Profiles

Harishankar Vasudevan, a professional historian who was a specialist on Russian and European history, and Indo-Russian relations, died after contracting COVID-19 on May 10, 2020, at a private health facility in Kolkata, India. He was 68. Son of an aeronautical engineer at the Defence Science Organisation (later Defence Research and Development Organisation) Methil Vasudevan and Sreekumari Menon, Professor Vasudevan — “Hari” to all — grew up in many places in India, Europe and Africa. He had just finished a memoir, largely focussed on life of his mother, who passed away recently. After completing studies at Cambridge University in the early 1970s, Prof. Vasudevan settled in Kolkata as a Reader in European History at Calcutta University. He set up the Central Asia programme at Jamia ...