Srinivasa Ramanujan Friend of Numbers
by Priya Narayanan and illustrated by Satwik Gade
A story of one of India’s favourite sons, one of the greatest mathematicians of the modern era - Srinivasa Ramanujan.
“Srinivasa Ramanujan Friend of Numbers” by Priya Narayanan and illustrated by Satwik Gade. Published by Tulika. The story of Srinivasa Ramanujan who was a brilliant mathematician. The story starts off with his birth at Erode in Tamilnadu. His family then moved to Kumbakonam where he grew up. As a little boy, Ramanujan had lots of questions. “How far were the clouds? How big were the stars? How long was the equator?” and so on. Numbers fascinated him the most. He would wonder if it was possible to add up all the numbers in the world. Also was there a last number? He would see patterns and numbers everywhere.
While other children of his age played games he played with numbers. Numbers were his friends. The other children found this odd and made fun of him. But he was not bothered by any of this. He was obsessed with numbers and lost interest in the rest of his subjects as he grew older. Numbers made patterns which only he could see. He failed all his exams except mathematics. To the utter dismay of his parents, he did not get a well paying job. But he was content as he got time to work on his mathematical ideas.
He decided to pursue his interest in mathematics by trying to go to England’s Cambridge university and learn more from the well known professors there. He did get a chance to go there and work under Professor Hardy. How he dedicated his short life to his fascination with numbers forms the rest of the story. His contributions to mathematics have helped the world immensely. Overall a great inspirational story of perseverance, dedication, passion and courage. The illustrations are charming too. Loved the cover pic which shows little Ramanujan swinging on a swing of the shape of infinity ♾. It is heartening to see books such as these on eminent Indian personalities.
My seven year old has been reading this book for almost a year now. He usually likes true stories and was fascinated by this one. It became an instant favourite. One day he suddenly told me that his mathematics teacher is a friend of numbers. When I asked him the reason, he said that she liked maths just like Srinivasa Ramanujan. That’s when I realised that he had connected well with this book. Apt for 6+ year olds. The book won the Neev book award in the emerging readers category in 2020. This definitely is a MUST read!
Where to buy from?
You can buy the book from
the publisher Tulika books here.
An independent Indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, that I buy a lot of my books from.
