Kathmandu, July 22 -- Every evening, Kamal Nath Dahal waits for the same thing.

It is not a visitor at his door. It is not the sound of footsteps in his hallway.

It is the glow of a mobile phone screen.

When his sons, daughters-in-law and three-year-old granddaughter appear on the screen from Japan, the quiet room where he lives alone in Kathmandu suddenly feels less empty.

For a few minutes, the distance between Nepal and Japan disappears.

Dahal asks about their day. He watches his granddaughter's expressions. He listens to his sons' voices.

Then the call ends, and the silence returns.

The 68-year-old from Melamchi, Sindhupalchok, has built a routine around that silence. Each morning, he performs his prayers, prepares his meals, r...