A Novel with Humour and Satire – Mahi: The Elephant Who Flew Over the Blue Mountains by Anand Neelakantan

Talking about Mahi: The Elephant Who Flew over the Blue Mountains author Anand Neelakantan says, ‘It was always my dream to write a children’s book that could be read differently by children and adults and yet will be entertaining to both. Mahi is a children’s book about achieving one’s dream. It is also a book for adults on how tyranny and autocracy creeps into a democracy.’

Tina Narang, HarperCollins Children’s Books – Publisher adds, ‘Can a book make you fly? If it’s a story about an elephant that wants to fly, it certainly will! Through this exciting book, Anand Neelakantan takes you deep into the forest to meet Mahi, a baby elephant with an important mission and an impossible dream. It is a story that will engage all age groups: For children, this is a book with a thrilling adventure, full of humour and drama, and for adults there are layers waiting to be discovered. We are delighted to publish Anand’s latest children’s book at HarperCollins.’

About the book:

Mahi started running towards the cliff… The wind whistled in his ears as he gathered speed … He could even hear Gherundo and Duranto laughing. Were they screaming ‘fly, fly, fly’—or was it ‘die, die, die’?

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.

About the author:

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.