Anand Neelakantan is an Indian author, columnist, screenwriter, television personality, cartoonist and motivational speaker. He is known for writing mythological fiction and has authored eleven books in English and one in Malayalam. His debut work Asura: Tale of the Vanquished (2012) was based on the Indian epic Ramayana, told from the perspective of Ravana—the first book in his Ramayana series. It was followed by a series of books based on characters from Mahabharata and Baahubali. His books have been translated to Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Assamese, English and Indonesian. He lives in Mumbai with his wife Aparna, daughter Ananya, son Abhinav and pet dog, Jackie the Blackie.
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: 34px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: 0px 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent;">Mahi started running towards the cliff… The wind whistled in his ears as he gathered speed … </em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: 0px 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent;">He could even hear Gherundo and Duranto laughing. Were they screaming ‘fly, fly, fly’—or was it ‘die, die, die’?</em></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: 34px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent;">When Mahi, a young elephant, decides to fulfil his dream of flying over the blue mountains, little does he know that he’s setting in motion a chain of events that will endanger him, his mother and the whole of Anastan. He has only one goal—to find and rescue Varana, his father, former chief of the herd, who has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Trumpo, their vice president, is convinced that the wicked tigers of Pulistan have killed Varana. But can Mahi trust Trumpo? Who is his friend, and who is his foe? Allegorical and satirical, but also hilarious and delightful, this story will entertain both children and older readers as they join Mahi on his exciting journey and discover whether he does, one day, really soar over the blue mountains.</p>
