From Corporate Workers to Artists: Delhi’s Skateboarders on Why They Keep Coming Back

Artists, musicians, theatre performers and corporate employees don’t usually share a hobby, but in Delhi’s skateboarding scene, they do. NCR’s skating communities marked Go Skate Day with their regular Sunday meet-up, a ritual that pulls together people from wildly different backgrounds around a single shared interest.

‘Skateboarding has united a lot of us from completely different fields – artists, musicians, theatre people, corporate workers. A skateboard is what connects us. It was never about competition,’ says Shashwat Sunil, who co-founded Mandi Monkeys, a crew that skates at Mandi House metro station every evening. ‘It was about the fun of skateboarding and the people it brings together.’

That community pull is echoed across the scene. Nishchal Singh, founder of the Delhi Skating Community, says Sunday sessions have become ‘a non-negotiable for many in the community,’ with new members joining every week and some regulars volunteering to teach skating at NGOs afterward. Anirudh Kashyap, a Noida-based startup founder who picked up skateboarding four months ago, describes the sessions as his reset after a long work week: ‘When I am on wheels, I feel a lot of freedom.’

For some, it’s a way back to a passion interrupted. Rupesh Sharma, a student who commutes from Greater Noida every Sunday, once competed in inline skating at the national level before an injury forced a pause. ‘Getting back to skating is like finding happiness again,’ he says. Khwahish Sahni, another student in the group, says learning to fall is as much a part of the process as learning tricks: ‘Everyone falls and gets up again while skating. That’s part of the learning process.’

The one thing the community consistently lacks is a proper venue. Siddhant Dhankar, founder of Backyard Skatepark, says most Delhi skaters rely on ‘private facilities, streets, parking lots, plazas and improvised spots,’ and argues a public skatepark would make the sport ‘far more accessible, fun and safe’ for young people regardless of financial means.