People come and people go, but there are some who continue to live post their physical existence. These people are human but are no less han God for their contributions to humankind. One such man is the man who knew infinity.
As I grew up under the wings of my mathematician mother, I had heard of him often. But hanks to my love hate relationship with this beauty of a subject- I hardly cared to know who this genius was. On his death anniversary yester year, my mom's department held a competition on the contribution of the greatest mathematicians of all times and so I read about Srinivasa Ramanujan, quite many essays as I helped my mother choose the victor of the competition.
There are prodigies, there are impeccable people, but this man surprises me everytime I read or hear about him since then. I felt more intrigued a he helped me solve a question in the competitive exams I have been trying to pass for the past three years. And today, I watched the movie made on him by Matthew Brown starring Dev Patel. his brought out in me the feelings to write this, it made me want to put to words what I felt. Felt, so wrote!
A Man born in Erode in the Madras Presidency during the British Raj, a brahmin by birth had the courage of defying the traditions-- which today seem very ordinary, but were taken with utmost sincerity back in those times. Like the 'shikha' of a 'brahmin' or the one about crossing the seas. He did it all for his love of numbers. Through his many hardships what remained unchanged was his resolve to find new numbers to make open new avenues for explorations by the other mathematicians of his time, and till date.
Where for a mathematician he left many leaves of his notebooks to prove and regard, for a friendly alien to the realm of maths, his life has a lot to teach otherwise. His life, according to the limited knowledge I have of him, is an example of his determination, his confidence an most of all, his faith. He had the passion to do the forbidden like crossing the oceans to reach Cambridge. Ad had he not done it, we may have not known the many identities, equations and formulae which we gladly attribute to ne of the greatest mathematicians. He starved and was plagued by diseases, but not hampered by them. He went on to play with his friends-- the numbers!
In his personal life, unfortunate one at that, he had to live without his wife for a major time in his married life. One part from the movie that sparkled for me was when his wife says that people say you love numbers more than people and he replies- except some (indicating his wife).
What I learnt from the genius he was and the life he lived was- Have faith. You have got to do what you have got to do. To be successful you need to keep at it.
And so I will! Amen!
P.S. "Some journeys have no limits"-- I strongly recommend this movie to experience the life of a genius. You certainly won't be disappoined ;) Disclaimer: This is not for any promotions, just ut of my genuine liking of this work of art and maths--an absolute beauty!
courtesy: Parul Kaushik
