Sunscream checked, glares checked, towels checked, surf cap checked. My first surf lesson was to be on my tutor’s board. That wasn’t a beginner’s board though. It was a Saturday afternoon and me along with the tutor left for the Laga Beach. A packed parking. Seem like the entire city has come to the beach. And I asked myself “why?” Didn’t they know it was my first surfing lesson? I had been thinking how embarrassing it would be to fall in the water infront of so many. With all these thoughts in my head while we waited for our chance to get an empty parking lot, which definitely didn’t existed, we finally decided to drive the car till the last parking spot. This meant that we walk all the way to the beach from the parking which would be around 1.5 km. Arrrghhhh. The same question ran in my mind again, “Why? Why are so many people here today?”
A hot Saturday afternoon, we walked till the surf camp, picked up a surfing suit for me which fit me very well and off we went to the beach. Sadly, there were no waves that day (I think we chose a wrong day to start with). But nevertheless, he taught me how to hold the surf board and how to balance on it. This board was a huge one, not very heavy and had a mid line which helped me to know if I was properly aligned. He asked me to lie on the board, waggle my arms and would push me whenever there would be small waves. I could balance myself very well. Didn’t find any problem though until he released his hands from the surfboard. He then guided me that I shouldn’t be looking at the tip of the surf board, that I should try balancing on my own and watch the waves coming. I did exactly as told.
I saw myself balancing on my own, waiting for the waves. Around me were bunch of guys who kept waiting for the waves just like I did. No waves, what to do? I started whistling and cracking jokes with my tutor and kept waiting for the waves. It was a nice experience overall till I started shivering in water. I’m such a coward I swear. But it was fun!!
