In the 1950s, surfing hobbyists in Hawaii wanted to cruise on land when the waves in the seas were too weak to surf. So they adapted and customised their skateboards to suit the purposes of cruising streets and riding down hills, and transpose the thrill of water-surfing to terra firma. And thus was born longboarding. While the wonderful seafront promenades and smooth hairpin bends of Portland, Korea, Spain or France are hotspots for the sport, there are a few longboarders in India who diligently look around for skate-friendly spaces. If Basica Salam has her way, there would be longboarders sailing around on any patch of open concrete they can lay their wheels on.
The 26-year-old from Manipur is one of two women ambassadors in India for Longboard Girls' Crew (LGC), an international community centered in Madrid. As a representative of LGC in India, she is tasked with popularising the sport, specially amongst children from lower-income groups. So far, she has visited colleges in Kerala and Pune, and remote villages in Odisha to get more and more people on(long)board. She even helped her friend start a company to make cut-price longboards, since it is an expensive hobby, with a board typically costing anywhere between Rs 12,000-15,000. "But it wasn't a profitable business and we had to shut it down," says Salam, over phone from Manipur. For the past one month, she has been working with a shelter home for children born to HIV patients in the state. "These little ones have become so hooked to the sport that they call me from Manipur every time I am travelling, to tell me how much they miss me," says Salam.
It's only been a month since Salam moved back to Manipur from Mumbai, where she studied and worked for 10 years. She was a graduate of literature and psychology. She had tried skateboarding as a hobby with friends in the city once or twice but did not quite take to it. "But once I tried longboarding, I feel in love with it. There was no looking back after that," says Salam. Longboarding, unlike skateboarding, uses a longer board, and offers more stability and traction with larger wheels, swifter speed and greater maneuvering possibilities. Skate boards are not as road-friendly as longboards which are also great for hill-bombing.
Longboarding started in India with Mumbai back in 2012 when an avid skateboarder started Longboard Crew India (LCI). Salam was one of the very few women participating in skating sessions in Mumbai as a regular member of the Crew. When she was appointed one of the ambassadors for the India chapter of Longboard Girls Crew (LGC), Salam had to reach out to various NGOs in the city to work with. Eventually, Mumbai disappointed. "Most of NGOs I approached were surprised that I was ready to teach longboarding for free. Generally, they seemed suspicious of the whole idea," says Salam about her experience of trying to expand the community of longboarders in Mumbai, even though there was a lot of excitement in the early years. "The longboarding momentum has kind of petered out in Mumbai now," she says.
She packed her bags last month and shifted base to Manipur, the state which hosted India's first longboard competition in March, and where the sport had already taken root. Salam says it is heartening to see a growing longboarding scene in Imphal, which now has 50-60 cruisers at present. However, now, when Salam goes for her jamming sessions in the evening, she is one among 50 boys. "Besides, skaters in Manipur are perceived as druggies and rowdies," says Salam, who says longboarders have been chased away from sport complexes and open land many a time. Salam admits that a larger metropolitan city like Mumbai was certainly freer and easier to practice, especially for a girl. But she remains unfazed, even as she tries to propagate the sport in smaller towns. First she would travel at her own expense, but now she gets sponsorship. "Even with a language barrier, my session with children in a remote village in Odisha remains by far the best experience," says Salam.