It is often said that travelling alone is not safe for a women, that there are many hurdles for lone women travelers in India. However, a 33 year old woman from Rajahmundry has decided to prove them wrong by embarking on a cycle tour all by herself. This trip where no one assisted her, she travelled over 30,000 kms covering almost all the major states of India. The interesting part of her adventure is that she began her journey without a single penny on her.
Jyoti, an MBA graduate decided to leave the corporate world after working for 7 years. She then started pursuing her passion for adventure. She became a mountaineer and scaled several peaks in India. She followed her heart and embarked on this impulsive journey before 10 months. She initially bought the equipment required for the journey such as Cycle, tents etc. The idea behind this journey is to change the thought that it’s unsafe for a single girl to travel alone and that too by cycling to unknown places.
She began her journey with the gadgets and equipment she bought with the money she received through contribution. Though the journey was planned to be done in 300 days, an accident occurred in Delhi that prolonged the travel time. But she never lost hope and resumed the journey after three months of rest period. The experiences throughout the journey are truly eye opening to her and changed the perspective of people towards our country. She received love from all classes of people and even a daily wage woman gave money for her travel. People used to invite her to stay in their homes and even offered her food. Talking about cycling, she says passing through hilly terrains was much more fun than riding softly on highways. For safety purposes she learnt Judo, Karate and even carried a pepper spray.
Admittedly, she was never teased or taunted throughout the journey. She was respected and was appreciated all her way by many people. Jyoti, who recently finished her journey, is now expecting a visa to travel to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal etc.
