Indian teacher takes Shaolin culture and kung fu back home

For the past decade, Kanishka Sharma has been dividing his time regularly between India and China.

The 37-year-old spends two months at a stretch taking care of his martial arts schools in India before staying two months in Shaolin Temple, learning its kung fu techniques.

Kanishka saw the movie The 36th Chamber of Shaolin when he was 6. He liked it so much he saw it 200 times.

It also marked the start of the Indian national's lifelong fascination with Shaolin kung fu.

"I told my father I wanted to go to China. He said I was too young," Kanishka said.

When he first arrived at the gates of Shaolin in 2001, he burst into tears.

"I cried because it was just as I dreamed. ... I just wanted to be like a Shaolin monk," he said.

Kanishka said he was trembling when he called his mother to share his joy.

"My parents said I was crazy."

Kanishka trained in the temple the following two years and continued his studies at the Fawang temple and Shaolin Epo Kung Fu School.