Kovalam’s star surfer Murthy Megavan opens a new school for surfing, kayaking and stand up paddle
The Hindu
After almost 35 years of riding the waves, surfer Murthy Megavan opens a new surf school in the coastal fishing village known for its young talent
Murthy Megavan fondly remembers the first time he touched a surfboard. The year was 2001.
“It was Surfing Swami’s [Jack Hebner, one of the pioneers of Indian surfing] board. I was fascinated.” Two years later, he bought his very first surfboard. The fisherman-turned-surfer’s story — as a 10-year-old, just before he dropped out of school, he hopped atop a broken wooden door to ride waves — has been much written about. Having grown up in Kovalam, a fishing village by the sea known for its curvaceous shoreline and relentless waves, Murthy and the ocean go back a long way.
Chennai’s burgeoning surf culture was pioneered by the Covelong Point Surf School (now, Surf Turf), run by TT Group’s Arun Vasu, one of India’s leading windsurfers. It was here that Murthy — who collaborated with them from 2013 to 2020 — came into his own as an instructor. Visitors, tourists and children from the village quickly took to his tutelage.
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