On the day of his departure to England, Ramanujan had an official
send-off organized by Srinivasa Iyengar, when Advocate General
of the Madras High Court, Sir Francis Spring, Prof. Middlemast,
the proprietor of the ‘Hindu’ newspaper, Kasturiranga
Iyengar and Narayana Iyer, along with prominent citizens of the
city bade Ramanujan “Bon Voyage”. Mr. N. Subbanarayanan
s/o Mr. Narayana Iyer recorded that: “My father made a strange
request to him. As a momento my father wanted to exchange his
slate with Ramanujan’s slate, which was granted. Perhaps
my father thought he may get an inspiration from the slate during
his [Ramanujan’s] absence.”
