Eminent historian Hari Shankar Vasudevan dies of COVID, he was 68
Kolkata: Hari Shankar Vasudevan eminent historian and emeritus professor of Calcutta University died at a private hospital in Salt Lake on early Sunday morning.
He was tested COVID- 19 positive and was admitted to the hospital with respiratory distress on May 5 and was on ventilator fro May 6.
The hospital authorities said he had two massive heart attacks early on Sunday morning. The 68-year-old scholar is survived by his historian wife Tapati Guha Thakurta and daughter Mrinalini.
His brother, Ravi Vasudevan, is a cinema studies scholar. The hospital authorities said those who had come in contact with the professor have been sent to home quarantine.
Condoling his death Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said: "A multi-faceted person he made his mark while being involved in a formal consultative
capacity with projects/ institutions of the Ministry of Culture, MHRD, Ministry of Commerce and the External Affairs of the Government of India and was the chairman of the textbook development committee for the social sciences of the NCERT from 2005. His contribution to society will be ever recalled. May his soul rest in peace."
Vasudevan who had a PhD from Cambridge University taught and wrote on Russian and European history and politics, Indo- Russian relations for most of his life. He was associated with Jamia Millia University, King's College, London, Cornell University and Kyiv University in Ukraine.
He was the chairman of the textbook development committee for the social sciences of NCERT from 2005 until 2013. He served as the director of the Maulana Abul kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies. His latest book is Footsteps of Afanasii Nikitin - Travels through Eurasia and India I the early 21st century. Vasudevan will be remembered by his students and fellow historians for his simplicity and zest for life. He could speak Russian and French fluently. At a time when most of the teachers in CU considered it to be "wrong" to give high marks to the students, Vasudevan broke this trend and made a proper assessment of the students giving them high marks when they deserved.
Recollecting his long association with Vasudevan, Professor Somak Rai Chaudhuri, director Inter-University Centre for Astro Physics and Astronomy, Pune said: "I knew him when I enrolled myself in the Oxford University nearly three-and-a-half decade ago. He was a scholar par excellence and had an interest in almost everything under the sun. He was sober and a prolific writer," he said adding, "His death is really shocking."
Ranjini Guha, a history teacher recalled when Vasudevan on one occasion came to the History department of Presidency College to give a lecture on Lenin, he spoke for over an hour and the style of his lecture full of wits and anecdotes had enthralled the teachers and the students.
