WOMEN RALLY FOR A PINK CAUSE

Ladies-Only Drive To Lavasa Had 1000 Participants, Including Survivors, To Spread Awareness About Breast Cancer

 It was a first for many, others had quite a few rallies to their name. But the more than 1,000 women who lined up early Sunday morning sporting white T-shirts for the Lavasa Women's Drive, a car rally in aid of the Women's Cancer Initiative by Tata Memorial Hospital, were an excited lot.
    As most of the city slept, 250 cars with all-women riders participated in the 225 km-long rally that began at the Bandra Reclamation grounds at 7am and ended at Lavasa, a hill city, located on the backwaters of Warasgaon dam on the Western Ghats between Pune and Mumbai.
    As cars decorated with pink balloons, woman-power badges, flower bouquets and the pink ribbon symbolising the breast cancer awareness campaign dotted the entire route, Bollywood too made its presence felt in support of the cause. Flagging off participants at the Bandra Reclamation grounds were Ajay Devgan, Fardeen Khan and Mugdha Godse. Expressing his support to the rally, Devgan quipped, "I wouldn't have woken up at such an early hour had it not been for a great cause like this."
    Auto-cross and Himalyan rally driver Divya Miglani and her navigator, former Channel V VJ Teejay Sidhu, zipped past the starting point in the inaugural car.
    Since it was an only-women's rally, men watched as their wives drove, clapping for them in support. Many even followed the rallyists all the way to Lavasa, in separate cars.
    An especially heartening sight was the presence of Jaysinh Babla, who had come all the way to cheer the rallyists. Babla recently lost his wife to blood cancer.
    Shakuntala Merchant, who came back from the third stage of breast cancer, was excited. "Chemotherapy was harsh and so was radiation but see where I am today. I'm a survivor,'' beamed Merchant, who had to undergo mastectomy.
    Also standing out was Chembur resident and firsttime rallyist Kanchan Ahuja, who was participating with her mother-in-law, a veteran of three rallies. While they sported green bandanas, their car was decorated with leaves and save water messages.
    But cars sported stickers that read 'Go for the kill, bust cancer cells'.
    Each car had two participants: a driver and a navigator. At the starting point, navigators were handed Tulip Maps which gave details about road junctions and directions.
    All cars were carefully scrutinised by members of the Western India Automobile Association (WIAA), which has been organising rallies in the city for more than 75 years.
    "We've set strict rules and speed limits. Those who drive faster than the speed limits will lose points,'' explained Nitin Dossa, chairman WIAA.
    After halting at several check points, participants navigated their way through the long and winding roads over the Sahyadri mountains to finally reach Lavasa. Five hours was the average time taken by most participants to complete the route.
    At Lavasa, participants were treated to head and foot massages, probably what the women badly needed after the gruelling drive.
    Many found the speed limit a bit of a dampener, but nevertheless stuck to it. "We ensured that we maintained the speed limits, though at some points that made the rally very slow. We were tempted to speed but didn't,'' said Zia Hajeebhoy who had organised a boat rally for women a few weeks ago.

ALL FOR THE ROADIES: (Clockwise) Pink is the colour of the day; Actors Mugdha Godse, Ajay Devgan and Fardeen Khan flag off the Lavasa rally at Bandra Reclamation grounds on Sunday; Some participants felt that green was a good way to go too