HYDERABAD: When Geethika Polisetty rides on the road, she is used to getting (unwanted) attention. At times, it’s people gaping at this dashing young girl riding a roaring macho bike like R15V2 150 cc.
At other times, it’s because she is riding a Harley-Davidson mean machine and turning into a body double for a Telugu actor.
However, this 24-year-old B.Com graduate from St Ann’s College, Mehdipatnam, says she takes more pride in being called Telangana’s first, and possibly the only, female bike stunt artiste, than getting that kind of fleeting attention from passers-by on the road.
Listen to the story of how Geethika, or GeethuRider for her 17,000 fans in Instagram, started riding a bike and you will realise it is full of grit and resilience.
“I hail from a lower-middle-class family. I have an elder and a younger sister and every time my mom had to wake up my dad, after he came back home at 2 am shift, to drop my sisters at the bus station for their college bus, I would feel bad for him. I was the tomboy of the house and I felt learning to ride could be of use to the family.”
She then sheepishly asked her dad to teach her how to ride and that’s how it all began.
He would come home at 2 am and it was the perfect time to ride it. As soon as I turned 18, I took on the mantle of dropping them and fetching groceries from the supermarket. At times, I would pick up an uncle or aunt from the railway station.
“It felt so empowering to do what my dad could. I started enjoying the kick of driving these big bikes. Before I knew it, I was nicknamed GeethuRider in our colony.”
A resident of a middle-class colony in Film Nagar, she says she was bitten by the ‘bike bug’ and wanted to lay her hands on every bike she came across.
“Luckily, my friends at college had boyfriends and each of them had a nice high-end bike. I would borrow their bikes, even tank up the fuel or get the air checked and return it to them and they would be happy.
"That way, I rode about eight bikes a month. I took to the bike like a fish takes to water,” says this passionate rider who also had a stint with Google a few years ago. This district-level basketball player, however, tore her ligament after she met with a sports injury while playing the sport in 2018 and her dream to buy her own bike remained unfulfilled.
However, soon she also started her own little handicrafts venture to be able to save up money to afford her own bike. She makes handicrafts such as gift boxes, handmade albums, candles, tabletop stationery etc and sells it online. “I managed to buy my own R15V2 150 cc.
"It’s not jewellery or clothes that can make a girl happy. Investing in something that makes you feel empowered is the real joy,” says this biker girl.
Recently, she also did a 10-second video clip for actor Shalini Pandey as a body double in her upcoming movie Iddarilokam Okkate. “I got to ride a Harley-Davidson for a few hours and although the payment was meagre, the bike experience was totally worth it. But I am happy that my art of driving could fetch me some pocket money too,” she adds.
Last year, she visited a luxury resort at Shameerpet and saw bike stunt master Vikas Reddy perform some antics on the bike. “He asked me to give it a shot and that’s how I learn a bunch of feats. Geethu is famous in the circuit for doing effortless back wheel lifts, burnout and drive without using her hands. Once I learnt to do all this, any open space be it next to the higway or an open ground next to my college, every place turned into my practice ground,” she says, while adding that her parents never once dissuaded her from trying out such feats either.
“Although there are many boys who do such bike daredevilry, people are fascinated to see a regular girl like me do it. I get many compliments when I post Insta videos.”
Geethu is now keen to do a series of solo bike rides to the interior villages of Telangana. “This will tell the world what an Indian girl is capable of. It will also inspire many girls from villages and small towns to do what they dream of. I plan to buy two GoPro Action cameras, fix one to my helmet and one to my bike and be able to post live videos of my trips on Youtube and social media,” says this innovative thinker. She says that she did a bike ride from Charminar to Tank Bund on the midnight of International Women’s Day and it filled her with heart with pride and power. Not surprising that she has named her bike Heartbeat!
This makes me feel empowered
I managed to buy my own motorbike. It’s not jewellery or clothes that can make a girl happy. Investing in something that makes you feel empowered is the real joy
What all can Geethika
Back wheel lift: Lift the rear wheel off the ground without any slope or front brake influence
Burnout: Also known as peeling out, she spins the wheels of the motorcycle while keeping the frame of the bike stationary. When ready to start, she puts the motorcycle in first gear and releases the clutch to cause the tire to spin
Engine cruise: Ride the bike without holding the handlebarsdo with her bike