Kerala's 'Bullet Queen' wants to resume ride exactly where a crash ended her anti-drug campaign

For 334 days, Shyni CV rode across India on her motorcycle, covering nearly 34,000 kilometres and carrying a simple message wherever she went — 'Say No to Drugs'.

The 43-year-old from Thiruvananthapuram had already completed five long-distance motorcycle journeys across India before setting out on her sixth mission with two other women riders on August 22, 2025. By July this year, she had travelled through much of the country, spreading awareness about the dangers of drug abuse while pursuing her passion for long-distance motorcycling.

Then, on July 22 this year, her journey came to a sudden halt.
A tanker lorry hit Shyni's motorcycle while she was travelling from Jhansi to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. The crash left her with fractures in her thigh bones and hip joint, multiple broken bones in her arms, blurred vision in her left eye and 88 stitches.

Shyni, popularly known as the 'Bullet Queen of Kerala' is confined to her bed in Thiruvananthapuram. She has no memory of the crash that brought her journey to an abrupt end.
“I don't remember anything about the accident. I can't recollect what happened. It was my son who later told me what happened that day,” Shyni said.

She remembers only the moments before the crash.
“At around 4.29 pm, I called my son. We spoke about visiting Khajuraho, which was along the Jhansi-Gwalior route. He asked me to go there, though I did not have the time. After that, I resumed my journey on the highway. That's all I remember,” she said.

Her son, Lenin Joshua, later told her what had happened. According to him, a tanker travelling in the opposite direction made a U-turn on the highway and hit Shyni's motorcycle. The impact threw her to the side of the road and completely destroyed her Royal Enfield Himalayan 411.

Shyni was wearing riding and protective gear, but still suffered serious injuries. The tanker driver fled the scene, while Jhansi police later filed an FIR.

Help, however, did not arrive immediately. “Someone found my phone and called my son, who was listed as my emergency contact. They asked him to join a video call and showed me to him. He asked them to take me to a hospital. They said they would try,” Shyni said.

Lenin then turned to the riding community for help. Through one of Shyni's riding groups, he contacted Colonel Arun of the Army, who in turn reached out to Colonel Vinod in Jhansi.

Shyni was taken to Jhansi Medical College. A day later, with the help of Army contacts and fellow riders, she was shifted to AIIMS Delhi, where she was admitted to the trauma care unit and underwent two surgeries.

After spending 10 days at AIIMS, she was moved to an Air Force camp. “All this while, I thought it was a small accident. I was not even in my full senses and kept asking random things repeatedly. It was only when I tried to get up from the bed that I realised I had been in a major accident,” she said.

Shyni said more than 75 per cent of her hospital expenses were borne by fellow riders and well-wishers. By mid-August, she was brought back to Thiruvananthapuram from Delhi.

Start of the anti-drug campaign
Shyni had been involved in anti-drug campaigns across Kerala since 2014. However, her decision to take it across India began at a small tea shop in Thiruvananthapuram.

An ardent tea lover, she had stopped at a shop around 1 am after a ride. While she was having tea in her riding gear, a youth approached her and asked if she had “paper”.

“I showed him the next shop and told him to ask there,” she said. When he returned and angrily repeated his request, Shyni's cousin, who was with her, pulled her away.
“My cousin told me the paper he meant was drugs,” she said.

Shyni went back to the spot and found the youth using drugs. She then called her son, who was pursuing his master's degree at Delhi University, and told him what had happened.

"He told me scenes like that were common. But that youth was like my son. They may be involved in drugs, but they also have a mother and a family, who may be crying because of this. It was at that moment that I decided to start a nationwide campaign," she said.

In 2023, she made her first national anti-drug expedition, travelling with her son. "We started from Kaza in Himachal Pradesh and ended at Kuttanad in Alappuzha, from India's highest village and lowest village," she said.

The second nationwide expedition began on August 22, 2025, and was named 'Ride for Resolve – India United Against Drug Abuse'. Shyni initially travelled with two other women riders- Nishi Khan and Uma Mahesh- starting from Kanyakumari and riding to Kashmir. The group then returned and ended the journey in Bengaluru. Shyni, however, continued alone.

“I had this dream of touching the four corners of India,” she said.
From Bengaluru, she travelled to Goa and Kutch in Gujarat before heading to Delhi via Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. From Delhi, she took her son as pillion and rode to Adi Kailash in Uttarakhand before returning to the capital.

The journey then took her to the Northeast, where she travelled through all eight states. “My journey was to experience and explore India. I stayed in villages. Time was not an issue because I had dedicated myself to my rides,” she said.

'It has to come from within'
For Shyni, the purpose of the campaign is not to force people to change, but to keep the message alive.

“Many people asked me what the purpose of continuing the campaign was and what result it would yield. Think of television advertisements. They are shown repeatedly until the message gets inscribed in people's minds. My campaign is like that. I keep preaching it. If someone understands and changes, that's the best outcome. It has to come from within,” she said.

She recalled an incident in Assam when she visited a village accompanied by local schoolchildren, authorities and residents. An elderly man was using drugs when they reached the village. When asked why he continued using them, he said the government had allowed their sale.

“A boy standing next to me asked him, ‘If nobody buys it, won't the shops stop selling it? You are queuing up to buy it, and that is why these shops flourish.’ He then took the packet away from the man,” Shyni recalled.

Her campaign also received the support of the Madhya Pradesh Police, which invited her to participate in programmes under its 'Nashe Se Doori Hai Zaroori' anti-drug initiative. She said she received similar support from schools and colleges in Assam and elsewhere during her journey.

Now, Shyni is recovering at her home in Thiruvananthapuram with the assistance of a home nurse. She is currently unable to walk, and doctors have told her it could take another one to one-and-a-half months before she is able to do so.

“It will take even longer for me to ride a bike again,” she said. But Shyni says she is not allowing the accident to overwhelm her.
“I have loads of memories from travelling across India. Every day, I think about them,” she said.

And she already knows where she wants to begin when she gets back on the road.
“It was in Jhansi that my journey was halted. I will start from there,” she said.