Gratitude

This is Volume – 4 of series Madness in Civilizations and I am humbled by the outpouring of good wishes and support to the difficult odyssey I have embarked upon. Some have told me to convert the series in a book form while others have asked me to intersperse the series with real life examples. I express my deepest gratitude to the discerning readers whose encouragement incites me to delve deepest in every aspect of madness. In this Volume-4, I have decided to take a pause, and tell a real life story of an “Indian Beautiful Mind” , a Mathematical Genius who once supposedly challenged Einstein.

Equality- Inequality

I have borrowed this title from the great Indian Sociologist Andre Beteille whose essay “Equality- Inequality” I first read in early 1980s. Beteille defines stratification as either harmonic (where the norms legitimise inequality e.g. caste system) or dis-harmonic (where norms legitimise equality but inequality is the reality like madness I add). Here i am more interested in dis-harmonic stratification that straight way applies to the bold concept i enunciated in volume 3, “equality between madman and non-madman”

The notion of equality between mad-man and non-madman, may seem revolutionary to Indian readers but it is not truly revolutionary perse. My fight for equality between madman/ madwoman and non-madman/non-madwoman is an existential fight. My discerning psychiatrists friends who have largely forgotten or conveniently bypassed or don’t remember the original Hypocratic oath “First Do No Harm” and my friends in jurisprudence, for whom a madman with “unsound mind” cannot and must not dream of equality with non-madman, will find the question of this equality between Madman and Non Madman between two poles, both frivolous and meaningless.

A Leaf From the History

The above dichotomy takes me deep in the history, to early eighteenth century France March 16, 1790 to be precise. This was the day when in France, the law abolishing the lettres de cachet was promulgated.  For the uninitiated the Lettres de cachet authorized the established power to lock anyone up upon petition from the family or by order of the king. This arbitrarily ness was changed by the Article 9 of the new law, that clarified the status of the alleged demented as follows :

“For the space of three months, starting from the day of publication of the present decree, persons held on account of dementia will be questioned, at the behest of our prosecutors, by judges, following the usual procedures, and, in accordance with their orders, visited by doctors who, overseen by the district police chiefs, will explain the true situation of the sick persons, so that, once the ruling has been made about their state, they will either be released or looked after and cared for in hospitals recommended for that pur

Three dates, changed the status of a mad-man in the French society-

 First, 1790, as discussed above, the law that abolished lettres de cachet, which had previously made it possible for anyone to be institutionalized for madness without further ado.  The madman became a patient after 1790 became a patient

Second, 1805 the revolutionary year when the desertation of. Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol’s dissertation, made a powerful formulation and gave birth to the idea that any man can become mad and every madman is to be treated as a man who is curable.

And, finally, the Act of 1838, called the “Act of the Deranged,” was a stage in the reinforcement of the logic of confinement, to the detriment of the power of the talking cure.  It reveals the anxiety society felt and, as Albert Londres would later write, its desire to be rid of those who are “stricken with a mental illness.” With this the equality took a beating and but still French madman would be more equal to non-madman than madman of other countries.

I will return to the notion of equality and inequality between madman and non-madman again and again in the series.

In Defence of Madness

Some readers have requested me not to use the offensive and insensitive words “madness” and “madman” in the narrative when the secular words “mental disorders and mental illness” can be used to convey the same meaning effectively

I respectfully beg to differ and continue with my conception of madness. .

My reason to continue to use the words mad and madness is both visceral and consequential. Visceral because societies across civilizations have termed mentally ill as mad. Consequential because even in the twenty first centure words officially used in varies statutes to describe mentally ill in India are lunacy, insanity, imbecile, idiot and mad. They can be found in thousands of statues and laws of India even in 21st century. Such an existential reality forces me to use the words “mad” and “madness” liberally with impunity

Revered in Death

Lucien Bonnafé (Figeac, October 15, 1912–March 14, 2003) was an anti-alienist psychiatrist who, in conjunction with others, developed and implemented community psychiatry in France, he once said famously, “A society is to be judged by the way in which it treats its mad people.” This Volume-4 presents to readers true real life story of an “Indian Beautiful Mind”, a mathematics wizard par excellence, who was shunned and forgotten in life and sadly was revered in death.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is the largely untold story of Dr. Vashishtha Narayan Singh, on whose death Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted (Now-X):

“गणितज्ञ डॉ. वशिष्ठ नारायण सिंह जी के निधन के समाचार से अत्यंत दुख हुआ। उनके जाने से देश ने ज्ञान-विज्ञान के क्षेत्र में अपनी एक विलक्षण प्रतिभा को खो दिया है। विनम्र श्रद्धांजलि!

(Saddened by the news of the death of mathematician Vashishtha Narayan Singh. In his death, the country has lost one of its rare talents in the field on science).

Also condoling the death, the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind said-

“Sad to hear the passing of Dr. Vashishtha Narayan Singh, a mathematics genius and scholar of great repute”

Also  posthumously the President of India conferred Dr. Vashishtha India’s fourth highest civilian award “Padma Shri” .

Caveat

Who is this mathematical genius and why he matters to my story of madness in civilizations. Well i tell this tale, precisely for the reason that this story provides a peek into how ineptly India that is Bharat deals with its mad men whether genius or idiot even in the 21st century. And i begin with a caveat. I did not know Dr. Vashishtha Narayan Singh personally. But i knew many who knew him intimately. Some of them were from his village, a couple of them whom i knew taught him in school, half a dozen who taught him in college, few were his juniors, batchmates and seniors in school or colleg. Part of the story which follows in paragraphs below was reported in 2019 in News papers when he died.

The Beginning

I first did a small case study on how India treats its mad in August 2010, in the “Canvas Askew Program” in the Gulmohar Hall of India Habitat Centre Delhi. Dr. Vashishta was one of the three Indian cases i talked about, other than my own life lived with incurable madness- Manic Depressive Insanity.

I take the opportunity to tell readers, the  the story of the stellar rise and tragic fall of Vashishtha Narayan Singh, the mathematics wizard, whose exploits in more than one way dared me to dream and fuel  hunger in me in my adolescence to become a mathematical scientist.

But who was this genius? How and where did he turn mad? why he could not be made sane again? Where was he treated and what type of treatment he got or did not get

Sixteen years elder to me, Vashishtha Babu was born on April 2, 1942, in a poor family as son of the police constable Lal Bahadur Singh and Lahaso Devi at the village Basantpur, Arrah in then Shahabad district of Bihar. The distance between Basantpur where Vashistha Babu was born, and Babubazar where I was born is less than ten kilometer.

A Wonderkid

Even in my childhood i grew with the stories weaved around Vashishtha Babu who indubitably wa a wonderkid, a born genius with rare mathematical DNA. For a kid from a poor family from nondescript hamlet Basantpur of less than 1000 population, reaching Netarhat Vidyalaya, the best public school in Gurukul tradition in then combined state of Bihar and Jharkhand was nothing sort of miracle. But his passing out the matriculation examination, standing first in the state was ;legend of the sort, people read in books and watched in movies.Those who knew him school vouch even during the sports period he was glued solving difficult mathematical problems.

Professors Disrupted

Vashishta Narayan Singh, Vashishta to his friends and Vashishtha Babu to me, shot to the academic excellence once he reached famed Patna Science College, for higher education after passing the matriculation exam with first class first position in the state. But his troubles began sooner in the college when he started antagonizing the mathematics professors with his difficult unsolvable math questions, which teachers failed to answer. Enraged teachers complained daily to the college principal on his supposedly irrelevant questions which as per them was asked with the sole motive to disturb the rhythm of the class.

One day, enraged, Dr. Nagesh Subbarao Nagendra Nath the Principal  of Patna Science College, rattled with the teachers’ complaints, summoned Vashishtha to his room and presented him with difficult math questions. Though questions were way beyond his level, Vashishtha sitting before the principal, solved all of them in more than one way.

This was a wakeup call for Nagendra Nath , himself a mathematician par-excellence- Nagendra Nath was an alumnus of Indian School of Science, Bangalore and Cambridge University (where he secured PhD as first Indian 1851 Exhibition Scholar) and was globally acclaimed for papers published independently and with Nobel Laurates C. V. Raman & Max Born (1954, Nobel Prize Winner in Physics) and with famous mathematicians Hans Muller and F Levi.

Making of A Genius

Folklore says impressed Nagendra Nath, prevailed upon  the university chancellor, ( the state Governor) to tweak the university rules to allow Vashishtha write B. Sc. Math (Honors) final exam in his college first year and M. Sc. (Math) final exam in college second year. He secured first position in the university with distinction in both the examinations.

A Mathematics Wizard Arrives

It is said, in 1960s in a mathematics conference at Bihar College of Engineering -now National Institute of Technology, Patna- John L Kelly,  Mathematics Professor  from University of California, Berkeley, challenged students to solve five difficult mathematics problems. Vashishtha solved, each of the problems in ways more than one and impressed Kelly (Kelly is famous for his 1955 classic textbook General Topology and one who provided new approach to the set-theory, now called More-Kelly Set Theory), took Vashishtha to Berkeley from where he completed PhD in 1969, where his doctoral thesis was-“Reproducing Kernels and Operators with a Cyclic Vector”.

Crack in the Three Pound Jelly

Though not much information is available about his post doctoral professional life in USA, but reports suggest post his PhD Vashishtha probably worked in NASA and as Assistant Professor in  Washington  University. But   his “Beautiful Mind” started showing cracks in USA for which, he started taking medication about which the family came to know only when it was detected post marriage by his wife Vandana Rani Singh.

He returned to India in early 1970s (there are conflicting reports about the year of return- 1971, 1972 and 1974) and worked at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bombay and Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Calcutta.

Mind Disrupted- End of the Road

This was the end of the road for Dr. Vashishtha Narayan Singh.

His mental faculties rapidly spiraled down and soon he was declared a madman. Descent from the mathematical wizard that he was to incoherent madman was swift, fast and furious. As it transpires the main environmental trigger was his painful divorslce. I better put a personal note here. There are similarities and differences between my life and that of Vashishta Babu. Both studied and topped in Mathematics Honours in Patna Science College. But similarities end there. The biggest difference is when my mind cracked viciously, and I turned mad, my wife made it mission of her life to bring me back to sanity from the deep cavern of madness. Between me and my survival and revival has been a dedicated spouse, Vashishta babu was plain unlucky in marriage.

A Beautiful Mind Lost to the World

After painful divorce Vashishta Babu was institutionalized at Ranchi mental asylum (Central Institute of Psychiatry), for eleven years (1976-1987) with the diagnosis of Schizophrenia, the same illness with which John Nash the Noel Prize winner for his Games Theory suffered. In the extremity of his madness Nash had his wife Alicia (both before and after divorce and then remarriage) by his side to keep his mind closer to reality and sanity. she was with him even in death as both died in a road accident while returning after an award conferred on Nash in Sweden.

Vashista Babu was plain unlucky in two major ways- the marriage and the type of treatment he would have received in asylums in India. I say so with full responsibility having spent sufficient time inside Indian asylums and trying to reform at least one of them as part of flagship Udaan program of Tata Trust. I say so with some knoledge and authority that Vashista Babu was done in by three Indian asylums where was institutionalised by turn

Goes Missing

After getting the leave of absence from Ranchi asylum in 1987 to attend the last rites of his father, Vashishtha refused to return to the asylum and stayed with brother Ayodhya, then working in army at Pune. In 1989 in a train journey to Ranchi for treatment, Vashista went missing for four years. Eventually in 1993 he was found out in Saran district’s Doriganj village ( native place of his divorced wife), in a rag-tag conditions.

Life of A Lunatic

Since 1993, this once “mathematical wizard of India” of the repute next only to Srinivas Ramanujan, lived  dejected lunatic life in solitary confinement-( in the company of ten boxes of mathematics books and papers he had brought from USA- in and out of mental hospitals (later he was admitted in IHBAS Delhi for a while), in his village Basantpur or with his brother Ayodhya at places where he was posted or at Patna after the retirement of his brother from the army, but he was saddled with a mindless mind gripped with hallucinations, delusions and paranoia. His was an impossible life lived at ultra low existence with the support of extended family and generous help from alumni of his alma mater- Netarhat Old Boys Association (NOBA).

False Promises

There were promises galore from government of support and treatment- all empty and hallow and this 77-year-old genius, born with a mathematical brain endowed on few was left with his deteriorating mental faculties permanently wandering in domains where normal human could not reach.

Best of doctors failed to fathom his incoherent thinking and bizarre behavior.

Death Comes Calling

When he died unsung on 14^th November 2019 on way to Patna Medical College Hospital, squabbling hospital doctors deliberating the need of the postmortem made his mortal remains to be in open inside hospital compound for hours for want of ambulance. Vashistha Babu died unsung as a madman, done in by a callous society, inhospitable asylums and an insensitive political system.

Glory in Death

On death of Vashishtha Babu (as he was popularly known), the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, tweeted

‘Saddened by the news of the death of mathematician Vashishtha Narayan Singh. In his death, the country has lost one of its rare talents in the field of science.

Political leaders  lined up to give floral tribute and shed crocodile tears. Vashishtha Babu was cremated with state honors after  decades of life lived as a lunatic and madman, deprived of proper care and treatment. Posthumously, he was also conferred with prestigious ‘Padma Shri’ award by the President of India

This “Beautiful Mind of India” could have contributed his might to the world of mathematics, but he died unsung. I know many sufferers of incurable Schizophrenia today who  manage  life and even are able to contribute professionally with proper medication and love and care of family.

Postscript

Vashishtha Babu was a mathematician par excellence who was lost to the world of mathematics and country in his prime. Unhinged lunacy did him in.  I find few parallel between his and my life. Both were native of Arrah. Both were among the five siblings in impoverished families. Both found position at the top end of the matriculation exam-he got top rank and I tenth rank in the state merit list. Both secured university first position in Math (Honors) from Patna Science College. Both dreamt to be mathematicians of repute. He turned one. He was my inspiration . I failed to cut the mark.

Then destiny struck.  Both got accursed with incurable mental illnesses ala Madness- i with incurable Manic Depressive Insanity and he with Scizophrenia.

Lucky-Unlucky

I turned lucky and he turned unlucky in lunacy and madness. Within years of marriage, he suffered the added trauma of divorce. He was also unlucky to be institutionalized in asylums on a trot for more than eleven years. I was lucky on both counts- my wife Shamila alias Linky for last 36 years, has been the antidote to my lunacy and it was due to her primarily that I never landed in asylum though there were compelling circumstances to be institutionalized on many occasions.

Vashishtha Babu died unsung in harness after suffering from Schizophrenia for more than four decades. I continue to contribute in small and big way in my chosen profession. I have also been frequent visitor to mental asylums in the country and have also worked to improve them  one of them extensively- I know, eleven years in an asylum in India like what happened to Vashishtha Babu is definitive road to hell.

My Motivator in Chief

When I was growing at Arrah, I grew up listening to stories of , this mathematical brain par-excellence. I heard them in my school and in Mohallah. The news of his incurable mental illness was  not public yet when I secured tenth position in the matriculation merit list in the state, and I entered the famed Patna Science College  with dreamy eyes to emulate Dr. Vashishtha Narayan Singh and become a mathematician of repute.  

When I entered precincts of Science college the story of mathematical genius was written in class rooms even its walls and on the leaves of two Eucalyptus trees on the college gate. But by then the mind of this Indian beautiful mind was already failing.

My hunger to be a mathematician was fueled further when within months of joining the college hearing stories of Vashishta Babu in Faraday House and post , my read the famous mathematician E.T Bell book – “Men of Mathematics” published first in 1937.

Two years later in 1976, I too joined B. Sc. (Math Honors) I did not have enough marks to join physics honours which best and brightest opted for. I took to mathematics in Patna Science College and secured university first position with distinction in all subjects. Also, in 1981, I secured M.Sc. (Math) degree despite absent in three of the eight papers.

But my dream to be a mathematician was not to be. It died young. But mercifully unlike the travesty of Vashishtha Babu I am still alive and contrubuting to the society in my own small way. Alas! had i been institutionalised in a Bihar assylum my life too might have ended like Vashistha Babu.

It is time to change the way Indian society treats its madman and madwoman. Amen !