• Sheshadri lost his mother when he was only 2 years old and he also lost his father while he was studying in class 10
• No one from his community came to help him and to survive he had to take odd jobs at hotels in Mysore and Bengaluru
• He adopted Islam religion as he developed a liking for that religion

Mysore, Karnataka, August 25, 2017: Sheshadri, an old man from Mysore who is 59 yrs old and earlier belonged to a Brahmin family and Shree Vaishnava Pantha Brahmin community. He later adopted Islam religion. Now, after a long duration of time, Sheshadri and his 20-year-old son Syed Ateek have converted back to Hinduism.

Here's how a Brahmin man who first converted to Islam and later came back to his own religion- Hinduism:

• Sheshadri is a resident of Jakkanahalli (a small village which falls in Mandya district) town Shree Ranga Pattana in Karnataka. His profession is that of a lorry driver in Mandya.
• His father's name was late B Govindaraju, who was a priest and follower of Ramanujacharya, a Hindu theologian and held a belief in Vishishtadvaita (non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy).
• His mother's name was Kamalamma, who was a Shaiva Brahmin and follower of Adi Shankara's Advaita Vedanta (a type of Hindu philosophy and religious practice, they believe that their soul is not really different from God).
• But his parents didn't have an easy life as they had to leave the town as the community opposed their marriage.

ALSO READ: Tamil Brahmin's transformation to urban middle class

• Sheshadri didn't have a normal childhood. He lost his mother when he was only 2 years old and he also lost his father while he was studying in class 10.
• During those tough days no one from his community came to help him, to survive he had to take odd jobs at hotels in Mysore and Bengaluru.
• In 1993, he started working as a lorry driver with Syed Keezer from Kollegala. At that time, Sheshadri adopted Islam religion as he developed a liking for that religion.
• Sheshadri married Fahmida, who was a relative of Syed Keezer and with her, he had two sons- Syed Ateek and Syed Siddiq.
• But even his marriage didn't last long as Fahmida left Sheshadri 2 years ago because of some conflict and after it, she started living with her parents and took her younger son Syed Siddiq along with her.
• This event affected him in a huge way, leaving him frustrated and thus he decided to convert back to the religion he originally belonged to that is Hinduism.
• His elder son Syed Ateeq joined him in conversion and changed his name to Harshal.
• Sheshadri talked about the reason for conversion from Islam to Hinduism. According to Banglore Mirror report, he said "I embraced Islam and married a Muslim woman due to restrictions from our community. I was always eager to come back to Hinduism. I will now persuade my wife and the other son to convert to Hinduism."
• There was a Ghar Waapsi (homecoming) programme held for Sheshadri, conducted by Pramod Mutalik, Sri Ram Sene chief at the Arya Samaj Mandir, Mysore.