Synopsis Of the twenty short stories Fakir Mohan Senapati wrote, only eight are represented I this selection, but they bring out the essence of his craft and exemplify his acute sense of the oral tradition of tale-telling. The vivid portrayals of rural life in Orissa a hundred years ago, depicted with warmth and insight, offer glowing proof why Fakir Mohan Senapati, the father of modern Oriya fiction, is among the pioneers of modern Indian literature. Universal themes of human hope and aspiration, brutality and nastiness, heroism and nobility are dealt with humour and understanding in Senapati’s short fiction.