Chennai: Seshadri is a temple priest at the Besant nagar ashtalakshmi temple in Chennai. He has been serving here since 1990 and is now 59-years-old. He learned martial arts including Karate and Silambam and continues practising them. Following untiring his passion for martial arts, he has earned a black belt in karate. Seshadri, who is nearing sixty years, says there is no age barrier for learning martial arts.
Seshadri has always had flair for learning martial arts including Silambam and Karate since childhood. However, Seshadri's father was not in full agreement with his son's passion for Karate and Silambam and hence he took up training without ruffling many feathers. As a child, Seshadri developed an inclination to learn silambam after watching MGR films. Later, he developed a love for karate after watching Bruce Lee movies.
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When Seshadri told about his passion several times to his parents, they rejected his proposal. However, later after getting married, he learned Silambam and Karate without getting disheartened. After continuously learning karate for seven years, he earned a fourth level black belt. Getting to know of his achievement from newspapers, his father had a word of praise for his son. Since then, he has been studying the arts at his home itself.
"As I approach sixty years, I am going to learn many intricacies in such arts including sword fight. Similarly, I will proceed to advanced level karate training. After the lockdown restrictions are completely lifted, I will be fully engrossed in intensive training," Seshadri said.
"And there are absolutely no restrictions of age for learning more of them. Learning such martial arts makes the body and mind strong,” Seshadri adds.
Seshadri is a role model for all the youth in and around Besant Nagar area in Chennai. The soon-to-be-sexagenarian is an example of the fact age is just a number.
