By  M.V. Ravi Shanker.  Grade: A+

Dimensions! Astral Realms! A pleasant surprise from the recent bout of love and romance novels that I had been reviewing.  Finally, I was getting to read a new novelist willing to delve into the realms of the beyond. Wouldn’t it be interesting to read a thriller which probed into matters we humans still hesitated to discuss? But, then, reading a 529 page book wasn’t going to be an easy task.

The main characters of this interesting novel are Mukund Matondkar – an IT professional, Vani Vaidyanathan – a physicist and researcher in spatial dimensions and Arunav Khandelwal – a psychic and wealthy hotelier.

What make the book stand apart are the author’s efforts in merging fiction, fact and imagination. The resulting effect is a novel that makes one undergo myriad emotions.  The practical kind of person would for example, be put off with the dimension bit or simply get his thoughts into a frenzied swirl! Just in case you are the kind of person open to newer possibilites and permit your mind to accept even the unacceptable then, understanding Collision of Dimensions becomes a smooth ride. 

“Do the beings of the earth always have to go in their ridiculously slow evolutionary way to discover things beyong their senses? They are so inexorably bound in their own miasma of their beliefs that it seems almost impossible they ever see beyond their dimension.”

Vani, the researcher, is the logical one in the plot of clashing dimensions and beliefs. She is sure of what she wants but then, her research beckons her into unimaginable wavelengths and experiences. The author has described her conflict well, although the intertwining of disbelief and love does sometimes diminish logic and emotion.

Mukund, on the other hand, is more open to new horizons, unheard of avenues and realms, this, despite his field of functioning which is computer and technology.

The psychic Arunav is who completes the group set out to help the mystical power to do its job and keep it out of the hands of evil forces belonging to both the human and other world.

For those who believe that miracles are the support system of the cowardly, then this book is bound to disappoint because…

“How does a mind react to a miracle? How does it react when it confronts something enormous, not in terms of size but something that goes beyond the scope of the normal senses? That incessant running of the brain mechanism pauses and looks at what had occurred.”

For us ordinary human beings whose lives revolve around satiating our basic needs, surviving and succeeding in this world, dimensions of another kind, openings in the other world seem impossible, even scary! So many times, the characters in the novel fall short of grasping the true nature of the mystical power only because they believe only what they see, and believe only what their minds can understand. The highly advanced human beings are able to grasp what is going around them albeit after an internal battle between logic, emotion and belief.

The author, Ravi Shanker has brilliantly has made use of his interests in astronomy, astral realms and OBE (out of body experiences) to produce a book worthy of reading. Having said this, I need to also mention the fact readers disinterested in matters of the other world/dimensions need to keep away from this book. Only then, can full justice be done to the author and to Collision of Dimensions.

A great read!