Srinagar, Feb. 23 -- There was a time in Kashmir when thirst had direction. You did not open a tap. You walked to a spring.

Every settlement had a naag, every orchard its channel, every path a place where a passerby could cup his hands and drink without hesitation. Water was not a commodity, not a supply, not even a resource - it was an assumption. A civilization rests on such assumptions. The most dangerous moment for any society is not when something disappears, but when it still exists and yet stops being trusted.

Kashmir today is approaching that moment.

The rivers still flow. Snow still falls. The valley remains one of the most water-endowed landscapes in the subcontinent. Yet across towns and villages, a quiet behavioural shift i...