HYDERABAD: She came. She saw. She conquered.
No, this is not the story of an ancient warrior conquering in the field of battle, but a young woman conquering age-old beliefs and setting out to do what many could only think of. Chennai biker Soundari Sindy broke many barriers - geographical, lingual, or societal - that came in her way, to travel from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in a challenging journey spanning 42 days and 16 hours, in a display of incredible grit and determination.
While you’d think Sindy’s effort to ride across the country isn’t something that hasn’t been attempted before, the cause that motivated her to do it, will certainly make you take your hats off to her.
Sindy set off on her journey with the aim of fulfilling the dream that many bikers would have. But she had a bigger goal, probably the biggest of them all - to bring about a positive change within society.
“Earlier this year, I came across so much news of sexual abuse against women and children, and I realized that we don’t talk about this as much as we should. Young girls need to be educated about the difference between ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’, and I decided I wanted to do something about this,” says Sindy.
She decided to mix her passion of biking with that purpose in mind and raced out to explore the country and educate people about ‘sexual discrimination’ and standing up against it.
With a bigger picture in mind, nothing could stop Sindy. She then decided to not travel from Kanyakumari to Kashmir the conventional way, but cover the country’s 29 states and 5 union territories along the way, trying to educate as many people as she could.
THE RIVETING JOURNEY
On the morning of May 5th this year, Sindy started from Kanyakumari, riding through the southern and central states, towards the eastern part of the country, then into the chilly and high-ranging northern regions, and then started her descent, going through the western and central regions, before she returned to Kanyakumari on June 16th, a lot more confident, wiser, and prouder than she was 43 days ago.
Sindy visited schools, homes and other places along her way to use every opportunity she could to talk to people and help them make their lives better, interacting with almost 50,000 people in the process.
Such was her dedication towards her cause, that she rested for only two days throughout the trip, being forced to because of illness.
She covered a distance of 500-550 kilometers a day on an average, except in the North-Eastern states due to the conditions of the roads, though she still managed to average 150 kilometers a day there.
Even when she halted along the way to catch some rest and a refreshing cup of tea, she still made it a point to gather crowds and educate them.
She faced numerous challenges along the way, at one point even managing to escape an encounter with a tiger late in the night during her journey, but nothing could shake her spirit.
While she set off on the trip all by herself, Sindy wasn’t the only one on the journey. The support of her family, particularly that of her husband - a fellow biker - and her four-year old son, was what drove her to complete this herculean task.
She is now set to apply for inclusion in the ‘India Book of Records’, having traveled through 29 states and 5 union territories within the time frame she did. Her effort and the purpose behind it, though, is what matters most to her. “Being recognized by a record book or not, I feel extremely happy about what I have achieved and I’m extremely comfortable with where I am,” said Sindy, who has certainly set an example that many others can follow.
