“You
can never tell a book by its cover”- Edwin Rolf
The
quote holds true for Aarati Dongol, more famously known by her name Aayesha.
The pretty, approachable and bubbly lady will make any of us bite our tongue
with her amazing bike stunts.
The
world of motorcycle stunting is one which we are all aware of. The prowess
needs a lot of daring. Aayesha, who was an average girl next door till her
early twenties, had never ever imagined herself riding a bicycle. However, amazingly she
developed her passion for motorcycle since 2013. And her story is quite
interesting.
Aayesha
started off as she was forced by her brother to learn scooter for household
purpose. Being skeptical at first, she went for a try and surprisingly was able
to ride it in a couple of days.
You
may call it a fortune that one of her cousins had organized a scooter racing event
where only females with Honda scooters were allowed for the participation.
Since, Aayesha had one, he persuaded her to participate in the event.
Fearful
and less confident Dongol while giving her name for participation had never
thought of leaving the event with so much of inspiration. There she happened to meet one of the
participants who was in her mid-forties, yet enthusiastic about scooter racing.
The lady motivated the then Aayesha who was in her early twenties. Then, she found a
new passion for herself. She started participating in all the racing events and
meeting with different people from the same field.
Participating
in those races, she grew more confident and wanted to perform stunts for which
she joined the trainings provided by “Riders Unified”. She reminisces learning
with two other female fellows.
“Stunts
were only for boys then”, recollects Aayesha.
Having
been termed different than other ladies and being appreciated for her stunts
inspired her to vent for more.
“My
passion for bikes and stunts grew more as I could socialize with a lot of
people through it,” shares Aayesha. However, Aayesha had to face a serious
injury in her leg during one of her practice sessions in 2016 and had to rest.
With
the growing freedom for females and more flexible environment female bike
stunters are increasing, however the sad part is they aren’t there in the field
for long run.
“Stunting
is expensive and at the same time has very less scope in Nepal. You have to bear for the expenses
with no any support from any other,’’ opines Dongol.
Now,
as a team member of Nepal Automobiles Sports Association (NASA), an
organization dedicated for the management of automobile related sports, she
wants to promote women in this field.
Everyone is inquisitive on what she achieves besides those injuires.
She humbly replies, “It’s the identity. I feel proud to let people know me as a stunt
women.”
You
definitely need to be a diva to perform those stunts when you are prone to
cuts and bruises and Aayesha is definitely that adventurer.
