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April 10, 2026
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"[Bellini's] expression of certain emotions is as poignant as any in the whole range of art, but it is never ecstatic or excessive; with him sorrow is never desperate, compassion never effeminate, nor does the tenderest affection ever verge on sentimentality."
"The affectionate relationship maintained by the brothers was so legendary that even Vasari received reports of it. In his Vite, Vasari wrote that after the death of his brother Gentile, whom he had always loved with great tenderness, Giovanni remained behind as his ‘widow’, so to speak, a metaphor suggestive of both sadness and isolation. Gentile named Giovanni as his heir, bequeathing to him their father’s book of drawings, which had remained in Venice, and entrusting him with the completion of his painting of St Mark Preaching in Alexandria (for the Scuola Grande di San Marco."
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.