A record ride: Thane teen takes the high road to Ladakh in 16 days
THANE: Seven states, 6,010 kilometres and 16 days. Sounds crazy? Well, 19-yearold Kanaka Shetty, a resident of Manpada rode the impossible on her first journey, which may soon find mention in the Guinness World Records.
Shetty, a district-level kickboxing champion who believes “why should boys have all the fun?”, started learning to ride the bike only a year ago with help from her friends Pratik Marsurkar and Darshan Raghunath.
Shetty’s mother, Rekha, an eye surgeon says discrimination between boys and girls always irked her, leading her to take up an interest in riding bikes. Within just a year, Shetty’s parents got her a bike and before she knew it, she had set out on her journey on July 1.
Shetty took the Thaneudaipur-hisar-chandigarhkatraBanihal- Drass -Lehkhardung La- Pangong Lake- Jispa-manali-amritsarBhatinda- Udaipurthane route to what she calls “the journey of a lifetime”. Once a stranger to the difficult terrains, high altitude, changing temperatures, and glaciers, Shetty got used to the twisted road in no time. “It was difficult to ride after sunset, but this journey taught me how to face every kind of climate. By the tenth day, I had got used to all the water crossings,” she says.
Marsurkar and Raghunath, her comrades in the journey, taught her to handle situations and look out for the safety of fellow drivers.
Recollecting how soldiers at the Kargil Memorial encouraged her to ride on against all odds, she says, “These are places we go to for adventure, but the soldiers stationed there survive such difficult situations. I salute their spirit.” When asked about the challenging destination, Ladakh, the young biker says she prepared a lot for the journey, including going on 400-km rides. “The feeling of being on top of the world at Khardung La pass, one of the highest points in the world, gave me such an adrenaline rush,” says Shetty, adding that her next stop is south India.
Her father, Rakesh, a mechanical engineer, says he hopes she is a motivation for others like her. “She has never let us down and we are now planning to get her name incorporated in the Guinness World Records.”