Aren’t we habitual of reading not-inspiring books recently? Well, in my case, you can see that I read a lot of books in a month. Many of them are from casual fiction genres and some of them are also serious non-fiction titles. However, I have forgotten when did I last claim a book is serious fiction – do you remember? I don’t get to say that for many books these days because contemporary authors have made fiction-writing rather casual, temporary and even momentary. Well, there is a league of authors who take things much more seriously. But, to be frank, among the younger ones, we have very few of them who can pull off something which might be termed inspiring, wonderful and memorable beyond the hours you take to read the book. And when something like that happens, a reader can anticipate the level of enthusiasm… The Realm Beyond The Mind deserves applause – this is a novel that can be termed as a motivational fiction book, an inspiring novel or even a serious work of modern fiction that will ask questions, offer thoughts to discuss and inspire the readers to look beyond the storyline it offers – a task that only a few novels and novelists can do today!

The storyline:
Well, let’s begin with the storyline which certainly caters to the demand of the modern readers – exciting, intriguing, thrilling and convincing. The readers will feel to be reading something that pulls it off only on the merits of the storyline even if we discount all other elements which take the novel beyond its story. It is about a wonderful, beautiful and sharp girl who comes from a different realm, The Crystal World, to the earth seeking to unite with her grandmother and take her back home. She is named Meru by Master Tao (because he knows too many things that the characters or the readers can’t imagine). Master Tao lives on the mountains, amidst snows and storms, and guides those who seek with a pure heart. Other characters you will frequently see talking or doing things are Vaid Moti Lal, his grandson Darsh, a seeker (you can find his profession out by reading the book) Krishnamurthy and a modern-day successful owner of a pharmaceutical company Dr Wick. The storyline has a very clear struggle – the ancient vs the modern, the greedy vs the content, the authentic vs the temporal… or, good vs evil (as T S Eliot said) in short.

The Realm Beyond The Mind:
The world that you meet in this novel by Meeta J Gupta is a different world where you can see the characters evolving from below to certain heights. Their evolution is evident, inspiring and maybe contagious – serious readers will certainly question their thoughts and would like to explore more, within their thoughts… as the author suggests. The imagination of the novelist has been translated into beautiful and convincing descriptions of the Petal which harbours various realms that human beings cannot perceive, the places which have been described as The Tribal Land, various islands within our minds like the island of enlightenment, the island of freedom and so on… readers will have many things new that they can read, discover and discuss. The novel truly goes beyond the general thoughts or expectations of the readers if they care to explore and extrapolate. The author has talked about enlightenment, nothingness, dying every day with our burdens of thoughts and worries… if you see, carefully (and later explained by the novelist as well), you will see patterns that are made by the characters, their actions and the progress of the storyline.

The Verdict:
In short, this is a must-read novel for all those readers who want to read something that is inspiring, even challenging, and truly worthy of being read and appreciated. In my recent or even prolonged experience, there are very few modern novels by Indian authors that I have praised to this level and this one truly deserves it. Right from the beginning, abrupt introduction of Meru on the scene to the development of characters and the story, Meeta has managed to do everything in a way that readers will clearly witness an interesting novel unfold unto them and a serious message being communicated at the same time. Meeta writes with purpose, it seems… she has not only ended by delivering poetic justice to her characters but also with so many questions that authors need to answer – what is real?

You can get a copy of this novel from Amazon India by clicking the link below:

Buy the novel now – Amazon India – click here

By Manish for Egoistic Readers