The Cyclist and His Fifth Woman - Two Plays by Vijay Tendulkar (Paperback)

These two plays by the legendary Vijay Tendulkar, are a critique of Indian society and the reality surrounding the playwright. His "Fifth Woman" brings to play the injustices and inequalities suffered by women in the husband-wife relationship. Intended to be his last play, "The Cyclist" is different from Tendulkar's large body of work. It is a skillfully crafted uninterrupted single piece about adventure of life told through a cyclist's journey. As an experimental playwright, Tendulkar's every play, in its form and structure, is different from the previous one. This complex theme he takes head on, and tackles with a simple form and language - an episodic structure and naturalistic mot naif dialogue. Life's complexity can perhaps be best understood when told in simple terms. In this, Tendulkar joins other great journey writers: Homer ("The Odyssey"), Voltaire ("Candide"), Ibsen ("Peer Gynt"), and Becket ("Waiting for Godot"). Tendulkar has described his plays to be about reality surrounding him: "I write to let my concerns vis a vis my reality - the human conditions as I perceive it."