Shaolin Gurukul | India

Pangot. A tiny hamlet in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand in the lower Himalayas has a rather unusual secret. It is home to India’s only Shaolin Gurukul for martial arts. Here, Kanishka Sharma, the first Indian martial arts practitioner to attain the title of Shifu, trains more than a thousand students each year. The legendary Shaolin Temple of China bestowed upon him the title of Shifu.
Shifu Kanishka says, "My name is Shifu Kanishka. I am also known as Shi Yan You. I am a 34th generation Shaolin Warrior from Shaolin Temple, China. One of the main reasons for who I am today is because of the Shaw Brothers’ kung fu films like 36 Chambers Of Shaolin, Mad Monkey Kung Fu and Ten Tigers Of Shaolin. I called it Shaolin Gurukul because I really love the concept of that Indian culture of gurukul where people come, you know, a place where the place of the teacher is [like a guru]. I am not just teaching Shaolin Kung Fu. I teach multiple martial arts here. People who want to learn combat and stuff, I teach them my own system, Shifu Kanishka Combatives or Pekiti Tirsia Kali or Jeet-Kune-Do ."
After spending years at the Shaolin Temple in the Henan province, the 45-year-old has set up this one-of-a-kind facility spread over acres. It hosts students for short-term residential programs from all over the country. And the master runs a tight ship, replicating his experience in China.