Motorcycling wasn’t just a childhood dream for Marina Syed, but a necessity. As a student-cum-working woman, Marina didn’t like being dependent on her brothers, father or rickshaws for commuting.

“Since there was nowhere I could learn from an experienced instructor, I decided to learn motor-cycling on my own,” she says. “I began to borrow motorcycles from people I knew. I learnt kick-starting and would try to ride from point A to B. I would fall, get injured and even burned my leg once, but soon got the hang of it.”

Seeing her passion and commitment for motorcycling, a guard at her office recommended the newly launched scooty, which she soon bought. After riding it for seven to eight months, Marina decided to share her new knowledge of freedom and independence with other young women.

“I wanted to empower them to make their lives easier,” says Marina. “Not everyone can afford a car to commute to university, college or work. How many times can one hire a rickshaw or use public transport?”

In her final year at university, Marina did an entrepreneurship course where she learnt about managing a business. “My professor Minhaj Ikram supported me tremendously and helped me to materialise my dream.”

In 2017, with just one student willing to learn, she launched Rowdy Riders, an all-women driving school-cum-club. ““Brainstorming for the name of the motorcycling club, suddenly I knew that I wanted it to be ‘Rowdy Riders’,” says Marina, “because every girl has a rowdy in her — the passion to do something regardless of societal constraints.”

One young woman chased her dream to ride a motorbike. She has now empowered over 250 women to take charge of their lives on the streets of Karachi

Marina introduced the school on YouTube, Facebook and morning shows on TV but there wasn’t much of a response. “But a year later, when we set up biker camps at Iqra University and made videos for Tik Tok, people started noticing us,” recalls Marina The training ground for the school is located in Buffer Zone, North Nazimabad, Karachi. So far, 250 women have graduated while a dozen are currently enrolled for training. The learners share a camaraderie that unites them as a club of biker women.

Initially, there were a lot of challenges in setting up Rowdy Riders, says Marina, such as finding a suitable ground and buying motorcycles on a small budget. “In about two months, I found a ground that met the prerequisites of being big, safe for girls and close to my home and workplace,” she says. “The next step was to buy a bicycle and use my scooty, and my brother’s motorcycle to train girls on the ground.”

In the beginning, Marina’s family didn’t support her because they were scared for her safety. “When I spoke to people about my dream of riding a bike and teaching other girls as well, people would laugh at me,” she recalls. “All I heard from my family was ‘this isn’t a girl’s job, you should stay at home.’ But in 2017, after I motorcycled from Karachi to Kashmir as a brand ambassador with four other biker women, I was able to convince my mother, who used to think that, by hiding my motorcycle keys, she could deter me from riding a motorcycle.”

Marina’s students vary from ages 14 to 50 and mostly belong to the middle and lower-middle classes. Hence, Marina charges a reasonable 10,000 rupees per student for the entire course. “Usually it takes five to six months for a girl to become proficient and confident in riding a bike and take it on the streets,” she says.

One of Marina’s current students, 25-year-old Kiran, was inspired by a colleague who rides a heavy bike. When she heard about Rowdy Riders, she enrolled and started taking classes. “One day soon, I will surprise my family by buying my own scooty and riding it home,” says Kiran. “We are learning how to tackle people who make demeaning comments when they see girls on motorcycles. It is just something we are ready to face, because we want to set a precedent and empower future generations.

“We want to make girls on motorbikes a common sight. I don’t understand why people point their fingers at girls who bike. Being independent and safe on our own motorcycles is wrong but it is okay for us to get harassed by men on public transport?”

Another former student Batool, 17, who has been riding her bike on the roads of Karachi for the last two to three months, was inspired by her brothers who commute by motorcycles. They were supportive of her interest in learning how to ride one. When Batool’s mother Shahida decided to learn, Batool took the 50-year-old to the training ground on her motorcycle for the first day of training.

“I want to learn to ride a motorcycle because I feel that, in an emergency, using a car means navigating through traffic, while commuting by motorcycle saves time,” says Shahida. “As a homemaker, I want to take responsible decisions for my family.”

Shocked by how women on motorcycles are judged in Pakistan, Batool says, “When I was taking my mother for her motorcycling class, one gentleman said, as though he had seen some unimaginable abomination, ‘God have mercy on you, you are a woman and riding a motorcycle!’” she says. “Often, male motorcyclists and rickshaw drivers try to intimidate us by driving too close to our motorcycles and cornering us on the streets.”

Eman, a ninth grader, is Syed’s youngest student and has started learning early to encourage other girls. “Although sometimes it is hard to control, but mostly motorcycling isn’t hard to learn,” she says.

Marina, who is herself only 25 years old, has emerged as an entrepreneur and a change-maker in bringing women to the forefront of motorcycling. In addition to her work teaching women to bike, she has also acted and done her own stunts in a soon-to-be-released film Sheenogai, based on the tragic Lahore Motorway incident.

“We are like a family and help each other in any way we can,” says Marina and others around her agree. Showcasing female empowerment and promising an independent future for women, there’s laughter and excited chatter as the rowdy riders zoom their bikes off into the sunset.

The writer is a physics student and can be reached at somaiyah.hafeez2000@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 25th, 2021