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April 10, 2026
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"Lucca l'industriosa."
"Lucca the busy."
"From off our bridge, he said: "O Malebranche, Behold one of the elders of Saint ; Plunge him beneath, for I return for othersUnto that town, which is well furnished with them. All there are barrators, except Bonturo; No into Yes for money there is changed."
"This one, methought, as master of the sport, Rode forth to chase the gaunt wolf and his whelps Unto the mountain, which forbids the sight Of Lucca to the Pisan."
"The fireflies, pulsing forth their rapid gleams, Are the only light That breaks the night; A stream, that has the voice of many streams, Is the only sound All around: And we have found our way to the rude stone, Where many a twilight we have sat alone, Though in this summer-darkness never yet; We have had happy, happy moments here, We have had thoughts we never can forget, Which will go on with us beyond the bier. The very lineaments of thy dear face I do not see, but yet its influence I feel, even as my outward sense perceives The freshening presence of the chestnut leaves, Whose vaguest forms my eye can only trace, By following where the darkness seems most dense. What light, what sight, what form, can be to us Beautiful as this gloom? We have come down, alive and conscious, Into a blesséd tomb: We have left the world behind us, Her vexations cannot find us, We are too far away; There is something to gainsay In the life of every day; But in this delicious death We let go our mortal breath, Naught to feel and hear and see, But our heart’s felicity; Naught with which to be at war, Naught to fret our shame or pride, Knowing only that we are, Caring not what is beside."
"You are at Lucca baths, you tell me, to stay for the summer; Florence was quite too hot; you can’t move further at present. Will you not come, do you think, before the summer is over?"
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.