Srinagar, July 25 -- In the village of Rafiabad, near the lower slopes of north Kashmir, mornings once began with the sound of water meeting wood. It was not a roar or rush, but a reliable creak, the sound that told you the day had started, and bread was on its way.

Sara, now in her thirties, remembers those mornings clearly. Her grandfather would rise before the sun, sling a jute bag of maize or rice over his shoulder, and head to the village Aab-e-Gratte, a traditional water-powered flour mill built on the stream that ran through the valley. He returned with freshly ground flour, warm from the friction of stone on stone, ready to be kneaded into kulchas and roti.

Today, the stream still flows, but the wheel doesn't turn. The millstone...