Ishita Malaviya works to revolutionize Indian surfing from small village in Karnataka

Ishita Malaviya has slowly worked towards revolutionizing Indian surfing by establishing a name for herself as the only Indian professional female surfer. From teaching local children how to swim to promoting surfing, Malaviya has created her own identity by breaking down social stigmas and encouraging more female involvement. 

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Ishita Malaviya is set to take Indian surfing to new heights

Starting out as a broke college student in 2007, Malaviya struggled to popularize surfing in a region where no one had done so before. Over a decade later, Mavaliya now runs the Shaka Surf Club in the small village of Udupi, Karnataka with her partner, Tushar Pathiyan. She has been the brand ambassador for Roxy swimwear and has made it to the Forbes Asia 30 under 30 list in 2019.

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Malaviya was first introduced to surfing by a German exchange student, who helped her meet surfers from California. "They were surfing at a spot that was only an hour away from us. A small chat and we found ourselves amid the waves,” the 29-year-old told Financial Express. Malaviya has always known she was an "outdoors person" who wanted to be around nature as much as she could. Surfing, according to Malaviya, enables to do that and has changed her life. Now, she only wants to surf and teach anyone else who wants to do the same. 

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What does Ishita Malaviya aim to do?

In 2019, Malaviya (who is a Journalism graduate) co-founded The Shaka Surf Club. Initially, Malaviya's parents were against her taking up surfing full-time. However, her constant persuasion made them give up their resistance. While she loves to teach, she is focused on transcending borders through sports, increasing gender equality and raising awareness about sea safety.

The Mumbai-native spoke about her time in the cosmopolitan city, positive that if she still lived in the city, she would never have had the opportunity to hang out with fishermen and their kids.

"But the beautiful thing about surfing is that it equalises,” she told Vice. She spoke about kids who had an "inferiority complex" for living away from the city, cursed to be so close to the ocean. But Malaviya wanted to work towards showing them the beauty of their own place, which they should be proud of. "We wanted to overcome any class divide and make it the coolest village ever.” Malaviya also teaches children breakdancing, yoga, skateboarding and organizes multiple beach clean-up programmes in co-ordination with the local government school.

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Ishita Malaviya Forbes honour

While speaking to Vice, Malaviya revealed how people thought they had "lost their minds" when they started out while studying at Manipal University. She had to sell her sewing machine, Ab Pro King exercise machine, while Tushar would help her by buying selling shoes in Manipal. They ended up buying a secondhand surfboard, which they shared.

While Malaviya has faced countless hurdles like having to strengthen her weak upper body and parents who thought she would “too dark to be beautiful”, she maintains that surfing has made it worth the wait. They set up their business at the Kodi Bengre beach in Karnataka in 2011, where even the fishermen could not swim. “The ocean was just a source of income for them; I wanted to make it a source of joy," she explained.

Her focus was never on competitive surfing, which did not give her good vibes. She spoke about the increasing competition among people, which she feels came too early. Whenever she participated anywhere, she would find it difficult to make new friends, as everyone only saw her as competition. 

She maintained that surfing should remain something positive which "overcomes class and gender". The ocean is for everyone, be it the small village girl or kids from different religions who have never talked to each other. "It’s about getting more people to reconnect with nature and naturally develop an appreciation for it," Malaviya added. 

(Image source: Ishita Malaviya Instagram – @surfishita)