Srinagar, July 7 -- By Dr. Mushtaq Rather

I signed up as an enumerator for the House Listing Operation expecting spreadsheets instead of confessions.

The job asked me to walk a single block in Kashmir, punch demographic details into an app, and move on.

But it became something else entirely.

The app's demand for precision meant one visit rarely settled anything.

I returned to the same doorsteps again and again, checking names, ages, and occupations against what the software wanted.

Those repeated returns wore down the wariness of strangers. Families who barely nodded on the first knock began, by the third or fourth, to talk about their children, their debts, and their fears.

As an educator myself, I steered those talks toward the s...