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April 10, 2026
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"Colonel Kyd, an Englishman, had the following to say regarding general surgical skill in the subcontinent: (In) chirurgery (in which they are considered by us the least advanced) they often succeed, in removing ulcers and cutaneous irruptions of the worst kind, which have baffled the skill of our surgeons, by the process of inducing inflammation and by means directly opposite to ours, and which they have probably long been in possession."
"Dr. H. Scott wrote the following letter on January 12, 1792, again on the subject of Indian surgery: In medicine I shall not be able to praise their science very much. It is one of those arts which is too delicate in its nature to bear war and oppression and the revolutions of governments. The effects of surgical operation are more obvious, more easily acquired and lost by no means so readily. Here I should have much to praise. They practise with great success the operation of depressing the chrystalline lens when become opake and from time immemorial they have cut for the stone at the same place which they now do in Europe. These are curious facts and I believe unknown before to us."
"You hear me, you bastard!? I’ll cut off your nutsack and nail it to my door! Like one of those Lion doorknockers rich folks got! That will be your balls!"
"Vulnera, quae melius non tetigisse fuit."
"I would like to see the day when somebody would be appointed surgeon somewhere who had no hands, for the operative part is the least part of the work."
"Surgery has a fascination possessed by few occupations. By its aid diseases and injury, incurable by nature alone or aided by altering the constitution of the body fluids, can be eradicated or assisted in such a way that natural processes are enabled to bring about a cure."
"Surgery is the red flower that blooms among the leaves and thorns that are the rest of medicine."
"I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly."
"[Words he used to refuse heart surgery the day before he passed away.]"
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.