Bal Patil drew many pen and ink sketches of noted personalities such as George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Socrates, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Lata Mangeshkar, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Kamaraj among others.
To counter him, Kamaraj aligned himself with leaders like C. N. Muthuranga Mudaliar and M. Bhaktavatsalam.
The famous Tamil writer Dandapani Jayakanthan claims "Thondar" Duraiswamy as mentor of his early days in his book A Literary Man's Political Experiences he also narrates that "Thondar Duraiswamy, during those days used to narrate him in simple language, story after story relating to freedom movement. 'Thondar' also had many interesting tales to tell about Kamaraj Annachi (elder brother)."