Kerala bikers on their recent Jaipur stopover

At one point, we had got emotional thinking about our families affected by the floods’
An all-women group from Kerala recently rode across different parts of the country to promote women empowerment and gender equality. The group, which kick-started their journey from Kochi and had a brief stopover in Jaipur as well, said that they had never thought that they would return to a flood-ravaged Kerala.They told us that luckily, their families were safe. Group leader Merilyn Hamlet from Calicut said, “I would call myself fortunate that my family was in Calicut, which was not that affected as compared to other cities in the state.”
Bikers exploring Jaipur on their bikes
Surya Ravindran, another biker from Thrissur, told us, “I live in Thrissur and the nearest airport is in Cochin, which was shut due to floods. So I flew till Coimbatore and took a taxi for Thrissur. On the way back, I saw damaged houses and buildings. But what made me happy was to see life coming back to normalcy. Now the rains have stopped and people are returning back home to build them again. Shops are also open now. And when I reached home, meeting my family made me the happiest, as everyone was safe.”
Girls posing for the shutterbugs
Talking about their Jaipur stopover, Merilyn, who had come to Rajasthan for the second time, added, “Connecting with young kids on the way was a great experience. They were curious and asked us about our expedition, clicked pictures with us and shared some lighter moments with us. While riding across some of the villages in Rajasthan, women working in the fields with their faces covered would come and talk to us. I think that was the best part of our ride to connect with people and spread our message of gender equality.”

Sangeetha Shikhamani, another rider, said, “There was a point when everyone in the group got emotional while thinking about our families affected by floods in Kerala. But we mustered courage and decided not to lose hope and continued our ride.”
Pictures by Shalini Maheshwari/BCCL