First Quote Added
April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive characteristic."
"The blues is more than a genre—it’s the raw, unfiltered voice of human emotion. Born from the spirituals, work songs, and field hollers of African American communities in the Deep South, blues music gave shape to joy and sorrow, resilience and despair. With just a few chords and a whole lot of soul, it built a foundation for nearly every form of popular music that followed, from rock to R&B, country to hip-hop. What makes a great blues song? It’s not just the guitar licks or the wail of a harmonica—it’s the story it tells. Blues is about lived experience. Whether it's heartbreak, hardship, or hard-won wisdom, the best blues songs tap into something timeless and universal. These songs often speak in simple language, but what they say can hit harder than any symphony."
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.