Children in Mahabalipuram have a new toy to play with: the skateboard. After school on weekdays and on weekends, they gather at this mini-concrete ramp where they skate. They pull stunts that can make you skip a heartbeat. If they are not skating themselves, they watch others at work. Many children from the village here surf, and skating on a board helps them work on their moves. “The manoeuvring is similar in both and you work on the same muscle group. Both the sports and are linked and were popularised together in the West,” says Mukesh, popularly known as Mumu, who runs the Mumu Surf School in Mahabalipuram.
This is one of the two ramps built around Mahabalipuram, the first one was in Poonjeri. Mukesh Balaji, a passionate skater, had it built at his backyard in Poonjeri with the help of Holystoked, a Bengaluru-based skating collective that builds skating ramps across India for free. “I had met the Holystoked team in Bengaluru and invited them to build a ramp outside my house. Eight months ago, we got a cemented ramp where I could practice stunts,” says Mukesh, a hotel management student.
Word spread and children from Mahabalipuram went to Poonjeri to skate there. “The only way to get there was by share autos. We would all go there after school,” says 10-year-old Harish M, who proudly carries the skate board that he won at a competition held recently. These boards are expensive and kids share a single board. There are more takers for the sport after the village gave a small section of the beach to build the ramp called Bonda Vaii (chubby cheeks), named after three-year-old Harish, a mascot of sorts. “Last month we built the ramp with the help of Holystoked volunteers and local residents. They worked together for three days to complete it soon. The little boy, Bonda Vaii as he is fondly called, who lives close by, was present at all times overseeing the work,” says Mumu.
Harish, at three, is already making heads turn with his balancing skills on the board. His five-year-old sister, Kamali, too is learning to surf and is also honing her skills on the skateboard. She wants to master both the sports and travel the world representing the country.
Holystoked also gave away six skateboards to the children of the village. “We call it a mini skating park,” says Poornabodh, one of the founders of Holystoked that was launched in 2010. “Mahabalipuram has the best waves in south India to surf and we are closely associated with the surfing community there. Since surfing and skating go together, it is a perfect place to promote skating. We had limited space and tried doing as much as we could. We crowdsource the funds and build the ramp for free, with only once condition: that it will be free for all.” Those who have space available that can be used to build skating ramps in Mahabalipuram and Chennai may contact them at holystoked@gmail.com or check www.holystoked.com.
