Srinagar, Nov. 11 -- It began, quite ironically, with an Instagram reel.

A young woman was talking about how, in China, teacups are made without handles. The design, she said, carries a lesson in patience.

One cannot sip from such a cup when the tea is too hot. One must wait, let it cool, and in that pause, learn stillness.

The cup becomes a vessel not just for tea, but for time.

As I watched, I felt something stir. The image of that cup seemed to echo an older, almost forgotten pulse of life in Kashmir.

We too once drank from handleless cups, our kashur paile: simple, curved, meant to be held and waited with.

Those cups have mostly disappeared from our homes, replaced by factory ceramics and imported glassware.

But in that o...