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 .

Translated by: Balwant Bhaneja