Having grow up in a Hindu family I blindly accepted the gods of Hinduism as a kid because…well of indoctrination. Hindu families will start indoctrinating their kids or grandkids fairly early on, even before said kids can start talking proper sentences. Having the mother or grandmother taking the toddler to the pooja room and making them fold their hands in front of Krishna and making the kid try to say “protect me, oh Krishna” (in Malayalam) is a common sight in the morning after said toddler has had a bath or just as the lamp is lit.
So yes I was a believer until, I reached the age of 13. I can’t say that I became an atheist at the age of 13 but that age is when I started my questioning and the stories of the gods weren’t enough to make me blindly believe. I remember thinking about certain things and asking a few questions and even though I got some answers, none of them were convincing in the least. I stopped going to temples by the age of 14 but did attend a couple of religious poojas because I was still a teen. But my parents never pushed me to do anything religious against my wishes.
Soon most of my extended family understood that I didn’t like going to temples and wasn’t a believer. I went if weddings were held in a temple but that’s about it. By the age of 19 I understood that I was an atheist and what that label meant and I was comfortable in telling people that’s what I was/am. I haven’t been in a temple since then except for weddings. A lot of people on learning that I am an atheist, will start talking some silly stuff about why I should believe and that really irritates me and sometimes I say things back but without proper scientific evidence, you have no chance of converting this one. Also, most of your gods sound like assholes who I would never worship even if in the unlikely event that they were real, anyways!
Prompt from Topic Ideas For A Personal Narrative Essay