Zenith Irfan is a 20-year-old Pakistani, who wishes to travel the world, only she wants to do it on her motorcycle! As a starter to her dreams, this young Pakistani has already completed a six-day solo ride from Lahore to Kashmir. Cruising on highways, dragging her bike through dissolved roads alongside streams in the Kashmir valley, camping on the wayside; her only recourse to civilisation are her several saddlebags, packed to bursting and her faithful Honda 125.
We all know this is a big deal in India, but it is an even bigger deal, in conservative Pakistan where a woman travelling alone in this manner is virtually unheard of.
Zenith says she was inspired by her deceased father, who wanted to travel across the world on a bike. “He wanted to travel the world on a bike. I was 10-months-old when I lost him and at a very tender age I understood that “some things just don’t last forever”,” she wrote in Humans of Pakistan. “I guess it’s the whole emotional roller coaster that ignited the inner biker girl. I was 12 when I first rode one. All I could remember saying was “How do you stop this? How do you stop this?” With a twist of the throttle, the shift of the gear, I went to places carrying my father’s legacy.”
Zenith started her six-day journey from Lahore on June 14, 2015 and completed it on June 20, 2015. On her return, Ifran documented her journey in a personal photo blog on Facebook, “Zenith Irfan: 1 Girl 2 Wheels”.
Zenith said she did not face any resistance when she decided to make this journey. “My mother is a very liberal woman. In fact, she was the one who motivated and pushed me to ride a motorcycle,” she told Daily Pakistan in an interview.
For Zenith, riding a motorcycle is synonymous to challenging social norms, “A social taboo is enforced on them (female motorcycle riders), by creating a sense of disgrace and shame.”
Despite the difficult terrains and rocky mountains, one thing she found challenging was “public stares”, she told Daily Pakistan. She said that being a Pakistani woman there are certain limitations, “I have to calculate my speech and body language.”
A true pioneer for women in her country, Zenith’s trip can probably serve as a guide for other women bikers in Pakistan, in the future. There’s no denying, in any case that Zenith did her bit in carving a niche for Pakistani women on the world map.
Image Courtesy: Facebook
More on>> Balancing Act
