The story of Arun Vasu meeting Murthy Megavan through surfer and musician, Yotam Agam has almost become an urban legend of sorts, with every publication in this city and beyond, chronicling it in some form or the other. But the fact remains that Covelong’s metamorphosis from a sleepy, fishing hamlet to its current, almost-hipster avatar began there.
Megavan, whose fisherman roots meant a deep kinship with the ocean, started by body-boarding on broken doors before graduating to a beat-up, second-hand surfboard.
In 2008, he met Agam who gifted him a brand new surfboard with which he began taking part in surfing contests and teaching local children. In 2012, with Vasu’s support, he opened a proper school. “The minute I met Murthy, I was charmed,” laughs Vasu. It was clearly not the money that drew Megavan to the sport but the direction and focus it had instilled in him. He wanted to share that with the village he had grown up in, hoping to draw youngsters into the thrall of wave-riding instead of alcohol, drugs or petty crime. “His vision impressed me,” says Vasu, who went on to help Megavan establish the surf school.
How it began
The first edition of the festival, kicked off in 2013, was mostly to raise awareness about the Covelong Point Surf School. “We just wanted to create some hype around it,” says Vasu. Surfing, not being a spectator-friendly event, “who would come to watch a couple of guys bobbing around in water,” he remarks wryly, they melded in the extra elements: a tent for yoga, some food stalls, an evening music performance. And it happened the next year too and the next and the year after, increasing in scale and strength with every passing year.
There is going to be something for everyone at the fifth edition of the Covelong Point Surf, Music and Yoga Festival this weekend. For the adrenaline junkie there are turgid waves to ride, paddle boards and slacklines. You can get a hefty dose of endorphins via a sweaty, Vinyasa yoga class, a game of volleyball, Frisbee, kabbadi, or a run across gritty sand.
Then there is music, performed under stars and orchestrated by the lap of waves. Throw in a catamaran race, rangoli contests and massage sessions and you are guaranteed three days of untrammelled entertainment that creates communities, ensures cultural exchange and more importantly, is a whole lot of fun.
“We didn’t want to restrict it to simply a music festival or a sports event. What we really wanted, was create a huge experience on the beach,” says festival director, Agam of EarthSync.
While the array of activities may seem eclectic at the very core it is really about, “bringing numerous passions together and celebrating the spirit of the project,” says Agam, adding that the festival has grown to become one of the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia, growing exponentially since its somewhat humble beginnings, with over 15,000 people attending the last edition. A quantum leap from the 2,000 odd who attended the first year.
It has almost become a national event drawing the best of surfers, yoga facilitators and musicians from all over the world. This year too, the line-up looks impressive with names like Murali Vijay, Jonty Rhodes and Tamil film actors Arya and Jeeva expected to attend.
Fostering integration
For Megavan, however, the greatest gift that this festival has fostered is integration. When he started the school, there was a lot of resistance with locals protesting about the surfboards coming in the way of fishing-boats and bikini-clad tourists who came there and “corrupted” their values.
“The first time we had the festival we had to go and beg people to put up stalls for us,” he says. Now the local panchayat is cleaning up the beach, villagers are demanding spots to sell fish and biryani months in advance, and locals are volunteering, participating and travelling the world thanks to surfing. Covelong is not called India’s first surfing village for nothing. “My people are proud of this festival,” says Megavan. To the extent that they have opened their homes to strangers seeking to attend it. There are now Airbnb tie-ups with fisherfolk in the village, a contrast from the first edition where finding accommodation was a challenge, recalls Rammohan Paranjape, vice-president, Surfing Federation of India. “It is incredible how much the village has transformed. And with surfing becoming an Olympic sport, I only see this growing.”
For details, log into www.covelongpoint.com /festival/