First Quote Added
April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"At some point I had to make a choice: keep rowing or devote (my life) to rugby. My parents wanted me to stay with the former, but I really wanted the rugby dream."
"I loved rowing but it was the same thing over and over again. The excitement wasn’t there for me, and as rugby was packed with thrilling new challenges, it made it easier for me to make a decision"
"I never thought that I would end up playing sevens, and then I was playing it. The same happened with the 15s and me going to England. The world of rugby just opened up to me, and I had to go through those doors. When I raised my hand, I felt it was the right step for me. It was exciting times"
"I got an email from Lewis Sones (Saracens Women’s Performance Pathway Manager), and I thought it was a scam at first glance. I showed it to our High Performance Manager, Lynne Cantwell, and she said she would look into it."
"I struggled mentally in the first season, as I was not used to the weather or the food. It was a complete change of pace for me. I missed home, my family and friends. However, I learnt so much in that first season, and my Sarries teammates helped me every step of the way."
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.