Prof Hari Vasudevan will always be remembered and deeply missed by several generations of students, scholars and teachers.
Having spent almost his entire academic career in Kolkata, in 2005, Hari was invited by the Union human resources development ministry to chair the textbook development committee for the social sciences of the National Centre for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). He worked with a large team and consulted widely to produce a set of textbooks that were applauded by teachers and students.
August 2017 he spoke on ‘History Textbooks and the Idea of India’ at the History for Peace annual conference. For school teachers attending the conference it was a rare treat—to interact with this warm accessible scholar who was one of the strong forces behind the textbooks that guided their entire teaching practice.
January 2020, he was scheduled to deliver the keynote at yet another History for Peace conference in Kochi. A day before the scheduled date he was compelled to cancel his talk due to his mother’s demise.
We at Seagull remember him with deep affection.