Lateral realities fascinate writers, for being the crossroads between sci-fi and destiny. To run with such a story well, the writer is compelled to keep all attention riveted on detail as the complexity of trans-time romance and its parallels can trip up the most well-meaning literary athlete.
But not Ponchie Kanwar in Glass Samsara, the story of two woman who are/were one—the Vani of today who is in love with Dr Vidur and bears his child and Aanya, a 16th century Rajasthan princess who is in love with Aditya, the son of a Brahmin priest. “Time present, and time past, footfalls echoing softly alongside each other…could one distinguish between the roots and branches of the banyan tree?” writes Kanwar. The stories as they exist in different theaters meld into one truth. Depending on which side of the looking glass you are do you get the sense of the age.
One is placid and civilized—a compassionate doctor, his self sacrificing mistress and the understanding wife who form a tortured trinity caught in the tangles of social and psychological contradictions. In the other, the savagery of medieval India reaches the reader through six centuries laden with honour, passion, greed and dark magic.
The lusty Aditya, the handsome prince Shivinder, the vengeful Balaki and the circle that closes when Aanya lets go in the end is a tale that reincarnates and rediscovers itself in redemption. Kanwar’s style, though she is weaving quite an intricate shawl of a tale is lucid, and embroidered with intense pastiches that stand out like sigils of a creative imagination. In the end, that’s what a good book is about: romance, mystery and a dashing good yarn well told.