INGENUITY AND POIGNANCY

INGENUITY AND POIGNANCY

(Some thoughts by Subbaram Danda)

Being an ardent lover of mathematics, I read with great fascination a recent article on mathematical wizard Srinivasa Ramanujan.  The write-up, presented in a unique and human perspective, touched me intensely.  While his ingenuity brought him honours and accolades, poignant episodes dogged him relentlessly.  Community and social taboos and beliefs played havoc in his life and death as well.

Though he was brilliant in mathematics, he could secure only 3 per cent marks in an English examination when he was in Government College, Kumbakonam.   This was perhaps due to his full-time devotion to the study of his pet subject.   He did a lot of research himself. To bring his findings to the attention of renowned English mathematician G. H. Hardy he had to correspond with him in a hard way.  But, finally when Hardy invited him to England, Ramanujan declined to make a sea voyage as it was a religious taboo.  However, following a dream his mother had, he consented and moved to Cambridge. 
 

Dozen new theorems !


During his stay in England, on a particular day he showed Hardy a dozen new theorems.  But his health was at stake, affected by what was considered tuberculosis.  He was in and out of hospital again and again.  However, his mind was always wandering in the world of mathematics.  

Once, when Hardy called on him in the hospital, he told him with great élan that the number of the taxi he had traveled was 1729.  Even Hardy could not see anything special in it.  But Ramanujan explained, “It is a remarkable number expressible as a sum of two cubes in two different ways (1 cube plus 12 cube or 9 cube plus 10 cube).

Ramanujan returned to India and carried on with his inquiry into the mysteries of the mathematical universe, though his health was constantly deteriorating.  He passed away when he was only 33. 
 

Without last rites


Regrettably, highly religious Ramanujan, who followed the tenets of his community unflinchingly throughout his life, was cremated without last rites.  No one came forward to perform them, because he had flouted taboos.   That was the social order of the day!

In fact, even in a foreign country, he practised his community rituals faithfully.  He had a separate room for ‘pooja’ and cooked his own vegetarian food.  Ramanujan saw divinity in all mathematical expressions and godliness everywhere. 

What a quirk of fate for this super human !

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