How Delhi’s Skateboarders Turned City Streets Into Their Own Skate Park

Delhi’s skateboarders don’t have a dedicated public skatepark, so they’ve made do with what the city offers — streets, parking lots, plazas and improvised spots. Last Sunday, skating communities across NCR marked Go Skate Day at their regular weekly meet-up, a ritual that has grown into something far more than a hobby for many participants.

‘Our Sunday mornings are reserved for skating. It has become a non-negotiable for many in the community,’ says Nishchal Singh, founder of the Delhi Skating Community. ‘Every Sunday, new people join in, and some are absolute beginners. After the session, we all jam to some music, and some members volunteer to teach skating at NGOs.’

The sessions draw people from very different corners of life. Rupesh Sharma, a student who travels from Greater Noida every Sunday, once competed in inline skating at the national level before an injury sidelined him. ‘Getting back to skating is like finding happiness again. Being a regular here, I am learning how to skateboard as well,’ he says. Nikita Jain, an interior designer who has skated with the group for nearly two years, says she shows up even on days she can’t skate, ‘just to meet everyone.’

Shashwat Sunil, co-founder of Mandi Monkeys — a crew that skates at Mandi House metro station every evening — says the sport’s real draw is the mix of people it brings together. ‘Skateboarding has united a lot of us from completely different fields – artists, musicians, theatre people, corporate workers. A skateboard is what connects us,’ he says. ‘What’s more important than learning tricks is learning how to fall. We don’t really have enough spaces, so we’ve learnt to make the city our skate park.’

Siddhant Dhankar, founder of Backyard Skatepark, argues that’s a workaround, not a solution: ‘The need for public skateparks has still not received adequate attention… A public skatepark would make the sport far more accessible, fun and safe. It will allow more young people to participate regardless of their background or financial means.’