Karate taught by the Priest

CHENNAI: He first reveres Goddess Ashtalakshmi, a close second is Bruce Lee. His daily routine involves running on the beach for an hour from 4 am, an hour of karate practice, his daily duties at the temple, purohitham rounds for house warming and naming ceremonies, ending his day with another hour of karate. K Sheshadri (54), a priest at the Ashtalakshmi Temple, has the unusual distinction of probably being the only such priest with a black belt.

“As a son of a Brahmin temple priest, I was supposed to be non-violent and give all my attention to religion. But I wanted to learn self-defence and was fascinated by Karate movies that I watched as a boy — Return of the Dragon and The Shaolin Drunk Monkey,” he says, sitting at his house with a veshti-angavastram and a naamam on his forehead.

Sheshadri would secretly learn Karate tips from a Nepali watchman without his father’s knowledge. After his marriage in 1991, he decided he didn’t want to let go of his Karate dream. But he could not learn in Chennai as his father still disapproved. So, he would travel to an uncle’s house in Mayavaram, four or five times a month, and spend the whole day at an academy there. “It was hard work, I was past 30 then; we had to climb bridges holding sacks and practise punches,” he recalls. He did this for eight years, and after some media attention, his father got to know about his pursuit. “But by that time, he was happy and proud. He is everything to me,” says Shesadri, looking down at his mobile phone, which has the picture of his aged father as the wallpaper.

Taking part in numerous karate competitions, he even got an opportunity to go abroad. “But accordingly to our religious texts, I cannot cross the seas. If I do, I cannot be a temple priest again,” he says. He has never even eaten out in his life.

“But we get food from out for my children,” he says with a smile. His son pursued Karate till the brown belt, and his 14-year daughter pursues yoga in a big way. “I taught them karate from their childhood,” he says. Besides Karate, he also knows kick-boxing and silambam.

He also conducted classes for some time, but gave up because of lack of time. “But my retirement age is nearing. After that, I will definitely conduct classes. I will never use karate for earning money, I would do it for free,” he says. He adds that money doesn’t come easily, especially when there are house rents and other expenses, and not much of a pension.

With four levels of black belt certification cleared, he wishes to go even further.

“I have a lot more to do. We have a long way to go to get as good as the Japanese,” he adds.