Like all Indians, I too had heard of Srinivasa Ramanjun while I was still in school. He was considered to be pure genius, his mind unsullied by schooling. He was beyond us schoolboys; we couldn’t comprehend what he’d achieved, so we marveled at the stories about him. Especially the one about the license plate!

                        I’ve just finished Ramanujan’s biography, titled the Man Who Knew Infinity’, by Robert Kanigel. I enjoyed it thoroughly because he tells us who Ramanujam was, not just what he did. Kanigel spent five months in Kumbakonam and other towns in Tamil Nadu where Ramanujam lived, and undoubtedly, this is the strength of his book. He’s visited Ramanujan’s school, the college he attended, the office he worked in, as well as the numerous houses he lived in. This gives his book a perspective that few of Ramanujam’s biographers have attained.

                        There’s a section of the book devoted to G.H. Hardy. The son of teachers, he was soon identified as a prodigy, and was given the best education available. Schooled at the Winchester school, he found himself at Cambridge for his undergraduation. He was a trailblazer in every sense, and his although we Indians remember him merely as Ramanujan’s collaborator, his standing in the world of mathematics is no less. By the time he was thirty he was already the most eminent mathematician in England. He introduced rigor, the system of proving every theorem rigorously, to England, and brought them into contact with Mathematics in the rest of Europe.

What makes this book special is that Ramanujan is dealt with as a person, and not just the dazzling genius who took the world by storm. His religious fervour, the domineering influence of his mother, and his stubborn nature were among the main influences in his life.

                        Ramanujan, was not, as is the general impression, discovered overnight. He spent nine years at home, without a job or a degree, having failed his BA due to his unwillingness to study what he didn’t want to. His family, though Brahmins, were poor, and literally lived a hand to mouth existence. They had few possessions, and it was not easy to have a young son working on mathematical theorems which few people were willing to see, let alone understand. Those nine years were not easy, but it is rarely mentioned in most accounts of his life.

                        He showed his work to many prominent mathematicians; few understood it. Eventually someone did realize he was saying something new, and referred him to an Englishman. The patronage of the English did make things easy for him; he was given a salary and freedom from work. More importantly, it allowed him to contact mathematicians in England.

                        The first two English mathematicians refused to entertain him; Hardy was the third; but his response far from prompt. It was nearly a year before Ramanujan reached Trinity College in Cambridge. Much effort was spent by both Englishmen and Indians to arrange for his passage and stay in England. Brahmins are not allowed to cross the seas; when they do, they must undergo a purification ritual once they return. Although he did eventually go, it was serious enough to dissuade him from going altogether.

                        His religion played a major role in his life. No key decisions in his life were taken without God’s blessings. He followed his scriptures rigidly, willing to place everything secondary to his beliefs. He cooked for himself while he was in England. He never ate in the dining hall with the other scholars at Cambridge, which may have played a role in his subsequent isolation, albeit a minor one.

                        Kanigel explores lots of minor issues, not key to understanding Ramanujam, but vital in understanding the environment that Ramanujam was to work and stay in. He discusses Cambridge in depth, the students, their beliefs, the lack of female company, the numerous societies, the political and philosophical leanings, their insistence on sports. His description the famed Tripos exam is excellent. He describes the undue importance given to it, the lack of creativity, and the pointlessness of the exam.

                        Everyone knows Ramanujan contracted tuberculosis in England. Most consider it a chance occurrence, but it was far from so. The book explores in detail how Hardy’s relationship with Ramanujan, World War One, familial strife, poor food and stress all resulted in his premature death and India’s immense loss.

                        He returned home after the war, still in poor health. He had hardly spent time with his wife Janaki, and his mother’s machinations had led to a misunderstanding developing between him and his wife and in-law. He dies in his thirties, but Janaki survived for another sixty years, visited by people who knew or wanted to know Ramanujam.

                        Some things I wondered about once I was done with the book:

What if Ramanujan was not a Brahmin? Would he have been tolerated or allowed to approach eminent mathematicians. Considering the important of caste at that time, as well as the fact that most men of learning were Brahmins, I wonder how things would have been were he of another caste.

                        How many Ramanujans have we lost and are we going to lose till we get an educational system which cultivates creativity and intellligence? Prodigies when found and nurtured could solve many of country’s numerous problems. There must be many brilliant children in the corners of our country. How do we find them and utilize them?

                        Kanigel’s done a fabulous job with the well written and well-researched biography of one of India’s greatest sons.