“It was a cold morning, and he shivered a little; but he had been taught by his uncle that his prayers were more acceptable to God if he said them in his nightshirt than if he waited till he was dressed. This did not surprise him, for he was beginning to realise that he was the creature of a God who appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers,” wrote W. Somerset Maugham in “Of Human Bondage”. The basic facts of the human condition – life, disease, happiness, desire and death – and responses it are subjected to some scrutiny in this episode.