BIKERS CLUB JANUARY 2020 ISSUE | Page 10

ISSUE 01 | JANUARY 2020 I made some friends eventually and somehow managed to get a bike from them to practice. Initially, it went very tough because without any formal training; I was attempting those stunts; riders there used to laugh at me, but then seeing my determination, they taught me the techniques that brought confidence in me and became a stunt rider. I came to Pune to study, that's what I had told my parents. And to please them, I had taken admission in Commerce stream but didn't go to college, and the entire day I used to practice. I started taking parts in small competitions, which eventually rose my confidence being as a stunt rider. In a few months, I was being recognized as the youngest and the only female stunt rider. I was living my dream and earning too, but still buying my own bike was a challenge. I come from a middle-class Muslim family, and my father was then a taxi driver. Generations to generations in my family nobody have ever gone out of Lucknow to do something which I was doing, so it was very obvious of my family for the objection they were taking for me doing stunt riding. My father and me are bit close and I told him that I have earned some money by doing stunts here and require some more money to buy a bike, somehow I managed to convince him for the bike. I bought TVS APACHE 180cc, obviously second hand but it was my own. 13:20 Buying my own bike was a challenge, but "where there is a will, there's a way." With my own bike, I started practicing even more, and earning money, which I used to get it from my performances. Stunt riding is not easy, you fall, you get up, again fall... and that's how the process goes, sometimes you injure yourself or sometimes your bike, but both need to be fixed. I could fix myself but not my bike, so I used to fix it BIKERS CLUB ® | MAGAZINE | PAGE 10 at the mechanic, but since it was a daily routine, I had to learn some basic mechanics, to save money, which I did. My journey was never easy and still it is not. Passion for riding was extravagant that I took a year break from my studies to fuel my stunts full time. With a lot of hard work and sacrifices, I started getting calls to perform on well- known platforms. In one of the event, I called my dad to see me performing but told not to inform mom. It's a risky and dangerous sport. Everything went well till the time I was doing my routine stunts, but as we say "ONE MISTAKE AND YOU ARE GONE," something went wrong, and I fell out of balance, and the jerk was so severe that it broke my both the ankles. I got 13 stitches in my left leg and 20 in my right, and I knew I would have to stay away from my bike for quite a long time. My father got scared so as my mother when she came to know about it. All my hard work, sacrifices, and convincing came to an end. My parents said strict NO to riding and created immense pressure on me so that I could come back to Lucknow. Like a bird, I was flying in my world, so how could I let one crash snatch away all my dreams from me. I decided to stay back and joined Fashion designing. My parents were not at all happy, and they stopped all the financial aid which they were giving me. I can't explain how I survived! A 18-year-old girl with a bike and her dreams without a single penny in her pocket and an unfamiliar city, and I can't blame it on my parents for doing that because I come from a middle-class, orthodox family and a small town. Like any other parent, my parents also wanted me to study and get married to an excellent Muslim guy. Neither they were wrong, nor was I; it's just I wanted to fly and fulfill my dreams.