If you love skating, spending time training with the Bengaluru Skaters at Cubbon Park might be the kind of Sunday activity you want.
The group was started in 2016, by Divye Karde, a software development engineer.
He started a group during his college days at National Institute Of Technology Silchar, Assam. After moving to Bengaluru, Divye missed having friends to skate with. He realised there was a huge gap in adults who wanted to skate and people who could teach them. “Most classes in the country are competitive coaching for kids. This is when I decided to create a community in the city, to promote recreational and freestyle skating,” Divye says.
The group started with meetings every Sunday at 9 am, in Cubbon Park. They started with freestyle, recreational and fitness skating, and gave free lessons to anyone who joined them. Currently, the group offers training in roller skating, skateboarding, waveboarding and freeline skating.
To Divye and other members “this is no club, it is a community that does much more than just skating”.
He says, “This is a safe and inclusive space where people can come together, make friends and help each other get through difficult times.”
Growth in numbers
The group now has 2,000 members on Meetup, and around 200 people attending every Sunday.
The number of people joining the group has increased exponentially since the pandemic. “One of our members, Sharon, created some content about staying inspired, even during the pandemic. This went viral and now we have 11,800 followers on Instagram, while prior to the pandemic, we had less than 1,000. Now, on an average I get 50 requests a day from people who want to join the group,” he adds.
He also took it as a “personal challenge” to encourage more women to join the group. Today the ratio of men to women is equal. The group has members between three and 73.
A nagging concern
The fear of being banned from the park is a concern for Divye.
“Even though we try to not disturb people, park officials have often told us that there are too many skaters and we could be banned someday. If we get banned, what happens next? Where do we go?” he asks.
A lack of skating infrastructure in the city means that finding another place to continue will be difficult, he adds.
The group’s recent achievements include being a part of Hockey in the Himalayas, an Indo-Canadian friendly ice hockey tournament.
To join the group, set up an account on the Meetup app and send a request. Or join them on Instagram (@bengaluruskaters).
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