Nepal, Feb. 15 -- He walked along the shore, feeling the soft, hot sand slip between his toes and the breeze echoing softly in his ears. He looked at the sea and the bottles that crammed its waters. Hundreds and thousands of bottles of all shapes, sizes, and colours were strewn upon the waves. They gleamed like gems under the blaze of the sun.

The red bottles bled rubies, the blue ones brilliant sapphires, the green ones dark emeralds, and the ones with the clear glass mirrored sunny gold akin to the shining sand of the beach. In each of those bottles was a paper, a parchment containing a message, a message that never got to the recipient, nor was there ever a return to sender. All lost, all abandoned, all gathered, and all marooned on t...