Note: Many things presented here are either anecdotal
evidences or media reports.
Birth of India’s beautiful
mind
Dr. Vashishtha Narayan Singh was born in 1942 in
Basantpur village of district Arrah (Bhojpur) in Bihar. After completing his
secondary school from Netarhat Residential School (erstwhile Bihar, now
Jharkhand), he moved to Patna Science College to complete his higher secondary
school in 1963. In school days, as his batchmates remember, he was way ahead of
anyone in school in mathematics. In college days, it is said that he used to
correct his mathematics professor in the class. Annoyed by this, he was once sent
to the Principal of the college. As a punishment and to test the brilliance,
Principal asked him some tough mathematical questions that were beyond the
level he was studying. Not only did he solve them easily, he described multiple
ways to solve each problem. The Principal, Sri N. S. Nagendra Nath was so
impressed that the approached Mr. George Jacob, the then Vice-Chancellor of
Patna University, to let the boy appear for B.Sc. final year examination. Considered
a child prodigy, he was granted special permission from the university to
appear in B.Sc. final year exam when he was still in his 1st year
under-graduation and to appear for M.Sc. mathematics exam when he was in the
second year of B.Sc. Dr. Singh topped both the examinations. His batchmates
from school remembers him as someone having extraordinary DNA. Below is a short
excerpt from a weblink that beautifully describes the talent:
“Dr Nagendra Nath, Principal of the college, also a
Maths teacher, on getting complaints, one after the other about Vashishtha
often disturbing the Maths classes by posing questions somewhat unrelated,
summoned him to his office chamber one day. He was given a few difficult
questions, much beyond the Intermediate class he was student of, to solve. Not
only did he solve them promptly right in front of the Principal but also
further showed his skill in solving each of them in ways more than one. Dr Nath
was awestruck, stood still for a while in total disbelief for he was face to
face with kind of prodigy he had never encountered before.
What
followed after that was even more remarkable. The Rules of the University were
amended and made flexible (courtesy, Governor cum Chancellor of the university)
to enable Vashishtha to straightaway take the B Sc (Maths Hons.) final year
exam after his first year in college. He topped the class with distinction. At
the end of his second year in college, he was allowed to take the M Sc (Maths)
final exam. The aspirant toppers of M Sc final class then, aiming for the gold
medal, fearing the obvious threat posed by Vashishtha, dropped out in sheer
panic and the first position in first class that year went to this prodigy.”
Being a native of Bihar, I
have been listening to his story since my childhood. I heard that he was
spotted by Prof. John L. Kelly from University of California, Berkley in a
mathematical talent hunt organized in Patna (again, this is anecdotal). Amazed
by the talent of Dr. Singh, Prof. Kelly offered him a PhD position under his
supervision and even managed his travel expense to USA. Dr. Singh joined Prof.
Kelly’s lab in 1965 and received his PhD in 1969. His thesis titled “Reproducing
Kernels and Operators with Cyclic Vector” found a lot of praise as it was a
topic very few people worked that time. It is again a strong anecdotal story that
Dr. Singh challenged Einstein’s theory of relativity and he was very sure to
prove that wrong (some say he even proved it wrong). Dr. Vashishtha Narayan
Singh is also reported to have worked with NASA. An interesting story says that
during the launch of Apollo mission by NASA when 31 computers went off, Dr.
Singh made certain calculations for the launch. When the computers were back to
functional state, the calculations made by Dr. Singh and computers were exactly
the same.
After his PhD in 1969 and a
brief stint as Assistant Professor at University of Washington, Seattle, USA,
Dr. Singh returned back to India in 1974 and joined Indian Institute of
Technology, Kanpur. He later moved to TIFR Bombay, and finally to Indian Statistical
Institute Kolkata. His family members say that he brought 10 big boxes of books
when he returned back to India.
The tragedy with the
wizard
It is said and reported that
Dr. Vashishtha Narayan Singh was diagnosed with Schizophrenia following some
unusual behaviour in USA, but few other believe that he was diagnosed with the
disease upon returning to India. His condition deteriorated much when he discontinued
the medicines against the advice of the physicians. His marriage also did not
last long and resulted in a divorce. Family members say the reason for divorce
was his schizophrenia. In a report published in a reputed media website, his
brother said that Dr. Singh was once very upset when his colleagues published
his work on their names. Dr. Vashishtha Narayan Singh was admitted to Central
Institute of Psychiatry, Kanke (Ranchi) for the treatment in around 1980 (some
say 1976). He remained there for 7 years (some say 10 years) before returning
back to his home. My mother says that he was so famous in Bihar that when he
was first admitted to CIP Ranchi for treatment, school and college students
were approached for goodwill donation and my mother donated for his treatment.
Though the then Bihar government promised to meet all the treatment expense,
his treatment went smoothly but the bills were never paid and are (perhaps)
still outstanding.
Dr. Singh went missing from
1987-1991 (there are conflicts about the years but the missing period was for
about 4 years). He was found in 1991 (let’s keep this) in the village of his
wife were he was picking up garbage in a very disturbing situation. He was
brought back to his home and was never let alone since then. People say that he
loved his wife to an extent that due to mental disturbance created by his
divorce, he went to his wife’s village during the missing period (but not to
his in-law’s house perhaps). After he was found in 1991, the then Bihar Government
sent him to NIMHANS Bangalore for further treatment. He was also treated at
IHBAS, New Delhi where all the expenses were met by actor and MP Mr. Shatrughan
Sinha. Though his condition was much stable, he kept silent most of the time
after returning from Delhi. Dr. Singh was felicitated at his alma mater Patna
Science College in 2010. Shankar Kumar, a teacher at physics department at
Patna Science College, said that had Dr. Singh been in a developed country, the
world would have got highly benefited by this talent. In 2013, Dr. Singh was
offered a position of visiting professor at Bhupendra Narayan Mandal
University, Madhepura, Bihar.
A few years before his
death, he returned to simple mathematics and started teaching kids in his
village. Children loved him a lot. The walls in his rooms are said to be full
of maths formula and he was said to be very fond of diary and pen. In an
interview, his brother said he is afraid that all the books, the notebook
filled with mathematics will become waste after Dr. Singh dies. Dr. Vashishtha
Narayan Singh was so close to his PhD supervisor Prof. Kelly that he hallucinated
the presence of Prof. Kelly in his room of the home at village.
Even after so many stories
and anecdotes, his love for mathematics cannot be denied. His story seems very
similar to the life story of another great mathematician and Nobel laureate Prof.
John Nash. Prof. Nash also suffered from severe schizophrenia but he received
best possible treatments and continued with his love of life that was
mathematics. On the other hand, people think Dr. Singh did not receive that
level of treatment that could be traced to multiple reasons.
India’s very own “Beautiful
Mind” met his creator on November 14, 2019 after struggling from the disease
for nearly four decades. He left so many untold stories and many unanswered questions.
One of the questions is that what do we do to such extraordinary minds? Why can’t
they receive best of the treatment and care, if required? Do we only owe them a
few articles or a few movies? He was awarded Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest
civilian award, posthumously in the year 2020.
No amount of article or
movies can capture the pain he might have suffered and the loss the country has
suffered due to his condition. I do not know how impressive my writing is or
how well you connected to Dr. Vashishtha Narayan Singh through this or any
other article, but hearing his story since my childhood, I can feel him near me
and can feel tears in my eyes while I pen down this article.
References
https://www.thebetterindia.com/154110/bihar-mathematician-prakash-jha-biopic/
https://www.bbc.com/hindi/india/2015/05/150505_vashishtha_narayan_singh_rd
https://math.berkeley.edu/people/grad/vashishtha-narayan-singh
https://www.mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=493
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