How did Pi see the Hindu gods as a child?

Pi explains that he was born into Hinduism, and that he'd been involved in Hindu rites and rituals from the time he was an infant. Pi relates to and hungers for Prasad, a Hindu offering to God, and the way his hands automatically move into prayer position. As an adult he continues to embrace the Hindu beli8efs: “That which sustains the universe beyond thought and language, and that which is at the core of us and struggles for expression, is the same thing.” Pi emphatically declares that he's always been and always will be a Hindu.

"The Hindu deities “were like superheroes to me,” he recalls, and at a tender age he began collecting heroes from other faiths, an all-around holiness fan reluctant to declare a rooting interest in any particular team."