Lavasa Women's Drive 2014

The Start

Like the name suggests, this drive involves an all-women team and it requires them to get to Lavasa following the rules set by Indian Automotive Racing Club (IARC) on a 240 km stretch, from Mumbai and Pune respectively, with the help of a tulip chart. The drive is in Time-Speed-Distance format.

So to put matters in perspective, this drive is not a piece of cake, as people who know how TSD races work, will agree. A minute earlier or a minute late can ruin your chances at winning.

For those who are unaware of what this drive is all about, here’s a little history. The LWD started in 2009 with the aim of representing the true spirit of women and encouraged participation from women of all walks of life. It usually revolves around a specific cause or theme. The first event had 100 cars participating in it and today the numbers are touching 500. The drive sees the enthusiastic participation of women from both Mumbai and Pune.

Till now over 7,000 women have collectively garnered more than 32 lakh votes from friends and acquaintances' from over 100 countries to enable their selection. This time was extra special since the participants have got their names into the Guinness Book of World Records for ‘Most Female Participants in a motor sports event.’ LWD, this year, saw 934 women with 467 cars driving from Mumbai and Pune to scenic Lavasa, India’s first planned hill city, to achieve this feat.  

The Actual Drive

On February 22, Saturday morning, the drive began in its earnest. The drive was flagged off from Pune and Mumbai simultaneously and got an enormous amount of celebrity patronage as well with Bollywood celebrities like Kunal Kapoor, Manish Paul, Ashmit Patel, Elli Avram flagging off the cars and boosting the morales of the women. Around 350 cars started off from Mumbai crossing 11 checkpoints to come to Lavasa. From Pune, the drivers had to cross seven checkpoints to get to the finish point.

For those who frequent the Mumbai- Pune stretch or have been to Lavasa and beyond will know the route I am talking about. Many stretches of clean open roads, a fair share of potholes, crazy traffic etc.. From Mumbai, the drivers got on to the open Eastern Expressway and after weaving in and out through heavy morning traffic, errant drivers, nasty potholes, they entered the ghats that led to Lavasa.

For drivers, I am sure you feel a sense of relief to be on the open roads and crank the engine to let it flow and feel the car run, unlike here, where a specific speed limit had to be adhered to. Once the ghats begin, the terrain is different, but travelling along with you are the huge brown mountains, so in case you are not driving, the co-passengers can always take in the sights.

The true test of the drivers and co-passengers begins once they enter the Lavasa ghats. The winding ghat requires skillful manoevuring on the part of the driver and if your co-passenger has motion sickness then it is going to make it all the more difficult. These participants went through all that apart from looking out for blind spots, crossing stray cattle near the village areas and yet managing to keep within the time and speed limit.

The best part of this drive is that putting aside the competition, it is also gives women the chance to bond with friends and let their hair down. LWD saw these participants making their way through some picturesque locations. At this time of the year, the fields are dotted with specks of green, brown and yellow flowering mango trees along with the wild flora. If one is lucky one can even get changes in weather, from the dusty and hot winds of the City to the cool and clean breeze of the mountains.

Enter Dasve, Lavasa’s main town, and the scenery changes completely. The mountains are still there and so is the river, but then the roads become narrow and secluded with neatly trimmed hedges lining them. It almost immediately gets you into the holiday mood and transports you into a world which knows no traffic and no garish, huge skyscrapers or garbage-lined streets. Instead, Dasve, welcomes you to your own personal space. Enjoy the fresh mountain air with a spectacular view of the dam that one can see down below from the entrance to the town.

The Participants

It’s a thoroughly breathtaking scene to see this vast expanse of green and blue lying before you. The excited participants came hooting and whooping down to the Dasve Promenade ready to enjoy a day that was planned for them. Here’s what some of the participants had to say. Rhea Virani (driver), Hetal Dalal (navigator), Chandni Chhadva and Sarjita Parikh drove down from Mumbai in their Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. While this is Hetal’s second year for the drive, the others came along to enjoy the spirit. They left Mumbai at 7.18 am and reached Lavasa at 1.26 pm. Dressed in white tees and jeans, with a dash of pink to their wardrobe, the women were out to spread the message on breast cancer.

While we were talking, I asked them the usual questions, ‘How was the drive? Did you face any difficulties?’ In return there were beaming smiles of satisfaction and they said something to the effect of having had a great drive, managing the time and getting to Lavasa. And no… they did not kill or maim anyone on the way (unlike what some people are bound to comment). Their motivation? “It’s fun and plus it is for a cause.”

I might have sounded a bit too harsh on the men initially but they did well too. Many women had their husbands waiting at the finish line and egging them on. The men looked equally proud of their wives achievement and eagerly clicked pictures of this moment to keep for posterity. I even asked one of the men waiting at the finish line with his daughter. He was waiting for his wife to drive in. Excited he said, “I am extremely proud of her. She has driven in from Pune with her friends and she has done quite well.”

Yes, for most women this drive gave them a sense of accomplishment as well. The journey and the hardships were forgotten once they reached. Oh and the participants ranged from housewives, to lawyers, CEOs, cancer survivors, company vice presidents and more. What brought them together here was a collective mission and that was to spread awareness regarding cancer and other issues plaguing women. 

Decoration & Messages

The LWD also has used the fact that women love to dress up to their advantage. The drive requires that the participants decorate their cars with the message they want to spread or the theme they were backing. This year, along with the theme being on cancer ‘Hats off’ was also added to their list. The women each got a fancy hat for participating in the drive and they also decorated it to suit their themes.

The participants surely unleashed their creativity. Many were following a theme and most had decorated their cars with some message or the other. Some of them were pertaining to cancer, spreading awareness regarding breast cancer, girl child education, feeling empowered etc…

Keeping an eye on the models of the car driving into the venue. I noticed that there were many Maruti Suzuki Swifts, Wagon Rs, Swift Dzires, Fiats, Toyotas, Ford EcoSport, Renault Duster and the likes. Among the premium cars that rode to glory were Land Cruiser Prados, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo XC60. But for this event, make or model does not count.

Conclusion

I noticed that in this drive, women had broken many stereotypes. Women were driving, having fun while at it, ‘no one got harmed’ and they handled the nimble Nano to the big bad Land Cruiser and that too effortlessly.

Here is what I would like to leave you with. If there is a woman driving the car in front of you then surely most men would either slow down or allow the car behind them to pass up or change lanes and while passing the woman driver, give her that ‘you-know-you-are-a-woman’ look and then go your way. Few men will admit to this. But what I have experienced first-hand is a normal calm and focused male driver’s  demeanour changing to panic and battle-ready mode once he found a woman driver ahead of him on the road.

But then women have received a lot of bad press for rash and negligent driving. There are many women who drive daily on the roads of our country and that too without causing accidents. So for a handful of men why should women stop from having their fun? Well, most of us don’t enjoy Grand Prix, but then there are other avenues for us as well.