First Quote Added
April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"I really love the medals but what I’m proud of most, absolutely most, is that now young girls have perspective, young girls can play football and young girls can wear shirts [with players’ names on]"
"You can be honest. It doesn’t mean that you’re rude. Just be direct."
"You can just say what you think and still be very respectful."
"Growing up, I heard so many times, “That's not for women.” And I think when you hear that over and over, you believe it. You have to be very strong to stick to what you love, but that's what I did."
"Of course, I’ve had lonely moments, particularly being the only woman coach, you felt different. But I've never tried to act like a man. Why should I? I’ll always be myself."
"I really felt very strongly that we have to support these women. We need to support each other."
"This generation of women who are now at the highest level of football also have another purpose that comes with their visibility: to try and make the world a better place for the next generation."
"It's not all about money. I think the most valuable thing we have accomplished is that little girls now have role models… My heart is in the women's game and my thoughts are on the women's game."
"I had to cut my hair to play, so for me it's so important that little girls can play football if they want to. That's what I really want to fight for."
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.