It has a lot of feeling in it.
To feel the board and catching the waves, it's really amazing.
I think I should be called a waterman, not a surfer.
I'm happy to call as a surfer to myself.
I'm having a good time when I'm in the water.
It's a culture of surfing, who owns the waves.
And a lot of experience in this.
I meet every day new people and every day learning
and changing the experience and the cultural things.
What is a surf?
And now I understood what is a surf.
For me catching a waves, having a fun, this is my life now.
Being a surfer, I'm really enjoying myself.
Surf's up.
Surf the first time, I think in 77, here in India, at this place, actually.
And then after that, Mahabalipuram, and a few places like that.
And Dwark all the way up in Gujarat.
So hopping around and surfing.
And there was never anybody there, but there would always be at least two of us.
The one surf board, one boogie board, you know.
And that went on and on and on and on until 19, not 19, until 2005.
We made a surf trip to Mahab's, and there was Velu in Shankar, you know.
And they were pretty good.
I started surfing 10 years before, and I didn't know what is surfing.
Actually, there are some people who are surfing next to close to my place.
And always saying, I don't know what is the sports.
And always pausing, and I saw them and sit and watching them and like,
OK, they're doing this, OK. Then I like to try.
And I don't have the board that time.
So just I'm caught job one place.
I'm working and I trying to pound the board.
One is lying down next to the toilet.
And I take off and I fix it myself.
Then put no leash, no wax.
I didn't know what is that and all.
Just like tied with a coconut rope, the board won't go out staying next to you.
Just hiding my legs.
I went to the first day, you know, and I send up.
I have fun, really enjoyed.
That's your, there's no one else there in the water.
It's a good feeling.
The first day is making.
That's why I like keeping like the next day I was trying surfing again.
Start to borrow a surfboard from a tourist who been surfed it.
And then slowly every now and I tried to get the board and become surfer.
And I'm originally a fisherman, so it's really helped me with the food moves.
So I'm very comfortable in the water and also comfortable in the board.
That's how I start surfing.
And once it's getting to the rhythm, I'm really enjoying.
I just turn, it's happy to catch first waves.
Once I have a first board in my life, I really, really have.
That's my most important day of my life.
I was playing basketball with this German exchange student friend of mine.
And he was the one who told, he was like, oh yeah, so I've come down to India with a surfboard.
And I was like, what?
Come down to India with a surfboard?
You can't surf in India.
And he was like, no, no, no, there's a place called the surf ashram, just one hour away from here.
And I'm going to surf there.
And Tushami was so excited.
He was like, no way, you can surf like just one hour away from our college.
And then we're like, we have to go find out.
So we went up to them and we met one of the devotees at the ashram, go at them.
And he was so excited because we were the first Indians to approach the ashram outside of the ashram.
The ashram kids who were Indians were surfing already.
We were the first Indians outside of the ashram.
He was so excited.
He was so excited.
And it was like amazing.
I went to Florida working as a flight instructor.
I had some money, so I bought a board and like every new kid I bought a board which looked the fanciest, what pros ride.
I must have caught only 10 waves in those six months, but it got me really fit.
It got me really excited and I never stopped.
I watched many, many videos learning how to duck dive, duck dive, duck dive.
And it was it was it was hard, but I loved it.
And then when I finally came back to India, I met Tushar and Ishita from the Shaka Surf Club.
And that was the first time I rode like a fun board.
And the first wave I ever battled for, wow, I battled, I stood up, I went a little left.
And I'm like, wow, I know how to surf.
And that's when I like, I didn't want to stop.
One day I don't know if it's accidentally or how it happened.
I just caught a perfect green wave and it was really good left.
And I just still can't never forget that moment, providing the beautiful face of the wave.
It's just like unforgettable.
That moment as I knew and I was hoped.
Right now 35 people surfing, good surfing.
And but my school, some conditions, local children's.
I'll give the board free.
I'll give you the lesson free local children's not for elder.
But some conditions.
No drinks, no smoking, good surfing, good education, good school every day.
Saturday, Sunday leave, come to surf.
And beach cleaner program, water spade and any old age people in the street
helping talk to old age people, sending old age home.
I started surfing and I love surfing now is the connection between water and man.
It's so bonding that you could feel like a spirit getting into you from the water.
And just coming you down from all the noisy things around the concrete world.
As you know, the land has become a concrete jungle.
And so we are trying to become wet and keep wet like that.
So we be soft at heart also as the water is so soft to us.
So that is why I love surfing and I will keep loving it also.
Surfing, it's a very nice exercise and very nice fun.
In the water, we feel like very cool.
When I grow up, I want to be like any slitter.
When you go parallel deep into the ocean, the moment you see this wave coming down,
you forget everything and the way the seconds you stand up in the boat
is like the best moments of everyone's life who surf.
And that is what happened to me when I took my first wave.
Surfing for me is freedom.
Like, you know, it's the freedom that you can't get anywhere else.
Once you get into the water, it's like, you know, it's your own world.
Whatever you do, it just depends on you.
You don't have to depend on anything else other than mother nature.
So essentially, what we're doing in surfing and in kite surfing,
all the energy originates from the sun.
The sun, which is so far away and it's this ancient energy,
it heats up our earth's atmosphere and it causes the pressure gradient,
which gives us a lot of wind and the wind, of course, creates waves.
So as a surfer, we're tapping into that ancient energy
as it transforms from a mechanical liquid state to being dispensed, right?
In the barrel of the wave is where everything happens.
The same thing with kite surfing,
we're channeling the energy of the wind value into our bodies
and getting to do all these aerial acrobatics that you see.
So really what it's all about is getting close to nature,
channeling that energy and creating that deep connection
and compassion for our natural environment.
When I'm in the water, it's just about having fun.
You know, it's when I'm happiest and the ocean has been like my greatest teacher.
It's taught me to be humble, yet confident.
It's in those moments when I was like scared out of my mind, you know,
like charging for waves.
When you look back, you know, it just looks massive
and it looks at this massive problem,
but it forces you to like push yourself and overcome your fears
and I apply that philosophy in my life every day.
More than just harmonizing with the water and just having fun,
it helps me understand my body a lot more.
Simply balancing air and fire in your body,
which could be your breathing, the fire in your heart.
Keep pushing, keep pushing.
You don't want to be caught in that inside section some days.
It's humbling.
Some days it makes you appreciate life so much
and it completely blocks everything away.
You're in that moment.
I love surfing and I want people more surfed in India.
The problem right now is like 30 students surfing.
I want them to get better and I want the same like Europe.
For example, Sri Lanka or Hawaii or Bali, like this kind.
I want here also to surf and they get better and better.
I love surfing. It's my heart.
Maybe I miss the surf.
My life is going.
My family, they, why are you taking the boats?
Why you are always spending that?
What are you going to get it?
What is the benefit?
I feel like mama, like, you know, I love it.
It's something going to happen.
But if I explain it, they won't understand what is that.
Ten years ago, there was less than a dozen surfers.
Way less, maybe eight.
And now, ten years later,
150 maybe, and growing every weekend.
When surfing got too big, I found myself wanting to move on
and go find that scene again where there's not very many people.
Where everybody's a brother and a sister and a friend in the water.
And when I got to India, I felt, well, I found the utopia,
the Shangri-La surfing.
I thought, well, I found the utopia, the Shangri-La surfing.
The Shangri-La Surfing
