The above photograph was captured by the author, purely by chance, during his visit to the Indian Naval Academy (INA), Ezhimala, Kerala, in November 2014. Students from Sneha Nilaya Special School, Kochi, Kerala, had visited INA as part of Indian Navy's outreach programme. The author was at the entrance of INA and saw a young boy (a special child) saluting a naval official. The author clicked this picture on his mobile phone immediately. The boy, Sandeep, wanted to thank the Indian Navy for permitting them at INA. He was seated inside a bus but came back to salute the man in white, a naval policeman. The photo had gone viral on social media, with millions sharing it. Very rarely does journalism gift such inspiring moments. The picture had touched the entire naval establishment, including the Indian Navy Chief. It was pure coincidence, but the picture signified the author's passion of defence reporting while aptly capturing the spirit within this book's soul. Indeed, a salute to remember!
Dr Anantha Krishnan M is an award-winning aerospace and defence journalist. Born to teacher-parents in Kerala, he strayed into Journalism at the age of 19, after leaving an engineering course mid-way in Latur.
Anantha Krishnan, who holds a Doctorate in Journalism and Communication from the University of Mysore, began his career with Pan Media Features (Hyderabad) under the tutelage of veteran journalist K Sathyapal Menon in 1992. Since then, he had worked with the Citizen's Eveninger, Deccan Chronicle, The Times of India, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Aviation Week and The New Indian Express.
In 2005, at the age of 32, he was appointed the Official Spokesperson of HAL, becoming one of the youngest to hold such a post in a Ministry of Defence undertaking.
He was the brain behind former Indian President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam's dream e-paper Billion Beats and was appointed its National Affairs Editor in 2007, a post he still holds. He is also a Strategic Advisor to Dr A P J Abdul Kalam International Foundation headquartered in Rameswaram.
Currently, he is a Consulting Editor in the area of Aerospace and Defence with a few media houses. He also anchors India's top-rated defence blog Tarmak007. In October 2015, the author has been selected as a Post-Doctoral Fellow (PDF) by the University of Mysore.
The author is the founder-president of Inspired Indian Foundation, a writers' movement batting for unsung heroes.
Dr Anantha Krishnan M. is an award-winning aerospace and defence journalist. Born to teacher parents in Kerala, he strayed into journalism at the age of nineteen after leaving an engineering course midway in Latur, Maharashtra.
Anantha Krishnan, who holds a doctorate in journalism and communication from the University of Mysore, began his career with Pan Media Features (Hyderabad) under the tutelage of veteran journalist K. Sathyapal Menon in 1992. Since then, he had worked with the Citizen's Eveninger, Deccan Chronicle, The Times of India, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Aviation Week, and The New Indian Express.
In 2005, at the age of thirty-two, he was appointed the official spokesperson of HAL, becoming one of the youngest to hold such a post in a Ministry of Defence undertaking.
He is the brain behind former Indian President Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's dream e-paper Billion Beats and has been appointed its national affairs editor in 2007, a post he still holds. He is also a strategic adviser of the Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam International Foundation, headquartered in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu.
Currently, he is a consulting editor specialising in aerospace and defence, contributing for a few media houses. He also anchors India's top-rated defence blog Tarmak007.
The author is the Founder and President of Inspired Indian Foundation, a writers' movement batting for unsung heroes.
Donning the suit of a life coach and motivational speaker, Anantha Krishnan launched Mission Parivarthan, a unique branding, communication, and image makeover programme for individuals, institutes, and corporates, in 2015. Parivarthan aims at helping people rediscover their inner strength.
He is married to Sindhu A., a physicist, and the couple is blessed with a son, Govind Sai Krishnan.
Precious Souls is Anantha Krishnan's second book. His first book, A Different Spirit, published in 2009, is a bestseller biography—which is into its sixth edition—of noted paraplegic Olympic athlete Malathi K. Holla.
The author tweets at @writetake.
