Film director and scriptwriter Tanuja Chandra has taken all the folklore she acquired from her mausis, buas and chachas and presented them in a delightful book. Bijnis Woman has intriguing stories, woven mostly around women of Uttar Pradesh, many of them so bizarre and exaggerated in their narration that one might have a hard time believing them. But that is the nature of tales passed on through generations of families, often peppered with dramatic add-ons in each retelling. From a religious Tiklibaaz bhaiya who visits the under-lit streets of women dancers only to have an accidental rendezvous, to Gomti Upadhyay, the most beautiful woman in her village with a mysterious headache, the book paints some unforgettable characters. It makes you recount all the unbelievable stories you heard as a kid on otherwise dull Sunday mornings spent at home.
