The quaint blue little building overlooking Kovalam Beach definitely comes across as the right spot for a surf school to function. For sure, it is - with the sun and the sea in perfect harmony, Kovalam (Covelong) village off ECR has been a surfer's point, but previously frequented only by ardent surfers from all around. Thus, the story of the surf school begins with the chance meeting of an enthusiastic villager, an Israeli audio engineer and a green surfboard. And in the almost five years since that moment, Murthy — a fisherman and social worker, who is struggling to support his family — has worked hard, and with a whole lot of assistance from around the world, realized his dream of opening that surf school in his village.
"Please come in," a very excited Murthy invites his guests in as he takes them on a tour of his newly-inaugurated surf school. "This is the room where we keep the surfboards," he says in a broken mixture of Tamil and English, pointing to a stack of surfboards — both old and new. "The boards have been donated by people from around the world," he shares. He then points to the terrace of the building, a private space with a thatched covering. "That is for the ladies to practice ... if they get shy," he adds, grinning.
Murthy's story begins much earlier. After losing his fishing boat and livelihood, to the tsunami of 2004, he became a social worker, to help others who have suffered similar plights. It was during this time that Murthy happened to watch renowned audio engineer and entrepreneur Yotam Agam ride a wave in his village. "He saw I was interested in what he was doing and he gave me his green board to try out. I have never felt happier in my life," exclaims Murthy as he remembers the moment where it all began. "From that day, I was determined to learn how to surf. It's a different relationship. When it comes to the sea, it is surfing I love the most."
Since then, Murthy began to inspire others in his village, including many teenagers, to take up surfing. "I have about twenty-five students now, which keeps growing," shares Murthy. Says Ajith, a student of Murthy's. "We got interested in surfing by watching Murthy anna. And the foreigners who come to the village to surf would also lend us their boards to try out. We were so excited to learn!" And it wasn't long before Murthy started harbouring ideas of taking his passion a step further and establish a surf school in his own village.
With assistance from Yotam and the international community, Murthy began working on establishing the school, an endeavour that took him about four years. The school is now open to anyone who is keen to learn how to ride a wave. "This is an amazing achievement for all of us," says Yotam, about the entire experience. "What has started with catching a wave together has turned into a beautiful journey that we didn't expect. When we started surfing here, there was no such thing as a surfing culture here. With a lot of ups and downs, we managed to build a surfing community .... It's a movement," he affirms.
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