First Quote Added
April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"Soul music … arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying."
"Soul is truth, … no matter where it comes from, no matter how it is presented."
"God would be a very selfish god if he gave all the soul to one race. … When one sings from the heart and it reaches another heart, that's soul."
"There's not many Americans, certainly not many of the teenagers I met when I first went to America, knew anything about [rhythm & blues artists] at all. … They do now, which is very groovy."
"But now if I can wrap myself up in that song, and when that song gets to be a part of me, and affects me emotionally, then the emotions that I go through, chances are I’ll be able to communicate to you. Make the people out there become a part of the life of this song that you’re singing about. That’s soul when you can do that."
"Rhythm and blues used to be called race music. … This music was going on for years, but nobody paid any attention to it."
"When I think of soul, I think of grease 'cause ain't nothin' no good without the grease."
"What they call rock and roll now is rhythm and blues: I've been playing for 15 years in New Orleans."
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.