A veteran cancer physician, Dr Fazlur Rahman’s story is astonishing. He was born and raised in a Mullah family, an old-line Muslim clan, in a remote village in what is now Bangladesh, with its hardships and heartaches, its myths and superstitions. The people, places and cultures that he was a part of have almost entirely disappeared. The temples, mosques and palaces, though gone, come alive again in this beautifully written memoir. And the tales of love, suffering and fate of the village occupants are intertwined with Rahman’s unlikely story of finding medicine and success in America. As a young boy, Rahman lost his mother, the heart of his family, and soon after, barely survived kala-azar, a parasitic illness.
The Temple Road: A Doctor’s Journey is an inspiring story of love, joy, suffering, medicine and achievement that takes readers from the jungles of Bangladesh to Dr Rahman’s training in leading medical centres in New York and Houston, and the overwhelming emotions that come with his work as one of the most talented oncologists in the US.