Being a Global Ambassador

Article originally posted on facebook on 8th Feb 2018.... https://www.facebook.com/notes/bhavana-issar/being-a-global-ambassador/10157004085263998/

I have had a difficult relationship with my birthday for the longest time ever… I do not recollect being one of those children who looked forward to their birthdays or excitedly celebrate their birthday. As I write this sentence today, I also think back on my many birthdays, despite my dread, I do have fond memories around my birthday too.

In 1998 on my birthday I lost my dear teacher, friend, philosopher, guide Dr. Geeta Saxena to cancer. She was young, spirited and the wise woman who gave me unconditional love and acceptance at a time when I was struggling and lost. She had held me and shone the light for me by being a role model, especially a feminist role-model, by pointing me to the book “Women who run with the wolves”, a collection of stories of connecting with oneself by reaching out to one’s intuitive self, one’s wild self, one’s feminine self. Losing her was like losing my home, my anchor and losing her on my birthday seemed like the most difficult thing to reconcile.

Every year since, the day was difficult and I suppose I had attached too many meanings to dates, associations and their significance. Every year since, Geeta’s husband and my teacher, Dr. Madhukar Shukla made it a point to write to me or call me on my birthday, a day that invariably brought alive memories of love and loss. Despite the fact that he lost his soul mate on my birthday, he unfailingly, patiently, lovingly and repeatedly reminded me that it was my birthday and a day we must celebrate. Something I simply could not get myself to do. It took me nearly 18 years and a lot of personal work until gradually I moved from celebrating my birthday on another day to learning the life-lesson of co-holding joy and sorrow, love and loss, celebration and grief. Finally, last year after many promises and assurances I declared to Dr. Madhukar that this year I would celebrate myself even as I will lovingly miss my large-hearted wise-woman teacher.

The last few years have been eventful in many ways. I left my corporate job in search for meaning and purpose. I discovered parts of myself through rediscovering my passion for motorcycle riding and finding my tribe of motorcyclist women (The Bikerni: Association of Female Bikers:India is a group of women bikers in India - founded by @Urvashi Patole Sane ), through my hobbies of poetry, cooking, gardening, painting and crocheting, my consulting organization Sambhaavna Partners and my social venture Caregiver Saathi.

Rediscovering my passion for motorcycle riding was fundamental to my reclaiming myself for who I was and in discovering sisterhood through motorcyclist women, I found myself ‘running with the wolves’. In 2015 when we seven women got together to go for a motorcycle expedition to Mana pass, the highest motorable road, it was the beginning of rewriting my story. We called it “Being a Woman” ride. Inspired by Mary Angelou, “A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and only herself. “

Sponsored by Drivol and Bluechem Group and Wrangler. The ride was organized and supported by The Vagabond, Where Eagles Dare and Sambhaavna group, who share the passion of creating possibilities and pushing the boundaries. The team from Where Eagles Dare provided the support and the platform for the team to spread the message, create awareness and realize this quest.

We came from diverse backgrounds and experiences with diverse personalities but share our passion for motorcycles and riding. We believe that there are many ways expressing ourselves, being a woman and riding motorcycles is one way of expressing our liberated minds. It is our way of saying “I believe, I am, I can… We can”. We hope that many women will be able to look at themselves beyond the social stereotypes and express themselves in the many ways that they are beautiful and significant.

The journey was a challenge for the mind, body and soul. In pushing the boundaries of our body, we discovered new possibilities for our minds, and for our selves. In overcoming the challenges of the terrain, we encountered the demons inside. We met many people along the way, and some encounters make for beautiful stories. Like the young woman who seemed meek and subdued but walked up to me to say “you are very brave to go to the mountains on your bike” and when I patronizingly said “oh you are brave too”, she heaved a sigh and determinedly said, “looking at you, I believe I will go too”. I never realized how simply following my passion could inspire someone else. Each time I think of this young woman I remind myself that we must do what we wish to, we have no idea where and who it can impact. 

An encounter with young Sikh pilgrims from Ganganagar, rural Punjab, who tentatively spoke with us, “women who had come riding our bullets all the way from Mumbai”. We had connected when I spoke to them in Punjabi, let them take pictures for them to “show their wives” and expressed my desire to visit the Gurudwara some day, as I didn’t have enough time during that visit. Many kilometers of co-traveling later, they expressed their appreciation by quietly giving me a packet of the prasad (offering) from the Gurudwara, which I had non-chalantly shoved into my jacket. The same air-filled packet intervened between me and the rocky drain that I fell into, when my motorcycle lost balance. Often I wonder if my ribs would have been safe, had the packet not been there. I believe this is universe’s way of bringing faith into my life.

The ride is full of so many stories. Such a journey has its share of pleasant and difficult memories and today as I look back at the experience, I cannot but feel immense gratitude for the opportunity and the support of the six women (Sheetal Bidaye, Shubhangi Ghadge, Trupti Sarmalkar, Sneh Joshi , Kanchan Tamhankar and Shalaka Zad) who rode with me and the many experiences we had together. We were ably supported by Tilak Soni and his team from Where Eagles Dare. As the first group of women to attempt this ride, we earned a Limca record for being the first group of women to ride to the Mana pass and the excitement of the feat led to much recognition and appreciation. It is through this experience that I learnt the meaning of new beginnings and letting go, of honouring that which was and creating opportunity for that which can be.

I am an unabashed fan of cricketer Rahul Dravid and interestingly we share our birthdays. One of my favourite quotes from him, is the story of the Chinese bamboo that takes five years and three months to grow to its full height of 80 feet. Yet, for the first five years, you only see a tiny green shoot, but in the next 90 days, it grows into a full-fledged tree. But in those first 60 months, it is growing its strong network of roots underground, to support the tree. So what can seem like the growth of three months is actually the journey of five years and three months. As I entered 2018, I had a feeling that this would be a different year, with deep significance in many ways. Things had been gaining roots and it was perhaps time for the bamboo to emerge.

I had announced the launch of my social venture Caregiver Saathi, an endeavor that creates an eco-system of well-being for the informal caregivers family members who care for their dear ones who have chronic conditions or terminally ill. This venture is to honor the memory of my father, Arun Kumar Issar, an ex-pilot in the Indian Air Force, who battled terminal illness and perhaps more than that, the legacy of my grandmother and mother Kumud Kalia Issar, who have been incredible caregivers to many loved ones. While my consulting organization and social venture are taking shape, the one thing that I wished to integrate in my identity was my motorcycle riding.

The universe was listening and a week before my birthday, my friend Ruth Belcher from Seattle contacted me saying that she is launching her company, a global network that will support motorcyclist women across the world, Global Moto Adventures https://globalmotoadv.com/. She wanted me to be her first Global ambassador https://globalmotoadv.com/global-ambassadors/. Even as I type this, my heart is racing. We spoke at length about what that meant, how I felt I perhaps didn’t deserve it, she gently convinced me how every story was important and how mine was too.

This was exactly what Rashmi Bansal told me as she was collecting stories for “Touch the Sky: The inspiring stories of women from across India who are writing their own destiny” way back in 2015 after we had returned from our ride and was going to be released in Jan 2018.

Looking at one’s story and writing it with a new lens is healing. 

Rediscovering myself through riding a motorcycle has been healing for me. “Being a Woman” ride was a reminder to myself that there is no one way of “being a woman”. It has helped me connect to my roots that were left behind, in what is now Pakistan, when my grandparents relocated to New Delhi after the partition of India. I have discovered my connection with my great-grandmother who used to ride horses in the mountains of now Pakistan and I smile each time they say horse riders of the past are the motorcycle riders of today. My grandparents, who told me stories of partition and courage and resilience, always gently reminded me that stereotypes were meant to be broken. It tickles me to think that it was in 1973 when my parents went for a month-long honeymoon ride on a bullet (Royal Enfield) in the same region of Himalayas and that most-likely I was conceived on that trip! Above all, I will, forever be grateful to my mother who did not succumb to fear when I had my scooter accident as a college-going young woman. On the contrary, inspired by the ways of Air Force pilots, encouraged me to get back on the scooter as soon as I was healed, lest any fear of riding creep into me.

A dear friend Katie Hawley, recently pointed to me what I always did - honour the experience and create an opportunity..... when we honour an experience for everything it has contributed to us, we create the opportunity for letting go, for creating new possibilities. When we are seen for who we are, we heal. This article is my way of honouring my experience and the contributions of the women who rode with me, the team that supported us during the ride, my family, everyone who believed in me and all the beautiful people we encountered. It is my way of honouring my dear teacher, Dr. Geeta Saxena and her legacy. She wrote many poems and the one titled There are no Goodbyes and the note titled The point of it all makes sense only now. I am looking forward this year as a year of new birth and many birthday celebrations!

Some past press about our ride:

https://www.thebetterindia.com/49113/first-women-ride-bike-mana-pass/

https://www.sacredyatra.com/7-women-ride-to-mana-pass-in-uttarakhand.html

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/Women-bikers-attempt-record-at-Mana-Pass/articleshow/49277548.cms

https://archive.siasat.com/news/seven-women-complete-biking-expedition-mana-pass-848655/

https://www.365hops.com/news/in-a-daring-event-7-women-successfully-complete-riding-on-the-highest-motor-able-pass-mana-pass-nid15

https://www.inshorts.com/news/7-women-ride-to-indias-highest-motorable-pass-1457879129814

https://www.newsnation.in/article/92945-seven-women-complete-biking-expedition-to-mana-pass.html

https://www.euttarakhand.com/female-bikers-in-uttarakhand

https://www.bdfoundation.in/tag/being-a-woman/

https://www.bluechemgroup.com/en/sponsorships/events/a-special-kind-of-rally-7114.html

https://www.universityex.com/news/ferocious-gang-seven-created-history-women-mana-pass/

https://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/travel/is-khardung-la-the-highest-motorable-road-in-the-world

#leadership #personalJourneys #GlobalAmbassador #PersonalDevelopment #Identity #Learning #Storytelling