Telangana pride flies high as bikernis play Bathukamma mid-air

In a watershed moment in the history of Bathukamma celebrations in Telangana, four Bikernis made history by playing Bathukamma high up in the air! It was a spectacular assertion of Telangana pride as the gang of Hyderabadi daredevils, Jai Bharathi, Poornima Karamala, ASD Shanthi and Jayasri Kosaraju, soared over 100 meters high over Bison Polo Ground, on paramotors, with their flower stacks in tow, to pay homage to the Mother Goddess on Dasara day. The ladies, who recently returned from an adventurous bike ride across nine districts of Telangana, are clearly overwhelmed. “It was the best Bathukamma of our lives. We got to see how the festival is celebrated across the state as we sang and danced with women everywhere we went, all through the nine days. As we were riding around in ethnic handlooms, there was a lot of buzz around us all through the trip. So, to play Bathukamma in the air was a perfect culmination to the festive season,” says Jai Bharathi, who is an architect by profession.

ASD Shanthi, a constable of She Teams, believes the event is celebration of the Telangana woman. “Bathukamma is a festival of female felicitation that epitomises the folk ethos of Telangana. So the idea behind the ride was to promote ethnic weaves and spread the message of woman empowerment. This daredevil mid-air celebration was the brain child of Telangana’s Department of Language and Culture and Telangana Tourism. It shows that the women of Telangana are capable of doing anything and are ready to take on the world,” says Shanthi. Shanthi adds, “I’ve grown up playing Bathukamma from my childhood itself but celebrating it in the air was something else altogether. I always had this dream of flying like a bird; and it came true and how!”

Poornima Karamala, director of a Hyderabad-based event management firm, nods in agreement saying, “It was the first paramotor ride of my life and boy, was it fun! It was a perfect way to pay homage to Goddess Gauri and woman power in general. The experience was inspirational. Now, I want to learn paramotoring.”