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April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"I am not a historian my training. My academic background is in English literature so I come to history with a particular interest in the shaping power of language. Style matters a lot to me. Almost all my ‘heroes’ are from literature rather than history – a particular school of British twentieth century travel writing, which is now probably starting to look a little romantic has been hugely important to me – in both style and in wanting to bring a sense of place to the history I write. People like Patrick Leigh-Fermor, Jan Morris, Lawrence Durrell. I’m also a keen reader of world poetry – mostly in translation. The Greeks, George Seferis and Constantine Cavafy, I particularly like. I’m a creature of a deeply word curious culture."
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.