Cloud Messenger
Love and Loss in the Indian Himalayas
by Karen Trollope-Kumar

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As a Canadian medical student, Karen Trollope-Kumar went to India to study social and preventive medicine and met a young pediatrician named Pradeep. His dream of working in the Himalayan foothills captured her imagination, and the man captured her heart. They married in a Hindu wedding ceremony and pledged to share a life of service and spiritual growth. In this poignant, heartwarming, and gently humorous memoir, Karen recounts an eleven-year chapter of their unusual lives. She and Pradeep worked as medical doctors in the Himalayas, first in a rural hospital and later in remote mountain villages. When disaster struck — an assassination, an earthquake, a political crisis — their ideals, their safety, and their relationship are put at risk. The Cloud Messenger is a story of adventure and idealism, culture and medicine, faith and love, and it raises enduring questions: How can we cross religious and cultural boundaries? What happens to our dreams in the face of danger and disillusionment? And when dreams diverge, when one spouse can no longer continue on a certain path, what path do we choose?

www.karentrollopekumar.com

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This is a wise book, with profound thoughts about culture, spirituality, values, and family life. There is subtle, gentle humour, and lyrical descriptions of mountain scenery. There is so much to enjoy as well as so much to learn, so much to make you think, that this is a book to own and to reread. John M Last, OC, MD Emeritus Professor, University of Ottawa Dr. Karen Trollope-Kumar is a superb stylist, with rich imagery, delightful humour, and scintillating dialogue throughout this treasure of a book. Robert Nielsen, President, Potlatch Publications

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Karen Trollope-Kumar studied medicine at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. In her fourth year of medical studies she met her future husband, Pradeep, on a student visit to Lucknow. After graduation, she worked as a family physician in Thunder Bay before moving to India to marry the man she loved. They have two adult children, Sonia and Raman, who spent their early childhood in India. After returning to Canada in 1996, Karen completed a PhD in medical anthropology, the study of health in its social and environmental context. She worked as a family physician in Hamilton and also became actively involved in medical education at McMaster University. She currently works as a family physician at the Grand River Community Health Centre in Brantford, Ontario. She and Pradeep spend part of every year in Dehradun, India, where they lived and worked early in their married life.

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Contributors

Author

Karen Trollope-Kumar

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