Synopsis Ashokamitran published the collection of stories called Appavin Snehidar ( My Father's friend) in 1991. It is his tenth anthology of fiction, and brings together a short novel, a novella and nine short stories, all of which were written between 1990 and 1991. Ashokamitran writes in a spare and understated style about the changing cityscape in India today, and about the lives of ordinary men and women caught up in the tragic circumstances of every day life. All the stories are shot through with a comic vision that marks Ashokamitran's work and gives it its compassion.