Little would have Murthy Megavan – a fisherman and a school drop-out from Kovalam, 40 kilometres from Chennai – realised that he was creating a future for himself and other youths from his village when he borrowed a surfing board from a reluctant ‘Surfing Swami’ in 2001. Jack Hebner, popularly called the Surfing Swami, who is credited with creating the surfing movement in India, was in Kovalam in 2001 to explore opportunities for surf sports near Chennai. He reluctantly lent his surfing board to Murthy who showed an infectious enthusiasm for riding the waves. In the next 20 minutes Murthy spent with the surfing board, an astonished Hebner saw him catching a 20-metre wave and a few smaller ones.

A picture of Murthy while surfing.

The recently concluded Covelong Point Classic Surf and Music Festival at the Kovalam Beach, hosted by the Covelong Point Social Surfing School along with the EarthSync, and support of the Surfing Federation of India, based in Mangalore, is a consequence of the journey Murthy and his friends began in Kovalam.

Murthy’s love for surfing made him buy a surfing board in 2003 for Rs. 1500 from a visiting Australian. The next ship was when Tobias, a German architect, frequented Kovalam to surf along with his children. Seeing Murthy’s interest in surfing, Tobias introduced him in 2007 to Yotam Agam, co-founder of EarthSync, a record label and audio-visual production company. Murthy caught five waves with a surfing board Yotam lent him. An elated Yotam gifted him the surfing board.

Murthy was unstoppable thereafter. He quit fishing and turned coach to train young Vicky, Venkat and Appu from his village. Gifts of surf boards from other surfers visiting Kovalam followed. A couple of years later, a stunned Yotam saw the way Murthy and his trainees were surfing and was so impressed that he made a documentary on Murthy and the others in 2009. Yotam also began exploring ways to help Murthy start a surfing school. The lucky break came when Arun Vasu of TTK Logistics, a passionate water sport enthusiast for over three decades, entered Murthy’s life, courtesy Yotam, in 2012.

Arun found Murthy a “good guy,” a young man he could certainly support. Murthy was associated with social causes in his village. He helped villagers to rebuild their lives after the tsunami in 2004. For seven years, he served Banyan, the mental health NGO, and took care of the mentally ill in his village. Arun, impressed by Murthy’s passion for surfing along with his bent for social service, decided to request TTK Logistics to sponsor the surfing school, as part of the CSR activity for a year in early 2013. With Murthy as the head coach and owner, the Covelong Point Social Surf School was inaugurated in Kovalam on November 16, 2012, by the then British Deputy High Commissioner, Mike Nithavrianakis.

Murthy, Vicky, Venkat and Appu now conduct training sessions for people wanting to learn surfing. And to keep them going, TTK Logistics has extended its support till the school can sustain itself. Meanwhile, an Australian NGO, 'Boards for Billions', is sending about 100 surf boards over a year and half to the school.

Vicky, a school dropout, was a shy, uncommunicative youth whose life was fishing and playing on the wooden plank in water. But his life changed when he took to surfing. He now beams with confidence on the back of his wins in several surfing competitions starting from 2011 and is aiming to become an international surfer. Appu finished his hotel management course and went up to the national level in volleyball but, then, surfing grabbed him. He now wants to compete internationally. Venkat too finished a hotel management course but found that working in restaurants wasn’t what he wanted to do with life. Venkat’s ambitions now don’t end with becoming a surfer at the international level; he wants to turn a restaurateur catering to surfers on the beach.

Murthy, Appu and Venkat went to their first-ever surfing competition in Pondicherry in 2011. Murthy finished second in the advanced surfers’ category, which boosted the confidence of these fledgling surfers.

Arun Vasu, Murthy Megavan, Jonty Rhodes and Yotam Agam.

Among the late entrants, Dharani is showing good promise and is a consistent winner in surfing competitions held in Pondicherry, Kerala and Orissa. He is keen on becoming an international surfer. He is also interested in training young boys, even as young as six, so that they reach international levels quicker.

To popularise the surf school, the first Covelong Point Classic Surf and Music Festival was organised by the School in November 2013. Jonty Rhodes, South African cricketer and a keen water sport enthusiast, promoted the event as its ambassador and also conducted a training session. The second edition of the festival too blended surfing with music, yoga and fun. There was an all-women’s category in the surfing competition. Raghu Dixit of Raghu Dixit Project sang in pouring rain. T.M. Krishna gave a classical music concert and stalls were put up by the local villagers as part of the organisers’ effort to encourage the local economy.

Murthy’s tryst with surfing hasn’t stopped with the surfing school. In 2013 he donated a substantial sum from the surfing school’s revenues to the village panchayat to finance the education of schoolchildren in the local school. The school has also organised many free health camps. In deserving cases, it has paid for surgeries. Murthy has also been channelising surfing to transform the village youth and make them responsible citizens of the future. He strictly prohibits his wards from drinking, smoking and gambling. He helps them focus on aiming for international surfing participation and to take an interest in entrepreneurial activities.

The Kovalam boys are now regularly winning prizes in competitions across the country. To take the surfing school to the next level, a beachside location has been identified for the school and a mini-restaurant. Murthy is confident that the future he has found for the youth of his village will be more exciting than fishing.