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People may say different things about Surfers, either good or bad. In fact Surfers don’t necessarily equal lazy minded, long hair hippies with no goal in life spending the whole day at the beach praying for Surf as it has been long time compared to. Surfing moreover gets deeper and deeper in Society and in fact it is in an important ritual in many cultures since centuries. Not only Surfing at such, but the whole lifestyle around and especially the connection and awareness of the medium water and nature in general attracts an increasing number of people of different ages and nationalities around the globe.
“God created the water, mankind shaped the first Surf board….and there was Surf!” Nevertheless, some craziness can’t be spoken off in the mind of a Surfer. By taking the short termed decision to travel approx. 3400km forth and back for a 3 day event on the other side of India I may have qualified for this, let’s call it enthusiastic mind, to meet people of the same kind and ride a few from the far ocean by wind created and by transfer of energy towards land moving masses of water wearing nothing else but
my favourite board shorts and a smile on the face.
Connecting India with Surfing is something rather new and untouched so far. This is subject to change for sure in the upcoming years.India has quite a few beaches with great potential to offer, from Orissa on the East side, to Kerala in South West and Goa in the West. Honestly, by counting dozens of banana boats, Jet-Skis and Paraglider at the Goan beaches, I assume one can agree that it’s time to fill the sea with some real water sports and style.
The Journey – Coast to Coast: It’s a usual day in lovely Panjim,Goa. Not as usual for me as I start my journey to “Surf’s Up – Indians 1
st Surf Festival the venue is Konark Beach, Orissa. The eventis held from February 7
th to 9
th 2012 and somehow I have to reach this destination which is 1700kmaway on the other side of India, in time at any cost but as less costly as possible.
The first part of the journey I have been able to book in advance, which brings me around 700km closer to my destination, as for the remaining 1000km…hey
this is India, so “things will happen”. I decided to go straight to Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh as this seems to be the biggest city which lays on the way. 13hours by sleeper bus is something everyone who wants to travel in style should definitely do. I promise, you will never get a closer feeling of India, respectively the Indian roads. In one word “lovely”.
After 2 mandatory Bollywood movies and a slight hint of sleep we reached Hyderabad at 8am. What is really appreciable in India, wherever you get off a bus with about 30 other passenger, around 50 Rickshaw Drivers waiting for you, welcomes you most friendly and fight for you as a passenger, THAT’S what I call customer service ! Unfortunately nevertheless is the fact that they mix up the words “train station” and “hotel”, thus it took us to pass by 3 hotels until getting to the train station to book my ticket for tomorrow, just 20 more hours to get to Orissa by train…I smell it, I’m almost there. By the way, any European who complains about the long waiting time by the token system, I was in the row with 60 in advance of
me.
At the end of the day, I should have listened to my friend the Rickshaw driver who surely wanted my best. I checked in to a 6 square meter room of which the toilet and shower are 2 square meters. The smell of backyard is in the air. I agree when one says, Surfers are a strange kind.
6:45: wake up after another 3hrs of unnecessary sleep. I’m looking forward to a 21hrs train ride to complete the Coast to Coast trail, at least I go early to avoid crowds and my hotel is just 5 minutes walking distance from the station, enough time, take it easy, smart move….I thought.How the hell could anyone presume that a 5 Million city like Hyderabad may have a second train station, from which, among others, the Konark Express leaves at sharply 8am. Right guess, this was my train. Once again big ups for my friends the Rickshaw driver. We made it just in time. Whoever heard about long waiting times of Indian trains. Yes, it happens but not when you hope for it.
Sleeper class, the class you most probably won’t catch any at all. But it’s
pure fun, a 21hrs Psy-Trance Techno Party in North Goa is nothing against it I assume. This is the way to travel “India-Style - Full Power!”I don’t want to spoil the fun too much, so I won’t tell the details but a few. It’s difficult to describe, it’s kind of an active meditation, a probably good preparation for a potential stay in jail and the way to get as many new Facebook friends and Farmville buddies in one hit. The two most repealing things to notice are practical with a supernatural touch. The Indian Railway must have been able to be the first Railway worldwide to install invisible waste bags alongside the whole train below the windows. If there’s garbage, and there’s a lot, it’s just thrown out of the window and I strongly believe these invisible waste bags catch it all. With a bit of luck one can experience another magic moment. The toilets are quite basic, but when you bent over and look down you can see “the light at the end of the tunnel”, maybe it’s only the track below the train reflecting the light but this explanation would be too easy e and European minded…by the
way, I guess there are these bags installed as well to catch all the “rests”… I mean, where else should it go 😉
During such a longer journey there’s a lot to do and nothing to do at all, depending on the side you look at it. One way or the other, there’s no easy way out. It takes as long as it takes to move from A to B and flying is for losers (exaggerated, I also thought about it ;p) In fact, while the train is making it’s way through green rice-fields, wastelands, cities, mountain areas, over rivers etc. there’s one major thing to notice. The countryside is often poor, cities are in bad conditions, the people are simple, life moves slow, but it moves, people move….in their pace, in their continuous speed they always moved. Doing this they still have time for the most important, they smile. There’s nothing teaching more about life than watching out the window with an open mind, you see the lines on the people’sfaces, telling the stories of their life, passing by rice fields seeing men and women hard working Morning to Evening to make a living possible for their families….rice
harvest is in fact very hard work just for a hand full of rice, which we use to buy almost for nothing….children playing next to and on the tracks, waving as the train is approaching. And maybe, if one is not too busy…waving back creates an even bigger smile on the face of these children…simple to make people happy, isn’t it ? This is the real life, just passing by on a train window making it surreal. But THIS is real, THIS is life, not the reality show in TV, not the virtual life of Internet…and it just happens at every corner. The question is, does one want to participate in each and every aspect which are not only positive, or should it stay just a flicker on the big screen?
One piece of advice when waving to those guys: Please, make sure you have one hand at the rail if standing at the open train doors while waving !! Anyways, a lot of impressions inside and outside of the train…4:30 Bhubaneswa, the capital Orissa, 1700km away from Goa, same same but different, many people, I don’t understand anything and another Rickshaw driver friend approaches me….as the hardest
negotiations go down, I decide to stick to the plan of “India-Style” local travelling to the 60km destination Konark. I felt I could already smell the sea, but as India has 1 Mio. smells of which 0.5 Mio. arenot to identify…it could have been anything, but still, the sea is in sight. I allowed the Rickshaw driver to drop me at the nearest bus stop for the local bus to Konark. Maybe I forgot it was just 5am, the first bus left around 6:30 and it was “not warm”, so I got the feeling that Travelling too many times equals suffering, at this point I should tell you that today I booked for another route back from Orissa, 400km North West to Kolkata, then 1800km to Mumbai and another 700km back to Goa before hitting down to Kerala…which is just 800km….distances decrease over time…or I’m unable to learn….anyways, taking the local bus is out of speech, it’s THE WAY of travelling and getting more than only “in touch” with locals. It’s kind of a roller coaster ride with your closest friends, just that you are very close and you stand, which basically doesn’t feel like standing as you can’t
fall…there’s simply no space….really NO space in no direction. Being 1.85 is maxing out the height capacity of the bus at all. But never forget, smiling in every situation, and if there’s no smile back from others, no worries, Surf is coming up sooon ! One thought flashed through my mind…a thing I haven’t done for a long time wouldn’t be too bad now…SHOWER….the new record for now has been set at this travel with 100hrs sticking to the old saying “India – Full Power – No Shower”.
ISF – India Surf festival: 30km of untouched beaches, deep blue coloured water, smooth clear lines of waves about 50- 100m length in 10-20sec., some closing out but many look great to have some great fun in. Yet the sun is up, hanging up in the sky and gives the water a warm shiny glow. 9:00 am and no single soul on this magnificent coast line.Just sand and water until each point of the horizon. I’m riding on my little pink scooter through the Konark Wildlife Sanctuary, an area not reached by mass tourism yet. Short remark about the scooter, it was the ONLY one I could get
in the whole city.Konark is about 60km South-East of Bhubaneswa, the capital of Orissa.Actually a small town but very famous for the “Sun Temple”, one of the oldest temples of India and a pilgrim destination.The specialty of this temple, it doesn’t have any shadow once the sun is up. I would like to tell you more about the details, but as the entry fare is 10Rupees for Indians and 250Rupees for foreigners is decided not to go in, cultural heritage should be accessible for everyone to same conditions and free of charge in general. A second reason could be that I didn’t find the motivation to walk around stones when I could be at the beach, once this temple has been there for thousands of years it will stay for some more time, good wave conditions on the other side are to be cnsidered as very fragile so I HAD to prioritize….with the good feeling to know there is cultural heritage around for thetheoreticallypotential possibility to visit…probably.
Lotus Resort has been picked as the venue for the ISF, its direct beach access and all needed facilities like food, drink, accommodation make it very convenient. For accommodation one could choose
betweenthehuts of the resort or tents built up directly at the beach line and providing the best possible beach feeling and closest distance for a Good Morning swim. Main host of the festival were the “Surf Yogis” a group of local surfers from the Konark area. On the festival menu have been several activities, early Morning Yoga, live art painting, Surf Movies, several Electro and Live music bands on stage etc. etc. Focus of this first Indian Surf Festival nevertheless has been to connect Indian and foreign Surfers, the media, tourism department and show that Surfing in India exists and has potential to grow. Besides typical wave Surfing a focus point was on Stand Up paddling. It’s a sport which currently becomes very famous also in Europe, on many lakes and beaches you can already find it. Like surfing, its origin lies in Hawaii where people paddle from Island to Island on those big heavy boards. Actually it’s a great exercise and for both body and sense of balance. Several Surf and Stand Up paddle performances have astonished both media and people interested in Surfing. Some used the offer of Surf lessons and caught their first waves in the 3
day course. Talking to one of the fresh born Surf Junkies, his major problem is to keep on Surfing now, he lives in Andhra Pradesh and has one more year to finish his colleague before he can think about grabbing the chance to move to an ocean. The old text line comes to my mind “if everybody had an ocean across the USA, then everybody be Surfin’ like in Californai- yayy”. I hope he’ll gets his chance though.
The day filled with activity in and around the element water, most people are quite stoked in the evening. A happy and positive atmosphere sets down as the night falls after a magnificent sunset you watch sitting in a circle of new won friends telling stories about the day in the water, the passion to Surf or just any story or joke. Meanwhile the sun has set, the moon is already up, yet touched the last glimpses of the sunlight. It’s a slightly red full moon,at the stage the first band starts to play. Everyone who has come the far way to Orissa knows, it’s the right place at the right time to be at.
After 3 days it’s sad
that its already time to leave again, so many positive energetic people at one place is rare to find, but this is just the starting point, the first get together of the Indian Surf Community. Maybe one day it’s going to be said these 3 days to be the beginning of the Indian Surf Industry and it’s absolutely smashing to have been part of it meeting some old friends from Goa again, making new friends, connecting, exchanging ideas, getting absolutely crazy. It was a milestonefor both, the Indian Surfing Community in general and every individual who took part at this festival. For me, I have to slightly amend my travel plans to visit all the spots and guys, believing each of them their individual spot is the best. Even when it comes to Surfing the Indian selling mentality is upfront, exaggerating or not, this is what has to be found out and I tend to want to see before I believe. Bottom line: a few more Surf trips in India are inevitable I’m afraid….less temples more beaches.
What’s next? I’m going to surf my way to Kolkata and try not to drown in this mega city of over 14 million people and presuming the same amount of Rickshaws, guess that will make me find many new Rickshaw driver friends though. Let’s see where the next adventure waits...life offers plenty of them if we keep our eyes open and let ourselves float on the ocean of life. With no doubt, paddling hard to stay over water is the major part…but isn’t it worth in order to value the times of joy? It is… 😉
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