Kathmandu, Sept. 14 -- When I was in high school, I went out for a walk one day and saw one of the students sitting by the water. We were not friends, but I knew her because we had a class together. At first, I wanted to sit with her, but I felt it would infringe on her privacy.

She waved when she saw me, so I walked over. She had always been nice to me but we had never really had a chance to talk before. Many boys had a crush on her. She was smart and beautiful, and she always made it so easy to talk to her, so I understood why everyone was drawn to her.

We were from different countries and had different sets of friends, so we never really hung out. It was one of the first times we had a conversation.

"I love the water, but I also hat...