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April 10, 2026
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"While the move from dimension 2 to dimension 3 appears to be the obvious step there is a sense in which one should move from 2 to 4. This comes from the consideration of complex algebraic geometry. For complex dimension 1 this theory was started by Abel and continued by Riemann. For algebraic varieties of complex dimension n the real dimension is 2n, so the case n = 2 leads to 4-dimensional real manifolds. The key figures in the topology of higher-dimensional algebraic varieties were Lefschetz, Hodge, Cartan and Serre. While general algebraic geometry was one of the major developments of the second half of the 20th century, the topology of real 4-manifolds had a great surprise in store when Simon Donaldson made spectacular discoveries opening up an entirely new area."
"Should you just be an algebraist or a geometer? is like saying Would you rather be deaf or blind? If you are blind, you do not see space: if you are deaf, you do not hear, and hearing takes place in time. On the whole, we prefer to have both faculties."
"In the various forms of geometry (differential, metric, affine, algebraic), the central object is the variety, considered as a set of points."
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.