Synopsis: The setting of the book The Fifth Dimension spans from the 1950s to the early 1980s. Major events of that period, as well as some glimpses of preindependent India, constitute the backdrop of the narrative.
The protagonist, Meera, emigrates from India to Canada as a newlywed bride. Unfortunately, within months, she is faced with the tragic death of her husband, Mohit.
Her dear friend, Jane, commits suicide soon after. To fulfill her last wishes, Meera adopts her illegitimate son, Rishi, an act that places her in constant conflict with Jane's rich but supercilious and ruthless mother, Helena, Rishi's Granny. Granny's convoluted and immoral web of deceit ensnares Meera and has the greatest impact on the direction of her life.
The protagonist is a highly moral individual. However, her righteousness, compassion, and proclivity for forgiveness do not serve her but destroy her. She struggles but refuses to abandon her essence in the face of the labyrinthine complexities of the world around her. Self-awareness of her own moral stance provides the underpinning of her sinew.
During Meera's sojourn in Canada, Mohit's wonderful friends provide support for her after his death. They are all first-generation immigrants. The immigrant experience, their ambitions and dreams, struggles and frustrations, nostalgia, and longing are portrayed through their lives.
An East Indian widow with a white child, Meera is ostracised in Canada as well as India. Due to her commitment and love for her son, she rejects marriage proposals twice.
Rishi grows into a complex and conflicted adolescent partly due to the blatant racism he experiences at school and partly because of Granny's persistent indoctrination against his mother. Rishi succumbs to Granny's manipulation, finally, and leaves Meera.
Heartbroken, she leaves for India. Much to Meera's chagrin, the mythical and enchanting India of her childhood has been transformed into a morally corrupt nation where rampant greed and vengeance have destroyed the fabric of society.
Constantly striving to maintain some semblance of beauty, truth, and meaning in her turbulent life, Meera's story is about sacrifice, struggle and survival, decrepitude and triumph, pain, and transcendence by the Spirit, The Fifth Dimension.
Later, a turn of events affirms Meera's belief that ultimately Truth does win.
Discussions on the complex existential and metaphysical aspects of the larger Reality of Existence are dispersed in the narrative of the book.
