As Gregor Samsa — taking liberties with the character of Franz Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis — awoke one morning, the morning for him wasn't fine at all, even though it was drizzling outside in the sweltering summer. The reason? When he was asleep, he was time-travelled to Pakistan. He was greeted with darkness in the room as rain and electricity never get along well in Pakistan.

Samsa stumbled to the water tap to shake off the jet lag by splashing water in his eyes. The tap was desert dry. He turned the tap on and off many a time, but not a single drop of water lingered. He staggered to the kitchen to turn the hob on, but he was out of the schedule for the gas supply.

He wondered what part of the world he was at. He threw open the window to have a panoramic view of the world outside. He got perplexed when he saw some porch lights still on. Imbalance and inequality welcome Samsa to Asia — South Asia, to be more specific.

Rainbound Samsa, to work from home, tried to turn on his laptop, but its battery was stone dead. His mobile phone........

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