Nepal, Aug. 17 -- Earlier this year, I decided to move back to Nepal with the particular smugness of someone who thinks he no longer has to pay for exorbitant groceries. I'd left New York, where a dozen eggs had become more than a small financial event - screaming headlines in national publications about how eggs became a luxury or how to make an omelet without breaking the bank. I'd gone from paying $4.35 for a baconeggandcheese to $8.17 at the same bodega on downtown Wall Street in a matter of months. In moving to Nepal, I'd assumed I didn't quite have to think twice about paying for eggs. It's a different hemisphere, a different chicken.

A month since I landed back in Kathmandu, the local supermarket has raised its egg price each time...