Nepal, April 26 -- At first, he thought he would go mad. Then he took to cleaning.

He woke up and stayed in bed. There was no need to hurry. Through the gap in the curtains, he saw a strip of blackness. Slowly, the sun started to climb, rubbing the black night into a blurry blue dawn, and a little later, the houses stood stark with red in their brick walls, blue on their flat truss roofs, and green in their overgrown gardens.

He yawned, rubbed his eyes, and got up. He went to the sink, washed his face, and brushed his teeth. Good, the water was still running. He again wondered, as he had many times before each morning, how-or who was operating the pumps? Then he shrugged and let the question stroll back into oblivion.

He prepared himse...