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In children's literature and fantasies like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the time portal is a fairly common and rather intriguing device which the author uses to transport a character from one world to another or even to a different age. Sometimes, though not so usually, the portal is used to travel from one place to another like a kind of superfast Concord.

C. S. Lewis uses a wardrobe in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to take Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie from England to the magical world of Narnia, which has its own rules and its own time and history. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J K Rowling uses the magic goblet as a portal that carries Harry Potter from a maze to a cemetery.

Of course there is that familiar rabbit hole in Alice In Wonderland, which most people forget, since perhaps that was written too long ago to be remembered.

In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s book, The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming, there are two magic things of power, the conch and the mirror, which reflects a parallel world and grows when blood is smeared on it. Both these act as portals.

This is the second of Divakaruni’s three books in the Brotherhood Trilogy. A follow up to The Conch Bearers, The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming has a vast canvas, moving from the unspoilt mountain splendour of the Himalayas to a dusty impoverished village in Bengal where the men are mysteriously disappearing. And from there to an ancient kingdom reminiscent of Siraj ud Daulah’s Murshidabad, where an evil sorcerer aided by a genie from hell are planning the downfall of the royal family.

The hero is Anand, who has been inducted into the mysterious group of gurus and their disciples known as the Brotherhood after his exploits with the magic Conch in the first book. He is appointed the Keeper of the Conch and while he has magic of his own, he finds himself unable to use it because he doesn’t quite know how. His friend Nisha and his mentor Abhaydatta, who were his companions before, are here too. In the middle of a magic class, Anand receives a mysterious message from a black wind. Abhaydatta sets out to explore the meaning of the message and vanishes. Anand, who thinks he is responsible for the disappearance, goes in search of him, taken to a parallel world by the conch. That is where the adventures begin in earnest.

The Mirror is a blend of fantasy, mysticism and adventure. Fans of Tolkien may recognise references in the worlds and the portals that Divakaruni creates, while others might pick up bits of Rowling. Anand in his combination of helplessness and power is certainly reminiscent of Harry Potter, magic classes and all. And there is Nisha as a kind of Hermione, all fire and spirit and ready to help him, even though she has lost her memory. Other influences certainly come from the world of Bengali and Persian folk tales – an elephant recognises Anand’s magic aura and plucks him out of the path of danger, the magic string of pearls is supposed to darken if anything happens to the one to whom they originally belong.

There are also all the characters we have come to expect from a jatra style fairy tale folk lore – the wilful princess, the weak prince, the strong Nawab and the wicked magician aided and abetted by a djinn well versed in the dark arts.

Reality comes in the shape of the poor villagers forced to slave in the dark mines from which they never return, a factor that is very part of the Bengal of today. Everyone, says Divakaruni, cannot be equally rich, but happiness can be part of a simple life as well. Anand is as lost in that world as he is lost from his own – even though he is no prince.

In between the sword fights, the magic and all the action, is a lesson to be learned about friendship, and the power of spirit to prevail even in the face of almost overwhelming odds. Evil will always be defeated by honesty, goodness and teamwork, with a dash of good magic thrown in.

If The Conch Bearers had been available, one could have put The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming into a better context, since references to the first book are inevitable. However the story is complete in itself - so all the reader really has to do is make a resolution to look for the first book and read it.

Note: Harper Collins India brought out Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's first novel, Curses In Ivory. Her second novel Black Tongue was published recently by IndiaInk.

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