Srinagar, April 21 -- It is 1879 and, in the highly cultured and sophisticated city of Lucknow, an inquisitive and rather eager young man by the name of Azad - enigmatic but appropriate - is sauntering through the streets and localities taking note of how the rituals of Muharram are practised. As he records his sharp and humorous observations, he opens the door to a new mode of publication and gives shape to a new form of writing. The satirical vignettes penned by the character Azad's creator RatanNathSarshar, appearing in the newly founded newspaper Oudh [Awadh] Akhbar, developed into the picaresque Fasana-i-Azad [The Tale of Azad]. Published alongside the news and evolving its own technique, the novel "subjected its own positions to debat...