"I've always been a water baby-Amma still tells me about the time when I was barely a year old and had jumped into a puddle; I could play in water for hours! And while growing up if Appa didn't take me to the beach every alternate day, I'd create a ruckus! But Amma was concerned about my safety and society- 'The ocean is dangerous,' 'What will people think if we let you out in shorts?' she'd say. Still, Appa understood how important it was to me and taught me how to swim.
But it wasn't until I was 9 that I saw a surf magazine-it was love at first sight! The thought that somebody could fly on water was so exciting; I'd stand at the magazine shop for hours, looking at all the photos.So, I told my grandparents hesitantly, 'Even I want to learn surfing.'
Grandpa immediately put me into local coaching classes; I became the first girl to train there! Amma was furious, she said, 'I'll let you continue only if you prove yourself at school.' So for the next one year, I worked twice as hard to show her that I could balance studies and surfing. Finally, in 2012, I resumed training full-fledged and went on to become India's first female stand up paddler.
I'd be at sea day and night; my classmates' parents would look at my changing skin color and say, 'You look like black coal'; neighbors would taunt, 'Who'll marry a girl as dark as you?' But each time, I'd smile and walk away. After 3 years of extensive training, I participated in my first National competition and won gold! After, there was no looking back.
A year later, I got a call from the Surfing Federation of India saying that I'd been selected for the stand up paddling World Cup! But Appa didn't have the money to send me to Fiji, so I started a fundraiser and went door to door asking people to fund my travel. People asked, 'Can women surf?', 'What's the big deal about paddling?' But I didn't let such comments get to me.
Humans of Bombay, Fb
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