The Madness of Waiting: A Translation of Junun-E-Intezar Yani Fasana-E-Mirza Ruswa

Mirza Muhammad Hadi Ruswa was one of the finest Urdu prose writers of all times. He was a mathematician, an astronomer as well as a theologian. Ruswa was the head of the literary department of the All India Shia Conference and has written 20 volumes on the Shia religion. His book, Umrao Jan Ada was an immediate and thunderous success, with several editions of the book having sold out and was highly applauded by critics. Besides Umrao Jan, Akhtari Begum is another one of his highly acclaimed book. The author, Mirza Muhammad Hadi Rusva, was born in Lucknow around the time of the 1857 Indian Mutiny, which was a significant turning point not only in the life of the Princely States like Avadh (Oudh), but in the history of the country as a whole.