Riding for a purpose

The nine women riders of Bikerni Hyderabad group are on the ongoing nine-day motorcycle rally to promote Bathukamma, the unique festival of flowers celebrated by women in Telangana. They are also on a mission to spread the awareness on She teams and also promote Telangana handlooms.

As a part of the first of its kind motorcycle road trip across nine districts of Telangana, the team is covering Pochampally, Warangal, Ramappa temple, Kaleshwaram, Jannaram, Nizamabad, Siddipet and Bhongir before they culminate the event in Hyderabad on October 17th as planned.

The riders are wearing various outfits designed using Telangana handlooms and through live feeds they are also showcasing the road network to encourage travellers to use roads more extensively as a way to discover unexplored Telangana.

Poornima Founder/Director of Marc 7 Innovations is not only a part of this ride as one of the nine women bikers, but also the key resource in getting the handloom outfits for the entire ride. She has been closely working with the bikers’ team for the past two months in understanding their lifestyles and this unique concept. With her experience in conducting several handloom-based fashion shows, she could pick up the right handloom material for this kind of concept where the models are not walking the ramp but rather wearing them and riding the bike comfortably.

Poornima’s team has designed 10 outfits for the women bikers through this nine-day journey ending with a culmination event – the fashion show. Poornima says, “It’s been a good learning to work with the bikers, designing outfits for them for real time use rather than the usual fashion show. It is not just the outfits, we had to take special consideration in choosing the right set of accessories, which the bikers will be able to wear comfortably even while riding.

Bikerni Hyderabad led by Jai Bharathi has been actively promoting women motorcycling and building a ecosystem for more women to ride in the city.