Gaikar and her colleagues flag off the Gudi Padwa rally

While she wanted to be one of them, there weren’t too many options in Thane. For the past few years, the mother of two has been visiting a rally in the vicinity, where her 10-year-old gymnast daughter performs stunts. So, ahead of the festival this year, the admin executive pitched the idea of a Gudi Padwa shobha yatra to her management, and they promptly got on board. Born with an athletic gene — she’s a national-level yachting champion and her father, a retired weightlifter — Gaikar is no stranger to bikes. She’s been riding a scooty for years, but whenever she tried her hand at the bullet, her family members fussed over her getting hurt. “So, I secretly started practising on my cousin Pankaj Jadhav’s bullet. It was a 1983 model, and after a couple of tries, I felt at ease with the motorcycle. For the rally, I rode my colleague Vikrant Kusalkar’s bullet, and it felt so good,” she chirps.

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.76%

AAP 43.10%

INC 24.14%

Submit

View All In Poll

The enthusiast practised for a week in her office compound. “If I practise at home, they’re constantly worried about me falling down, but when I’m outside, I know that whether or not I fall, I will have to do it somehow,” she asserts.

Gaikar has been practising riding the bullet for a week

On Friday, donning an onion-pink nauvari, embellished with a beaded mangalsutra and a long kanthi, Gaikar led the celebratory rally with four other women colleagues — Trupti Ramesh Dalvi, Lajkanwar Baid, Darshana Shankarlal Panchal and Madhuri Ramdas Sathe on scooty. Lezim dancers, dhol-tasha performers and other bikers also followed. These women are not the first to kickstart the tradition, certainly not the last, and yet, even today, eyebrows are raised when women want to ride out wearing a nauvari. “People are like, ‘Saree and bike, really? Will you be able to manage? Tereko jamega kya [would it suit you]?’ During Shivaji Maharaj’s time, women would wear nauvari and go horseback-riding, so why can’t we ride a bullet?” 
she signs off.

Be saree, not sorry

. First-timers, you can try wearing a stitched nauvari instead of draping the nine-yard garment. The stitched variety is akin to slipping on a salwar.
. Ensure you pin up well so that you’re comfortable moving around and don’t have to worry about the garment slipping off. When you’re riding, your attention should be on balancing and the road.
. If this is the first time you’re riding a bike, do mock trials wearing the nauvari.