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Priest who packs a punch
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Ever heard of a priest practising karate? If not, read on
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BODY AND MIND POWER Black belt Seshadri PHOTO: M. Karunakaran
Seshadri puts troublemakers in their place. Once, he sent a tipsy trio sprawling into a gutter with a full-fisted punch, a side-chop and an elbow-thump. Another day, he took a knife-brandishing thief on; beat the daylights out of him before having him handcuffed by the police. On both occasions, a crowd gathered around Seshadri and watched the one-sided fight with open-mouthed wonder. Why wouldn't they? For, how often does a temple priest go about beating up miscreants?
Chief archakar
The Good Samaritan is chief archakar at the Ashtalakshmi temple in Besant Nagar and also a third dan black belt karate expert. Two years ago, he attained celebrity status of sorts when the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam sought his expertise to train young priests at the mountain shrine in the martial art. This was in anticipation of terror attacks. As the deal, for some reason, did not come through, Seshadri continued his carefully-structured life in Besant Nagar, which includes rising with the lark for kata practice with the aid of steel and wooden weapons such as nin-chuk, sai and torfa.
Practises daily
However, passionate devotion to karate has not blinded him to popular perceptions. "A karate priest is an oddity." Having been ridiculed many a time, he knows this only too well. So everyday, Seshadri practises under the cover of darkness, winding up before sunrise and every month takes off for a week to Mayiladuthurai for intensive training under the watchful eye of coach Dayalan. Troublemakers don't turn up everyday, then why such gut wrenching practice? To win tournaments. His best - securing first position in the Super Senior Kata event at the All India Karate Open Tournament - 2004.
From the days when he watched Bruce Lee's films with his mouth a perfect `O', interest in karate has grown into a passion. His 12-year-old son Sriram has inherited this, for he already has a brown belt. Seshadri's four-year-old daughter Aishwarya is likely to follow suit. For now, the priest coaches her in general gymnastics.
The man is planning to play coach outside his house as well. A centre that trains both mind and body - through slokas, yoga, karate and judo - is on the cards
PRINCE FREDERICK
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