'The seventh monsoon was the hardest of them all. I sat on the backporch of our Himalayan home and stared as the rain streamed downall around me. I had never felt so hemmed in - by the constant rain,by the effects of the civil war and by the demands of home-school.As I sat there and listened to the pounding on our tin roof, I wonderedwhether I would make it through. I wondered whether I would copewith another 120 days of rain. And in doing so, I began to long foranother season . . .'
