India, March 26 -- The Story Keepers by April Fonti

This extract from a book that brings alive the stories of people in Zanskar looks at the region's first allopathic nurse, Dolma Lhamo, who often endured extreme conditions to help women in need

One winter in the late 1960s, when ghosts and malignant spirits were blamed for premature deaths, a woman from Zanskar's remote Lungnak Valley struggled to deliver her first child. Enduring labour without painkillers in a cold, dark room, she managed to deliver a healthy baby boy. As the newborn lay naked on the cold earthen floor, the mother began to bleed heavily. An amchi listened to her pulse and dispensed herbal treatments. An astrologer threw dice to determine her fate. Her condition conti...