One woman, one bike and 64 countries. That’s what it took to break a world record.
On December 17, 2023, Meenakshi Das commenced her journey towards becoming the first female solo rider to traverse more than 50 countries in a year. She returned home on December 22, a changed person. My Kolkata takes you through her journey.
The journey starts
From the time Meenakshi was 16, riding her Kinetic Honda gave her an unmatched sense of freedom. As an Assamese woman, her first dream was to see all of northeast India on two wheels. Her first few trips involved riding pillion with her husband, Bedanta, on trips across Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. “I wondered what it would be like to ride through these roads and traverse the curves. Right then, I promised myself to ride solo one day,” she smiles.
After working as a fitness instructor and saving up diligently for years, she finally bought her first bike, the Yamaha R15 V3, in 2019. A few months later, she became the second woman in the world to ride through Umling La Pass (in Ladakh), the highest motorable road in the world.
Meenakshi on her first bike, the Yamaha R15 V3
Meenakshi was far from done, though. In 2022, she undertook a solo ride to Nepal. The milestones kept coming, and her goals kept getting bigger. The prejudice around women riding solo without men incensed her, pushing her to not only seek new adventures, but also break records. “Initially, I decided to ride to London, only to find that many people had done it before. I then decided to aim for the world record: Travelling most countries in a year as a solo rider.”
Fifty countries was the mark to beat. Meenakshi decided on 67.
Her calculations put the trip’s total cost at Rs 54 lakh. “I was confident that people would help, since it was a world record for India and the Northeast,” she recalls. In her pursuit for sponsorship, Meenakshi approached both the central and state governments, along with the tourism and sports ministries. “Everyone made encouraging promises, but no one gave me a penny,” she sighs. Always one to build a road where there was none, she mortgaged her agricultural land. For the remaining amount, Meenakshi started a crowdfunding drive through her gym clients. “A random person sent me Rs 10 lakh!”
With Rs 20 lakh in her account — enough to secure crucial visas — she set off in December 2023.
Striding through the Middle East: ‘I felt like this was help sent directly by god’
Meenakshi in (left) Bahrain and (right) Jordan
Her first country, Nepal, went off without a hitch. She then returned to Mumbai, with plans of riding to Oman. But tensions between Yemen and Oman forced a last-minute route change. The NGO that had promised to sponsor her ferry also backed out. “I had to decide right then if I should take an alternate route or return home. I knew that giving up wasn’t an option.” Meenakshi decided to fly herself and her bike to Qatar, and the unexpected expense set her back by Rs 2.8 lakh.
From there, she rode through Bahrain and Saudi Arabia — with the latter packing in the deadliest sandstorm she had ever seen — before entering Jordan. Her initial plan was to stay there for just three days and ride into Iraq. But fate had other plans. “Iraq had a bomb blast, so I decided to forge an alternate route through Israel. I then found out that the Israeli embassy in Jordan was in shambles,” she remembers.
Meenakshi ended up spending 13 days in Jordan, where she was hosted by a Malayali woman named Priyanka. “She didn’t know me but treated me like family. While leaving, she even handed me an envelope with $500. I felt like this was help sent directly by god,” she beams.
But the troubles didn’t end there. While going from Georgia to Turkey, she was refused a visa and asked to return to Iran. Shivering and crying, she rode back to her accommodation, asking for god to intervene. The next morning, the staff at the Turkey border was different, and her visa was granted seamlessly.
Unexpected Europe: Riding 850km in seven hours without a single stop
Meenakshi by the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Meenakshi’s journey through Europe was just as grueling. For four months, she stopped eating during the day to save money. “Since I would be hosted by someone for dinner, I would try to take in all the calories for the next day then. I couldn’t afford to have lunch outside. As a protein-obsessed fitness instructor, it became too much for my body to handle,” Meenakshi says.
Naturally, this affected her health, and she spent weeks riding through relentless rain in sickness. Because of her tight schedule, stopping to recover wasn’t an option. “Despite how hard it got, I never thought about quitting. This wasn’t just my journey, but every single woman who had been ridiculed.”
Meenakshi’s visa hiccups followed her wherever she went. Upon finding out that her Schengen visa had expired in Macedonia, Meenakshi literally had to undertake a race against time, riding 850km in seven hours without a single stop to reach the Athens embassy for an extension. Upon reaching the embassy, she was denied. Yet again.
Meenakshi made yet another impromptu route change and decided to bike through all of Southern Europe to get to the UK, where she had an active visa. She entered the UK from France, on the last day of her Schengen visa, covering eight countries in 10 days.
“My father passed away five years ago, but I started seeing him everywhere. I would feel this never-ending guilt for leaving my daughter’s side during her board exam year, and not being able to see my aging mother. And yet, I would act strong on calls, while weeping into my helmet. Only my helmet knows my story.”
Getting through with kindness
Meenakshi in the UK
After facing another rejection in the UK, Meenakshi felt helpless. The only way she could get a visa extension was by returning to India. “I could see the world record slipping away.” The Assamese and Malayali communities came to her rescue, raising three lakhs. Leaving her bike in London, she immediately jumped on a flight to Kolkata, returning two days later with a fresh visa. “Everyone said that getting a fresh Schengen visa before a month-long cold period was impossible, but somehow, people made it happen,” she beams.
Apart from the visa issues, kindness also seemed to accompany Meenakshi. A rider from Kerala hosted her in Liverpool, handing her an envelope with GBP 400 as a token of love from all the Malayali riders in the UK. Her host in Norway gifted her his late wife’s boots, in the hope that she would ride in spirit alongside her. Five Indian women in China pooled in $4,000 to help her with the money she needed to complete the last stretch of the trip. “Everywhere I went, I’d send messages on rider community groups on Facebook, and people would offer to host me. They taught me so much about not just riding, but life.”
Homecoming
Meenakshi is already planning adventures to Russia and the US
The return home was bittersweet. “I was delighted to be reunited with my family, but also felt guilty for having been apart for so long. What ate me up was that despite breaking the world record, I missed out on three of the countries I had planned — Oman, Iraq and Myanmar. I can’t help it. I’m addicted to riding.”
There’s no time to rest on her laurels, as Meenakshi is already planning adventures to both Russia and the US, this time with Bedanta by her side. “My dream is to ride out to wherever there is land,” she grins. Meenakshi’s journey is far from over.
