As a teen, Ishita Malaviya remembers scouring the Internet for "surfing in India," but despite the abundance of beaches and waves surrounding the country, her copious queries didn't turn up much. Fast forward a decade or so, and Malaviya herself is among the search results as India's first professional surfer. Now, she's not only making a splash, she's also changing lives.

Question

Malaviya caught her first wave as a college student after meeting some visiting surfers from California. It was a pivotal moment—she was hooked.

"I remember smiling on my first wave, all the way to shore and all the way back home from the beach," Malaviya told CNN.

Malaviya's parents weren't fully on board with her new passion at first, but the joy that surfing brought their daughter changed their minds, and eventually even got Malaviya's mother on a surfboard herself.

In the early days, Malaviya shared a single surfboard with a friend before the pair began fixing broken boards left behind by tourists. Then, in 2007, the duo founded the Shaka Surf Club, one of India's first surf schools, providing board rentals along with surfing and skateboarding lessons to people of all ages. The word "Shaka" literally means "hang loose" or "take it easy," and, according to Malaviya, the Shaka Surf Club is all about good vibes, not taking things too seriously, and learning to just go with the flow. Today, more than a thousand people visit the club each year, and children from the local fishing village are invited to learn for free.

Some young villagers considered themselves unlucky to be living near the ocean instead of in a big city, Malaviya said, "but we wanted them to know how pristine and beautiful their place is, and how they should value it and be proud of it."

It wasn't long before teachers noticed something remarkable with the students who were taking surfing lessons: They were excelling in their English language studies because they were picking up English just by speaking with Malaviya and the other instructors.

To broaden their educational impact, Shaka Surf Club volunteers started teaching breakdancing, yoga, art, and other activities to kids at the local school. The club also trains young people to become junior lifeguards and educates people in the community about the ocean—aiming to assuage the long-standing trepidation that Malaviya said many people in India feel when it comes to the sea. In fishing villages especially, the sea was viewed for generations as a place for work and struggle, not play, she explained. It was also considered a source of terror.

"There's a major fear of the ocean," Malaviya said. "Most of the people don't know how to swim."

But those apprehensions are abating as the country's number of surfers rises—Malaviya estimates there are now a few hundred competitive surfers riding India's waves.

"This is probably the first generation of fishermen in India [who] are going to the ocean and actually having fun."

Some have even stopped fishing to become full-time surf instructors, while other locals work with the Shaka Surf Club throughout the year to provide meals and housekeeping services to visiting surfers, earning additional income while giving tourists a taste of authentic regional cuisine.

Despite her professional surfer status and all the endorsements and accolades that go along with that title, Malaviya's most intense focus is not on winning competitions. Her goals are more wide-reaching: The surfing phenom continues her work in India to integrate more communities through sports, increase gender equality in athletics, and encourage sea safety awareness to reduce drownings.

Surfing is reshaping India's shorelines, and Malaviya plans to keep up the positive momentum.

Video credit: Dave Homcy

Video Transcript: Excerpt from "Beyond the Surface"

Question 2


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What is one inference the reader can make from the Article?

Malaviya's surf club is helping to change many people's perception of the ocean.
Malaviya probably had a lot of local customers when she first opened her surf club.
Malaviya began her surf club with the intention of teaching English to local students.
Malaviya's surf club is likely hurting the economy of the local fishing village.

Answer 1

The correct inference the reader can make from the article is:

Malaviya's surf club is helping to change many people's perception of the ocean.

This inference is supported by the information in the article that highlights how Malaviya and her surf club are working to educate the community about the ocean, reducing fears associated with it, and encouraging local residents to enjoy and appreciate the sea rather than viewing it solely as a place of work and struggle.