Riding for life

Hyderabadi Sana Iqbal has been riding since she was in Class VII. She went on her first solo ride to Gujarat this year but unlike other riders who are excited when faced with such adventure, Sana wished this would be her last ride and hoped “to just die on the road”.

Because at 27, Sana was suffering from depression. Before her solo ride, Sana, who works in an IT firm, was unable to handle the extreme ups and downs that she had been experiencing for the past five years.

She’s brave with her revelations. “I had to go to Gujarat for some work and I chose to go on my motorcycle so that I could die under the wheels of some truck or ram into a divider or fall off a cliff... I was all geared up because I needed peace and I thought death was the only solution,” says Sana, now grateful that her prayers went unanswered.

“People were genuinely concerned and they told me not to harm myself. But never was I shown an alternative, a solution or a way I could follow to get out of depression,” says Sana.

The way, on the other hand, turned out to be quite simple: “I had to find happiness on my own.” And she turned to what makes her the happiest, her Bullet Electra 350 CC that has been her companion for two years.

“When you are riding you tend to forget about everything else. On the highway, you are on your own; the moment you put on the helmet, you are cut off from everyone else. The first 200 km was enough for me to realise that peace is not in death,” says Sana.

“I also met many other women riders — around 200 of them — during my trip in September. It was inspiring to discover there were others like me — fighting their own dds and limitations. They found pure joy in riding.”

Now that Sana has put all negativity behind her, she feels it’s her duty to give back, to help other people like her who think suicide is the only option.

“In 2014, there were 1,09,456 suicides in India, out of which 51,095 were due to social pressures. Youngsters nowadays need a solution, you can’t just tell them to snap out of it,” says Sana, who is starting her anti-suicide campaign from November 23.

“My goal is to travel to each and every state in the country and conduct awareness workshops. I start from Goa and will be done with the trip in the next six months,” says Sana.

“And I have put in Rs 40,000 in the bank, all of my savings. Since I am not backed by any sponsor, I am certain that institutes might not be welcoming when I approach them. But I have to keep going on. Isn’t that what life is all about?”

 

 

Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.