As we step into the new month of March, we have a pretty special day coming up — Women’s day! While we at TEC celebrate the spirit of womanhood and independence every day, 8th March is definitely a day to look forward to. Carrying on the same spirit, on Saturday morning, Jealous21 and an all women group of bikers called “The Bikerni” came together to have some rocking fun, break the norms and conduct the ‘first ever bike-a-thon in Bengaluru’ aptly called “The butt out brigade”.
J21 is already a popular brand for denims, tops and T-shirts for women. Their tag line is “Butt out” which talks about living life on one’s own terms without having to worry about what others think The idea behind “the Butt Out Brigade” was to celebrate the woman of today who balances work and home, who lives life on her own terms and is completely unapologetic while doing so.
The Bikernis are a bunch of fearless female bike riders who were absolutely cool and carefree. I loved how everyone’s biker chick look was so spot on. Speaking of which, I chose to cover the event sporting my biker chick look!
Just because these girls were bikers did not mean they were “tomboys” in any way. Everyone was just as “feminine” as the next girl. I love it when stereotypes are broken. The Bikernis have already broken the stereotype of “girls are not good drivers”. They drove around Bengaluru spreading the message of strength, uniqueness and the passion to follow one’s dreams. We had a chance to speak with Roshni, a key member of The Bikerni. Here is an excerpt:
What was your inspiration behind joining Bikerni?
The biggest inspiration is you yourself. If you want to do it, you will do it no matter what. Nobody really inspires you, you want to see the world and you don’t want anybody’s help so you take a bike and ride it. It’s simple!
Since how long have you been doing this?
The Bikerni was founded in Pune by Urvashi Patole and then it went on and every city has a chapter of Bikerni. So I am associated with Bikerni for the past 4 years and I head the Bangalore chapter.
What kind of technical difficulties do you generally face?
Oh we have a lot of technical difficulties! My bike didn’t start just this morning and I was late for another event. But then you get to know man! I have been with my bike for 4 years. Eventually you learn. You learn small things like if the bike doesn’t start, push start it, and you learn to fix a puncture and things like that.
Which are the places that you have covered?
Well, there are girls who have covered Laddakh, there are girls who have done Iron Butt Association which is around 1600 Km in 24 hours solo and then I have gone to Goa and have covered a lot of places in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Do you plan to go international anytime soon?
There are girls who have gone from the Bikerni Brigade but me, I don’t know man! I would want to first explore India. Every time I wake up in the morning there is something new coming up. Like we get associated with Jealous21 and Bikerni also gets to go out and lot of people know about it and get going.
While speaking to the media, Shibani Mishra, the representative of J21 said, “Jealous21 Butt out Brigade is a manifestation of the unapologetic stance of the young girls today, empowering her to stand up for what she believes in and arming her with confidence, style and independence. The event was crafted around the attitude of the brand that matched the attitude of today’s young women, who can take a stand for themselves in the society.”
TEC also had a chance to speak to Shibani Mishra in person.
What is the idea behind “Butt out”?
Well! We just want to say that the girls are ready to say that just don’t mess with us and leave us free. Don’t interfere. We want to live a spirited free independent life and if you do, we will tell you to “butt out”.
How did the association with The Bikerni happen?
Bikernis have been jealous lovers from like all the time. They were already buying Jealous21 and they were following J21 very closely on the social media pages. When we started talking on various types of messages on “butt out” they actually came up saying that we would love to get associated in spreading this message to the society. So we decided to do this Bike-a-thon and what better time to do it than the international women’s day. Everything fell together and here we are!
What other events are in store for J21?
We are planning to do a similar activity, it may or may not be on a bike, but it will definitely be about girls coming together to spread this message to the society saying we are independent free spirited girls, so just let us lead the life in a way we want to. We plan to do bike rallies in other cities like Mumbai, Pune, and Chennai. We are also planning to do a lot of college activities where we want the girls to come together. There are a lot of such activities lined up in malls, in colleges and on the streets. We want to spread the message of “Butt out” everywhere.
Finally, what are your plans on women’s day?
I celebrate women’s day everyday (smiles). Every day I celebrate my womanhood and Thank God that he made me a woman. I think we should thank today’s men as well. Their mentality is changing and they are becoming very very supportive. Those days are gone when a father would be against his daughter riding a bike and we saw such examples today. I thank such families. So I think International Women’s day is just a way of saying that we are women and we are happy about being women but I think every day should be International Women’s day and we should be celebrating. I don’t have a particular plan but I am sure we will have a fun time in office.
By the end of the event, me being the crazy shopaholic that I am, I ended up buying a pair of jeans from J21! One cannot have enough pair of jeans, right?
This was a fun event and I loved the enthusiasm and energy floating in the air. While we are at the topic of an enthusiastic women’s day, may I remind you of the give away contest by TEC on this special occasion. Do check it out and don’t forget to participate, share and spread the love!
Keep it Stylish! Stay Beautiful 🙂
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