Srinagar, Aug. 20 -- By Dr. Akhtar Purvez

Some memories from my early years as a physician in Kashmir have dissolved into one another.

The hospital wards, clinic rooms, prescriptions and long succession of patients whose faces I can no longer summon have grown hazy with time.

One small ritual, however, remains vivid.

A patient would be ready to leave after an examination, a prescription and a few instructions, then stop at the door.

"Parhaiz kath chhum?"

What should I avoid eating?

The question followed almost any illness: fever, infection, injury, stomach trouble, headache. It hardly seemed to matter.

Patients appeared to believe that recovery came with a list of foods to keep away from, alongside the medicine I had prescribed. ...