Mahin (Bangalore)
I classify all those who visit the skatepark into a few groups. The first group are those who are completely involved in making our DIY constantly better, selflessly and everyone recognises this group as the core. Whether it is building, organising, cooking or making the trip to the supermarket this group of people have my utmost respect.
The second group of people at the park are the skate rats. They come to the park just to skate as much as possible and then leave with neither obligations nor expectations. Well the park is meant for skating so I can’t grudge these kids coming to shred and nothing else. This I call the “user group”. They just use the park without feeling the need to make a contribution. The user group in my opinion don’t cause any damage but they have room for improvement in their attitude.
Then comes what I call the “abuser group”. These people not only come to skate they also want to use the park like their personal party hotspot where they would invite their other loser friends (who don’t skate at all but just sniffing around for a good time) to drink and smoke after hours. The abusers make no contributions to our sacred space while at the same time invite themselves to every event which is usually organised by and for the core group of the place. People like this annoy me and one of these days they are gonna land up after closing time at the park, after I have had the perfect number of beers to drop some truth bombs on their ass.
Skateboarding in India is hard enough with the rough streets and non existant pavements. Skateparks are few and far between the massive country that is India.
Though the biggest problem is that when you do find a legit skate spot it invariably is a bust. Within the first 30 minutes just as you warmed up to the spot either a
security guard shows up or some officius sort of uncle/aunty character asks you to immedeately stop what you are doing. So here is
a few spots that exist in every city (all you need to do is go out and find them).
1. The abandoned building
Every city/town in India is undergoing massive amounts of new construction. Because of market speculation there are a ton of new buildings that pop up with now
buyers in the immedeate future. There are tons of oppurtunities at these spots with smooth ground and marble ledges. Security is usually lax and if there is any
a bottle of old monk will usually help to seal the place as a skate spot.
2. The sympathetic shop keeper
Look for shop fronts which have stairs along with a good run up and a smooth landing area. There might be a shop keeper who is either entertained by the skating
or might empathize with skateboarders. This might sound impossible but trust me there are lots of people who get excited watching skateboarding.
3. The empty old people's park
Public parks in India are usually places where senior citizens walk around in the mornings and evenings. These parks sometimes have benches/kerbs which can be
sessioned freely while the old folk are home.
4. The Condominium friends
There are lots of people living in condominiums and gated communities these days. Aprtment complexes like these always are chock full of skate spots like hubbas,
stairs and ledges. With a little networking you will find that a friend of a friend lives in one of these.Introduce him/her to skateboarding, get invited over with your
buddies and go have a good skate.
5. The Fullpipe warehouse
Due to the development all over the cities as new suburbs pop up everyday the water and sewage board of every city lays new pipes. LARGE Pipes. And more often
than not there will be a delay in the work which leads to these pipes being stored on the side of the road. You know what a full pipe on the side of the road means?
The tee board. Well as you can see from the picture it is a skateboard deck with what look like the wheels you would find attached to the bottom of your grandma's tv cabinet so you could roll it from the bedroom to the dining hall. Well if the future of skateboarding is all about moving tv sets around so we can have a better view while eating this product is way before it’s time.
The raZorsole. That’s a cool name for a piece of plastic with three plastic wheels attached to it. Like anything in this world the future could be plastic. I mean we done it to other modes transportation like cars and bikes where as much of metal and wood has been replaced mostly by plastic. Now it is time for skateboards to get high tech ie.plastic. Is the future of skateboarding got one less wheel? I don’t know about that.
The freebord. Well they put some thought into this one. They wanted a skateboard to feel like a snowboard. It seems like they added the parts of the Tee board to a regular cruiser and added hooks to strap your board to your feet. While the last entry removed a wheel this board adds two extra wheels. So now you can move your granny’s tv and then some.
Streetboard. This board has a nose and tail which move independently of each other which makes it more like a wiggle board. Well if you have to wiggle your butt to go up a mellow hill trust me you'd rather carry your board and walk up rather than looking like an idiot.
The freelineskates. While everyone is living in a world of skateboards, freelineskates is from a timeline where we did away with the board and just kept the skate. These aren’t strapped to your feet so I have no idea how this actually works (must be some futuristic technology based on quantum physics).
After much research I think I found my favourite evolution of our beloved shred stick. It is the shaggo grom. Part skateboard , part carpet slippers. You would want this to push from a hot shower to your bedroom. Is this what the next generation of skaters may be riding? I don’t think so…but who knows what future holds.
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There is this snide voice popping into your head saying “That’s a one foot Ollie” or the other way around. Well, there is a whole generation of people skating before Tony hawk pro skate was a thing.
Most people know names of skateboarding tricks because of it and the makers of the game renamed some things. I heard someone once call an Ollie 360 Shuv a 360 Beak Spin (I don’t talk to that guy anymore)???
I mean does it matter? Technically an Ollie Flip is a Switch Fakie Flip, a Full Cab is a Fakie 360, a Fakie revert 50 is a Chink Chink and the list can endlessly go on.
Some dudes get really hung up on this nomenclature of skate tricks thing. In short, nobody really cares what we say any more. Words have different meanings and connotations. Someone recently told me disabled has a negative connotation, so now we have to say differently-abled.
You can’t say fat or overweight or obese you have to say large personality, I am not an addict I am soberly challenged etc, etc. So it doesn’t matter if there are already words to describe certain things, we can make up our own.
So two people could be meaning the same thing but saying different words. Mental retardation is a medical term but we have to say special. So the next time you come up with a new word for something that already exists, then you are special. Maybe I just called you a retard but maybe I just meant you are special because special has a meaning already.
So in conclusion if you hear someone say Ollie North and you find yourself jumping to set him straight to call it a One Foot Ollie, just remember, the simple truth of life……nobody gives a shit!
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It was February 2014 and we just finished up a small DIY at the Alis bowl in Morjim. Some new faces were around and they came back the next day with an idea to build another DIY in Goa.
Poorna jumped on the idea and put me in touch with Iggy and I went to Cirrus for the first time. There was a fence of plastic bottles and on the other side was this totally alternate reality than what was on the street. The crew at the time was three dudes from Bielefeld, Germany, and Mintu, the human concrete mixer.
We started with a mini ramp and then shoved a metal drum in the centre and made it into a sketchy bump. The ramp was fun to build and skate as well. All funds were raised the week before by Cirrus throwing some mad parties.
Dainel, Marius, and Mathias from Bielefeld 👆
One year later I got a call from some Aussie dudes who were travelling to India and we’re hyped to do some more DIYs. So I called Iggy and said let’s make an extension to the ramp. This time we made a couple of corners and just extended the ramps all around. This made the park even more fun and gave it some flow.
Adam and Ben the Aussies 👆
We had some fun times there for sure but now five years later with all these new skate parks all over the country, it’s time to give this one a face lift. Iggy is again going to throw some mad parties (maybe online this time because of the Covid) to raise funds to make a really fun skate park into a really awesome skate park.
To know more about the upcoming fix up of the park, go to the Cirrus on Instagram. You can donate if you feel charitable or you could share the link with your more privileged friends.
Donation Details
PayPal: vinylambulance@gmail.com
Gpay: +919503979180
UPi: vikramkumar531993@okicici
]]>Ok maybe that’s oversimplifying, sometimes when I am skating I get these thoughts that are completely unrelated to skating (this usually results in a slam of some sort). I was thinking about all the news about COVID going around, people are getting properly schooled about wearing masks and constantly using hand sanitizers. Maybe it’s time to think about the fact that you need to build stronger immunity by eating healthy and getting enough sleep and exercise.
The past months have taught us lots of people don’t need to leave home to earn a living, who are really essential workers, and governments of the world don’t really care about most of the population. Which is why I urge you to stop believing in a vaccine to save you, and think about living healthier.
Better to pay for better food than to pay for medicine. Crossing the road can be fatal, cooking can be fatal, taking a bath can be fatal but you get to work, eat and clean your body just to “stay” alive. I am all for social distancing and all ( I mean living in India it’s finally a relief that shoving your junk into the person ahead of you and breathing down their neck is finally frowned upon) but we are social and we need our friends and families in these harsh times to be around.
So stop focusing on the latest developments in the field of medicine and get researching on healthier lifestyle choices. Oh right about skateboarding….that is great for health as well….I mean it can be injurious to your body too but overall it’s great…..I mean you get to put your body at risk of getting hurt just so you can “feel” alive. Remember to question the food you eat, the habits you keep and always bear in mind that you are all going to die anyway just don’t be an asshole when you are alive.
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So I saw this new song up online with skateboarding as the theme of the video. Since the artist (Shashwat Bulusu) is from India and the video is directed by Boyer from Hucko, I am stoked to announce that we will be hosting a competition together with Hucko and Pagal Haina. All you have to do is shoot and edit a skate video to this song (Sunset by the Vembanad )and upload to Instagram. The edit has to be shorter than 1 minute so you can use any part of the song that best fits your edit. Winner of the best video clip gets a deck with grip from Holystoked. So go get filming. Entries must tag @bullu.frog @huckoskate @pagalhaina @holystoked and include the hashtag #SunsetbytheVembanad. Entries close Wednesday 2 September 2020. Final submissions will be judged by Holystoked & Hucko, and the winner announced by Sunday 6 September 2020.
Download the song here -
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0043/4772/3889/files/Sunset_by_the_Vembanad.mp3?v=1598266034
Sunset by the Vembanad released via Pagal Haina on 24 June 2019. Inspired by Shashwat's childhood, the song explores the themes of adventure, imagination, freedom and innocence.
As a visual storyteller, this Baroda based singer-songwriter and producer, wanted to explore how skating could complement the narrative. Collaborating with nature and skateboarding cinematographer Boyer Debbarma, founder of Hucko, they were able to do just that. Combining the "fall & rise" of skateboarding and childhood to showcase how these experiences shape our journeys and life.
"I feel like music, skateboarding, art gives you so much freedom to create, you learn to preserve and also become a better person. I wanted to highlight these ideas." - Boyer Debbarma
Sunset by the Vembanad can be viewed at shashwatbulusu.com
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About Shashwat:
Noted by Vice as an artist who is redefining what a singer-songwriter must sound like, Shashwat Bulusu is a singer-songwriter, producer and visual artist from the pocket city Baroda. His music is bathed in deep nostalgia and stories, strung together with his high pitched falsetto drawls, and atmospheric, slow-burning compositions.
About Pagal Haina:
With roots firmly grounded in artist development, community building and fan engagement, Pagal Haina's strength lies in discovering, nurturing and empowering songwriters with an eye on global reach. We are an intimate team of professionals with skills across the audio-visual palette who aim to spread joy through the simple act of sharing music.
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They gave us a choice either put a stitch in dhroovs eye which would then take 1month to heal or take him home and medicate which will then heal in 4-5 days. We chose the latter (I mean I have never even heard of putting a stitch in someone’s eyeball) and high tailed it back to our place (also I had to sign off saying he hadn't been in a fight and the police didn't need to get involved). After some strong painkillers and a nights sleep dhroov was up and about again. In three days he was back at work and we finished the Skatepark. He was riding his bike and shredding while looking at the world with both eyes wide open (though still a bit red in both eyes). The steel had scratched his eyeball but had narrowly missed damaging his cornea. But I am changed forever now. Never again , that’s for sure.
Mykel Kumar aka Inkpatch on the Holy Detour 2017!
This multi-dimensional human being who’s always willing to explore possibilities and discover a state of flow - from tattooing, to art, to skateboarding, to jiu jitsu, to yoyo, to poi, and a long list of many aspects he dabbles in.
We wanted to pick his brain a little and take him down memory lane, where he got onto the bus for the Holy Detour in 2017, with his skateboard and tattooing equipment!.
Here’s a little interview we did to gain perspective and get a little snippet of his experience with Holystoked and the Detour.
1. What drew you to get on the detour and experience it?
Mykel: “I got on the Detour because of Holystoked and I had been going to the skatepark and meeting the skaters there. They suggested the Detour and I said yes!
Because I had never gone on something like that before. My love for skateboarding and trying things that come my way drew me to get on the Detour, I’m always looking for new experiences and it happened at the right time, and it was a possibility, so I did it!”
“Plus, the people at the skatepark and Holystoked are amazing, and they were all going, so I thought, this is going to be fun and joined in for the ride!”
2. What were your first thoughts when you got on the bus?
Mykel: “Hmm..(laughing) When i went on the detour, there were two buses, one was called the party bus, and the regular sleeping bus. Initially, I was like, What the fuck is going on?! (haha)
This is insane!. But in a good way and my mind was boggled with (Is this even possible?. Can you travel like this? Is this what it’s like to travel in a party bus?) I mean c’mon, at one point, there were three parties happening on the party bus, with three different genres of music and you could hear the music sort of shift as you moved in the bus.
Some people were in the luggage compartment. At one point someone wanted to put a rail in the aisle of the bus and board slide it when the bus would come to a stop. It was really insane!
3. What did tattooing while travelling feel like?
Mykel: “It was a very surreal experience, I had only ever tattooed within a studio, and with the setup that comes with a studio, and suddenly I’m here, in the midst of people who’re like, “Bro, we want tattoos man, we can get tattoos while we’re on the bus!” And I’m like, “But this is a moving bus.” and they’re like, “Yeaahhh!!”
Haha, anyway I suggested that we’d do it once the bus stopped moving maybe, and I’m glad we did that. Although, maybe on another Detour I might
tattoo on the moving bus, cos of the people you’re with, and the hype is real y’know?”
4. Can you take us through your experience tattooing a bunch of crazy skaters, bmxers and everyone in between?
Mykel: “So one of the things that happened while we were on the tour was, when we were at Cirrus in Goa. Sagar Wagela, who’s one of the skaters decided to get a shark tattoo that I had drawn up for him and we were ready to start. I’m using another tattoo artist’s equipment, his name was Stu he was also a skater from England. It was a really really amazing experience, because this was the first time I was tattooing under trees and outdoors, where we were all chilling.
We setup a pretty hygienic spot and with some jugaad, we managed to create a pretty good setup and while we were tattooing, the power goes off. It wasn’t alarming because there are random power cuts in that area, however, when the electricity did come back, there was a surge and it shot out the power supply that was running the machine.
So now, we have a half done tattoo with no power to run the machine and we’re just kinda figuring out what to do… and then Stu says, ‘Yo I think this machine can also run on a 9 volt battery.’ Then we get on a bike and went for a run, and happened to get the last two 9 volt batteries from the store and I didn’t think it was gonna work, we had no other option so we got it anyway.
And we got back to Cirrus, two hours later, a half done tattoo, we hooked up the 9 volt battery to the machine, and it worked! So, we had this really going with the theme ‘an ultra jugaad’ set up for the whole tattoo session, from the space to the equipment! With that we finished the tattoo, it was awesome, and I don’t think I’d ever have an experience like that again, it was definitely life changing. The entire trip, the entire experience was mind blowing.”
5. Overall, what have you taken back from the Holy Detour experience?
“Let me put it this way, I was 30 years old at that point, and let me just say that the kind of experience i got on those five days of the Detour, with all of the stuff that happened, all of the crazy ways of travelling and fun and skating, of movement, of people and different types of people.
And everything that encompasses that whole trip on those five days was something that I hadn't experienced in 28 years of my life. It was amazing, it broke alot of barriers for me, a lot of inhibitions, a lot of hang ups I might have had about travel, and all of that was gone right out the window.
On one of the days, I had to sleep in a sleeping bag, on the sand at the beach,
underneath a coconut tree, which I had never done before, and it was one of the best mornings, I woke up to. It was insane, yeah, I really loved it!”
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As a 35 year old manchild who still plays with his rolling carpet rider I find it harder and harder to even imagine progressing on my skate skills (forget about actually progressing). Few years back I used to watch skate videos to get some motivation before going to sesh.
Now I get a bit demotivated cause all the clips coming out now are just kids blowing away our idea of what is physically possible on a skateboard. Like I said I am not even able to imagine myself landing any of that. Is it that I have lost my imagination? Or have I just lost my motivation to progress (can someone please start a page to share videos of doable stuff)? Is this a defeatist attitude?
Too many questions too few answers. So maybe a different way of thinking would be that I am just following the wrong people. I need to be watching dudes who are better skaters than me but not one of those X-Men of Skateboarding pulling of kickflip frontblunt 360 shuvs (but this is why I watch videos…to be entertained, I mean I could watch daewon song all day).
So now I cut back on all the videos on thrasher and all the other famous publications and watch more stuff from Indian skaters. I mean nothing can motivate more than watching the stoke unfurl on a familiar place with familiar people. Big shout out to all my India skater buddies keeping the fire lit (not just in the scene but also in me). Now I need my daily dose of some Indian shred action before going to skate.
Life is moving fast and its moving even faster on a skateboard. Skaters (like everyone else) now want their communication to be visual and vivid while getting their messages out real quick.
Who even types “okay” ((k)) or “that was a nice chat we had, I look forward to speaking again” ((gtg cya))? Forget phrases, we now don’t have the time to type out a full word like xtreme, gonna, sht, fck and it goes on. I think by omitting to type a few alphabets for the past couple of years I have saved up enough time to collect up to 10 abbreviations for chatting with fellow skaters:
NBD/Abd – Never been done/already been done
Easy way to finger someone into getting hurt “yo why don’t you make the nose pick off the vert quarter it’s an NBD.”
Nsfs – Not safe for skating
Somethings are just not worth it , but then again who am I kidding? If something is nsfs you have got to at least try.
EG – Eating ground
As in “I really over committed that time and ended up EG, lols.
CCed – Credit carded
When the board gets in your ass crack and swipes for a withdrawal.
BBP – Busted by the police
Like our last diy just got BBP.
Omt – One more try
I'll call you right back been throwing down this 8 stair gonna give it the good ol omt.
Lgs – Let’s go shred
Easy way to invite the homies out.
BTN – Busting them nips
When it gets too hot and you gotta skate shirtless.
GFT – Got fucked trying
As in “my ankle hurts I GFT a kickflip yesterday.”
SFP – Sucker for punishment
Can be used to describe people who can’t have a skate sesh without a few good falls.
Maybe in the future everything will just be emojis and we will totally do away with words. Maybe the Egyptians had it right the first time. Who am I kidding again, I am totally going to learn some new words today.