The Man Who Knew Infinity

& S. Ramanujan: I’m doomed, like Galileo. He died in poverty, you know.
    Beglan: At least you hold yourself in good esteem.

& Sir Francis: Narayana, how long have you worked for me?
    Narayana: Since I helped to design the bridge on the Godavari, which now requires me to call you «Sir». Sir Francis.

& Narayana: Madras... Did you know that the name derives from Mandarajya? «The realm of the stupid.» There’s a whole world out there. And there’s England.

& S. Ramanujan: It’s like a painting, I think. Only imagine it is with colors you cannot see...
    Janaki: What good is that?
    S. Ramanujan: Not much for you, I’m afraid. But for me it is everything. Maybe there is someone else who can see and understand it as well. And for them it will be important.
    Janaki: Have you met them?
    S. Ramanujan: No. Not yet.

& S. Ramanujan: I don’t want this to die with me!

& G.H. Hardy: Let me ask you something. Why do you do it, any of this?
    S. Ramanujan: Because I have to. I see it.
    G.H. Hardy: Like Euler. Form for its own sake. An art unto itself. And, like all art, it reflects truth. It’s the only truth I know. It’s my church. And you, just as Mozart could hear an entire symphony in his head, you dance with numbers to infinity.

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& G.H. Hardy: There are many ways to be honored in life. For us, being elected a Fellow is certainly one, but in my humble opinion, to leave a legacy, here at the Wren after we’re gone, is the greatest.

& Littlewood: ... Forget Jacobi, we can compare him with Newton. I have come to believe that for Ramanujan, every single positive integer is one of his personal friends.

& S. Ramanujan: Don’t you see? An equation has no meaning to me unless it expresses a thought of God.

& G.H. Hardy: Well, despite everything in my being set to the contrary, perhaps he is right. For is this not exactly our justification for pure mathematics? We are merely explorers of infinity in the pursuit of absolute perfection. We do not invent these formulas, they already exist and lie in wait for only the very brightest of minds, like Ramanujan, ever to divine and prove. So, in the end, I have been forced to consider, who are we to question Ramanujan, let alone God?

& G.H. Hardy: Sorry I’m late. Bloody cab driver got lost. Should have known from his number.
    S. Ramanujan: And what was that?
    G.H. Hardy: Rather a dull one. 1729.
    S. Ramanujan: No, Hardy. It is a very interesting number. It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.

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