Nepal, July 20 -- Pun Dai lazily rubbed his eyes, yawned, moved towards the window, and looked at his wristwatch-his eyes blurry with tears from his routine afternoon nap. Although he knew the wristwatch had stopped working long ago, he couldn't help but glance at it every time he needed to figure out the time. Smiling to himself-like he always did-he switched on the light and tilted his head to look up at the clock above the window.

His dark room lit up now. The otherwise neatly kept room was cluttered with dishes on which he had eaten his meal before he slept. In an hour, when the clock struck 4, he would step out of his home, walk through the neighbourhood for some 15 minutes, and grace the lush ground of Basundhara Park.

As Pun Dai ...