Sita wipes the tears from her eyes and says, ‘Dilu! Where were you lost for so many years? I have been waiting for you.’

Winter arrived in no time. The trees, once green and charming, turned yellow, brown and eventually red, and fell off the branches onto the ground. A cold, violent wind blew the leaves across the other side of the road, and it started to snow.

In the summer of 2010, I walked into the Pulchowk Campus for the first time. The institution—to me—was a love at first sight. Like most of the students who stood in the long line of entrance exam attendants that year, I desperately wanted to study here—an acclaimed engineering college.

I have only few days in my hands before I become a completely new person, leading a completely new life. In no time I’ll get married and become somebody’s wife, and somebody’s daughter-in-law.