What Narendra Modi asks of Indians, he usually gets.
During the pandemic India's prime minister exhorted them to stay inside
and to bang pots and pans in support of health workers.
The country obliged.
On May 10th he asked Indians to replicate some of that covid-era discipline.
He urged them to work from home where possible, and to cut back on foreign travel.
Mr Modi's plea comes amid a worsening energy shock caused by the war in Iran.
For weeks the Indian government has kept fuel prices constant,
forcing state-owned oil firms to absorb a surge in the cost of imported crude.
And India is just the latest of many Asian countries asking people to tighten their belts.
But even those that moved early to control energy use,
such as Thailand and the Philippines, are now entering dangerous territory.
The effects of the war are threatening to upend the region's economies—and its politics.
In places without fuel-price caps, such as Pakistan and the Philippines, prices have soared (see chart).
But the rising concern, especially in developing Asia, is that supplies could simply run out.
Indonesia is reported to have a buffer of three weeks' fuel; Vietnam has less than a month.
People in Pakistan and Bangladesh, reliant on natural gas from the Gulf, have endured long blackouts.
Petrol pumps in rural areas are running dry.
"We wake up at 2am and often wait 24 hours just to get two litres of diesel,"
says Mizanur Rahman, a farmer in Bangladesh.