Milind Soman recently released his memoir Made in India where, among other things, he talked about his association with an RSS shakha as a kid.
In an excerpt that was published in The Print, he talked about joining RSS at the age of 10.
As a loner, he was initially annoyed at being forced to join RSS but soon made friends and liked being a part of it. And that is why he felt ‘baffled’ at the way the media is currently portraying RSS:
When I read today all the subversive, communal propaganda the media attributes to RSS shakhas, I am frankly baffled. My memories of what happened at our shakha between 6 and 7 p.m. each weekday evening are completely different—we marched about in our khaki shorts, did some yoga, worked out in a traditional outdoor gymnasium with no fancy equipment, sang songs and chanted Sanskrit verses that we did not understand the meanings of, played games and had a bunch of fun with our fellows.
He also commented about how they were overseen by ‘mostly-well-meaning—if not always inspirational—adults’. As a result of his comments, Milind Soman trended on Twitter. To this, the actor and fitness expert replied with a tweet about what it felt like to trend for something he did at the age of 10.
Milind Soman’s memoir Made in India is available on Amazon.