Fisherman’s son a surfing champion - Fusion - WeRIndia

Murthy Megavan, a man who has an inspirational story. A boy who used to surf the waters using flotsam and Styrofoam boards, now became a champion in surfing. Now he is at the center of an upcoming surf school. The school is an inspiration to surfers with big dreams, trainers, community builders and even humanity.

While there are many surfers in India, it is not every day that we hear about super enthusiastic surfers. The story of Murthy Megavan shows the passion of one man towards water sports.

He was born in a poor fishing family in the late 1970s. At that time, his family was living in a small settlement on Kovalam beach near Chennai. In order to help his family financially, Murthy dropped out of school. As if that was not enough, his father left the family because of a feud. After that, Murthy took responsibility for his family in order to financially support his grandmother, mother and sister. Murthy was not alone in a situation like this. There were other kids from similar background all around him going through similar problems.

However, what set Murthy apart from others is that even though he was the son of a fisherman, he did not limit his potential. He dreamed of surfing on waves. His village Kovalam was known for fishing and beaches. Murthy’s catch everyday was enough to feed his family. He did not have enough to go after surfing. So, he started practicing with planks and flotsam. He learned to surf through trial and error. He slowly learned new things.

Jack Hebner, an American who was interested with India started the surf movement in India. He combined spirituality with surfing and became known as ‘surfing swamy’.

Murthy met Hebner in 2001. He quickly adapted to the Swamy’s board. The Swamy gave him his number but Murthy did not know about city codes which made it impossible to contact Swamy.

His passion became popular as he practiced more. He won several competitions and got noticed by many. Murthy managed to open Covelong Point Surf School with the help of businessman Arun Vasu. All teachers here are fishermen. The boys trained by the school have excelled at national level sports. Murthy not only followed his passion but also inspired many others.

Image Reference: TheBetterIndia