MUMBAI: On Friday, biker Esha Gupta reached Mumbai, the 16th city on her way to cover a total of 20 cities, almost 6,000km, in 40 days, all alone.

On what prompted her to set out on this journey, the 35-year-old, who is riding her bike that she bought eight months ago, says she’s out to prove to the world that the nation is not as unsafe as it is being portrayed. Gupta has travelled from Chennai to Kolkata to Delhi and has reached Mumbai via Lucknow , covering the golden quadrilateral of highway network.

“It will be surreal when I complete my journey in a week more after travelling through so many cities on the national highways. Being a woman, driving through dark roads and meeting strangers was a little scary at times. But my experiences were quite interesting and I was surprised to see how hospitable people of our nation are to absolute strangers,” said Gupta.

Sharing one of her experiences, she said she had stopped at a senior couple’s home at Vijaywada in Andhra and the latter didn’t understand English or Hindi, but yet all possible arrangements to make her comfortable. She said that at dhabas along the highways, people would at times be awestruck to see a woman on bike, but would later be friendly.

Gupta had not planned her stays and has been stopping over at homes of strangers who have been inviting her on getting to know of her journey.

For personal safety, however, Gupta has been carrying a GPS device so that her movements can be tracked, in case of a contingency. “Fight your fears is what I believe. People speak about how unsafe the nation has turned. But I want to prove that they shouldn’t pass such judgments without travelling,” signs off Gupta, who is ready to leave for Navi Mumbai. She will leave the city on October 12 and drive towards Pune-Kolhapur-Hubli, before reaching her destination Bangalore.

