Srinagar, Aug. 21 -- By Khan Sikendr Bashir

The walk to school in Badkoote began before the sun cleared the hills.

Some mornings a horse-drawn tanga rattled along the dirt track and a young Gulshan Ara climbed aboard for part of the distance.

Most mornings gave no such relief, and she covered the five to ten kilometers on foot, over terrain that punished shortcuts.

At home, kerosene chimneys threw a dim, unsteady light across the evening hours she spent with her books, because the village electricity supply switched on for only a couple of hours, two or three times a week.

Notebooks and pens counted as expenses a family had to plan around, rather than items to be picked up without thought.

Gulshan was born in the early 1960s, the fi...