My family, they’re not very rich. They used to stop me from surfing. At some point, my mom said, “You’re turning so black that no girls are going to want you”. And I was like, “I don’t want a girl. I just want to surf”.

My full name is Sivaraj Babu. I am 23. I am from Mahabalipuram. I just want to surf and see where it’s taking me.

I am from a fisherman’s family. I grew up by the beach. My dad used to go fishing and come back. In the evenings, he’d go clean the fish nets and take me with him. That’s how I started smelling the ocean.

In 2016, I went to the West Coast to surf in the Mangalore Surf Competition. I saw surfers on the other coast. I saw a sunset on the beach for the first time. And I realised surfing was taking me to new places I never thought I would go to. I realised it was the first step to a lot that was coming.