and hung out with boys”. Her parents opposed the idea and told her they wouldn’t fund a bike.

Yasmin was initially irritated at people staring and “expected them to deal with the fact that I’m a woman and I ride, and so what?” But she felt that it was she who felt uncomfortable, and that she needed to ‘deal’ with the stares and that it was ‘not men being unfair to women’ when she got full control of the bike.

Says Kalpana of a women rights organisation, “Simple, automatic-geared bikes are designed for women as you don’t need any great skills, whereas for male geared ones, you have to apply yourself. Society looks at women bikers as having crossed a feminine way of being. A car also has gears – but a car has class value, so for a woman who rides motorbikes, she becomes an object of curiosity for the onlooker.”

Menon vouches that women drive whatever vehicles they do for comfort, budget, style, convenience, enjoyment – all the reasons that men drive whatever vehicles they do.

AYESHA MATTHAN

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