The Second Strike

Sitting on the floor at the local municipal school and memorising multiplication tables, Anil Anand had no idea how this system of learning would stand by him during his engineering studies at the prestigious Banaras Hindu University—right till he built, from scratch, the ‘Nuclear Propulsion Programme’ for India’s future nuclear submarine fleet at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, starting with the Arihant.


Anand met Dr Saiyud Sribyatta, his Ma Dame, a doctor from Thailand, when pursuing a scholarship in France, couple of years after joining the Atomic Energy Commission—they fell immensely in love with each other, in spite of Dr Sribyatta being significantly older to him. They battled the odds, and were married soon in India, with Ma Dame settling down in Bombay, sacrificing her medical career. She became a pillar of strength to him through the various ups and downs of life, as Anil Anand embarked on the greatest assignment of his life—enabling India’s ‘Second Strike’ capability!